I knew there was some sort of snowstorm going to happen, but I didn’t know what kind until I checked out the forecasts. And the forecasts predicted: 6-10″+. I was overjoyed. I could hardly sleep.

I woke up at about 0930 the next day and it had already snowed about two inches, with more steadily tumbling down. I went back to sleep, wke up later, and there was more like six inches. It just kept getting better. Except for the cars. The cars didn’t have such a great time with the snowstorm. In fact, our street didn’t get plowed until the next day. Both of our cars have been stuck in this snow. But I don’t drive a car, so it doesn’t affect me! Except when there are groceries involved that can’t be gotten.

I didn’t do much with the snow on the day it arrived because it was too deep to sled in aand not wet enough for packing. Come to think of it, those conditions haven’t changed yet. But another condition did change by the next day: my brother was more willing to go for a creekwalk. I think I;m going to put creekwalking as my primary hobby whenever something asks for hobbies. Creekwalking is my favorite thing to do, I’ve discovered, because it’s so invigorating, and because you can see so much stuff, and because sometimes, if you haven’t been this way before, there’s an element of intrigue in that you never know where you’ll end up. The nine inches of snow we finally ended up with just compounded the fun. I might be the only person I know of who would frequently like nothing better than to go and slog over a mile in nine inches of snow.

I had never been behind the houses across the street from us until a few days ago, but now they’re my preferred entrance to Warder Park. It turns out I can walk right behind the neighborhood and end up where I want to be. My brother Micah and I took the leftern of the two forks on the day after the snowstorm. It was no piece of cake. Even wearing my thick coat, heavy boots, and snow pants, I got a little cold (possibly owing to the times I sat down in the snow to take a break). But it was all worth it, because, creekwalking, you get a sense of seclusion that you don’t see often these days, especially in the city. I could look 360 degrees around me and not see a single thing that had a footprint on it except for my own and Micah’s. I’m trying to describe this here, but really there’s no way to describe it other than actually taking the person you’re describing it to on a creekwalk. I’m kind of floundering in my footsteps, like I was when I trudged upstream through the snowpack, but in this I can’t really get anywhere, whereas with creekwalking I could.

I made it home, and it was so great. In addition, I got $30 from a lady whose driveway I shoveled on the way back.

For Christmas, I went to my grandparents’ house. My whole family did. We all got tons of presents. I, personally, got a wooden puzzle from Hungary, a backwards clock, a shortwave radio, and more. All of it is awesome. We had some real great family time together too, but unfortunately a lot of the family had to leave a little while in to go back home. I slept over last night, which brings me to today, because we actually opened our presents on Christmas Eve. I took another creekwalk today, at the country club, but today’s was significantly different because there are well nigh two feet of snow here in Oxford, and because I took my grandmother (she’s rugged) with me. Also, I lacked my snow pants, so I had to dry off for a while afterwards. Right now, I’m missing some good pool in the basement, so I’ll sign off and let you get back to what you were doing.