For heaven’s sake, it’s January, and most of these days so far have felt like spring.
I wore a t-shirt outside last Saturday and hung out our sheets on the line. It was wild for this time of year. Usually, I have a heartfelt goodbye to my clothesline about mid to end of October!
This is unheard of for January. Where’s the snow!? It is so darn depressing looking out to see everything so bare, muddy, and gloomy. Why can’t it be white? I expect this kind of weather in spring but not in January in Pennsylvania. Complain all you want about snow, but when you choose to live in Pennsylvania, it’s pretty much inevitable. I don’t want rain in the winter. I want all the snow! I miss the good old days of snow days.
The days when kids actually had off school and played in the snow. Days when my brother and I would go out and play with the neighbor kids and come back inside for Mom’s hot famous Swiss Miss hot cocoa with fluff. The days when the snow was so deep that I could hardly walk through it. Building snowmen, making snow angels, having snowball fights, and hanging out in our very own igloo that Dad built us right in our front yard. Those were the good old no-school snow days. Days when we were outside so long that my fingers were numb, and I would sucker my little brother into helping me pull my boots off. Yup, those were the days. You know what? I honestly, I still think I could sweet-talk my brother into doing that for me. Haha! No joke. That ole Luke Perry, he is a real good guy.
I am giggling right now because I say that; it reminds me of back when we moved to our house on Grimesville Road. It had a huge yard compared to the home we grew up at on Roosevelt Ave., and we had a nice big yard we could sled ride down. When we moved there, I was fourteen, and he was ten. Our first winter there was so much fun. But Luke will tell you that after I started getting serious dating Chris after so long, our sled-riding days ended. He said that Chris ruined all our fun. Once I had a boyfriend, “so he says,” that I didn’t have time to sled ride with him after that. He will never let us live that down!
My gram, Lois Liddick, had some of the best sled riding parties. She and Pap, Floyd Liddick, had the best hill to sled ride down. At a young age, my gram had us walking up that hill and feeling the thrill of sled riding. It was fun seeing how many of us could pile into one sled and even have sled ride races. Those of you who know my grandmother know what a special lady she is and how special she made everything. EVERY holiday/birthday was a big deal. (I take after her so much in this area.) Whether it was Valentine’s Day, the 4th of July, Halloween, or Christmas, Gram made everything special for her grandbabies. All of my cousins talk about this often and how we miss Gram’s bowling, Valentine’s parties, or her taking us to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. Grams pumpkin parties were a blast, and sled riding parties were so memorable. We always went inside after a cold day of sled riding for hot cocoa and snacks, then would all want to sleep over so we could do it all again the next day! Sometimes if we were there before lunch, she would make us all grilled cheese. Gram let nothing get in her way when it came to family. Her husband, kids, and grandkids always came first, and if she were a friend of yours, she would be there for you no matter what!
I’m so grateful for all these wonderful winters I’ve endured over the years. I’m just like my gram and truly love snow’s magic and beauty, and I still love snow days! Don’t ever feel too old to go out and catch a snowflake on your tongue, make a snow angel, or even sled ride. Just be careful; our bones get more fragile in our older ages! Haha! Smaller hills are just more our speed now. Running and jumping onto the sled headfirst these days are definitely harder. One, I can’t run as fast. Two, boobs cause an issue in that area.
But hey, squat and plop on that baby and push yourself off, or just get pulled on the back of a four-wheeler. Whatever works!
Don’t like your chocolate hot? Try it as this dip. I made this for one of my Christmas parties, and my guest went nuts over it. I served it with vanilla wafer cookies. Enjoy!
Hot Cocoa Dip
Ingredients:
• 4 (.73 oz) envelopes hot cocoa mix without marshmallows
•1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
•6 oz. cool whip, thawed
•2 -3 T. vanilla mallow bits
Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl, add in the hot cocoa mix and cream cheese. Mix on medium with a hand mixer until thoroughly incorporated. I beat it until it was super creamy.
Then, add in the cool whip and continue to beat until combined.
Scoop into a serving bowl and top with vanilla mallow bits. Serve with cookies. Store in the refrigerator.
