DECEMBER 19, 1980
Reflections of Winter Throughout the Years
Winter could be the best time of the year or the worst, depending on your age or the weather.
Remember when we were young how excited we were on that first snowy winter day? We couldn't wait to get home and make a snowman or have snowball fights. There would be about five to seven inches of snow on the ground, just the right amount of snow to play in. We'd play all day and all the night until we'd get all our clothes wet. Our mothers would scream at us telling us we'd freeze to death. Some of us did get sick, but to some it was worth it.
The best thing in those days was when we had a lot of snow, we didn't have to shovel it. Now if we get 10 inches, besides playing in the snow for hours, we will shovel it for hours, unless we have a snowblower. Remember back in 1978 when that big blizzard hit us. Some of us would have loved to have had a snowblower. I remember seeing people shovel their driveways at least three times that day. The Des Plaines clean-up crew didn't help much. They missed cleaning up some streets, so the people living on the block would have to shovel their streets.
The children, though, had tons of fun in the snow the day after that blizzard. They made tunnels, mountains, forts, and snowmen humongous snowmen. You
This year we haven't had that much snow yet, but the snow on Thanksgiving Day brought a lot of smiles to people's faces. The kids were out there again playing in the snow, and others played football. The best thing of all was there wasn't that much shoveling to do. That's the kind of snow we'd like to have, just enough for everyone to have fun and not too much work.
Are we prepared, though, for another blizzard? Last winter we didn't have that much snow, and it was a pretty nice winter for those who hate shoveling. A lot of us didn't have to use our brand new snowblowers which we bought after the blizzard. Will we have to use them this year? That question will be answered around January. Hopefully if we do have a storm, the Des Flames clean-up crew will be able to find and clean every single street in Des Plaines.
I know that most of us didn't like to have a blizzard hit us on any given day but if that's the only way we could get snow on Christmas Day, we'll take it. One thing we all like is snow on Christmas Day.