SNOW!

By Nicole Goldman

True story: while driving my two kids one day, they started to argue in the back of our van. As the conversation got a bit heated, I asked what they were arguing about. The answer? Sledding. One child asserted that sledding was when you use a toboggan like the kid in Home Alone, the other was certain — positive! — it was when you go down the hill in one of those big sleigh things that Santa rides around in.

At the time of this conversation, my kids were eleven and thirteen. Seriously! Much too old to have such misconceptions about the basics of winter fun! But growing up in sunny Los Angeles, they just didn’t have much of a snowy winter. So, I bundled them up and took them back east where they skied, sledded, snowballed, and shoveled their way through a crash course in all things snow.

They were like scientists on another planet — observing how their boots crunched deep into the drifts, looking into the sky for the source of the flakes, and experimenting with how long it would take their snowy clothes to melt when they came in the house (not long!). I had taken for granted all there was to explore in the snow and watching my older kids make their first winter discoveries was something I will never forget.

Here are a few favorite Henson moments and games that celebrate the wonder of snow!