December 8, 2025: The Snow Day

One of life’s simple pleasures.

Growing up and living in the Mid-Atlantic/South has a big winter advantage: when the snow flurries come, the school doors close.

The southern equation goes something like this: 2 inches of white stuff = 24 hours of freedom.

Core childhood memories involve sitting around the TV at night, watching for school closings. Oh, the agonizing suspense of the alphabetical scroll at the bottom of the screen.

And then, the moment we saw the cancellation… INSTANT PARTY.

A gift from the heavens.

If snow visited overnight, we'd get up early in the morning and peek out the windows to a winter wonderland. “It’s sticking!” we’d yell, jumping from the bed to grab our coats and gloves.

But often, just the forecast would keep us home. And sometimes, the storm never came. Yes, the glorious phantom snow day where the meteorologists got it wrong and gave us a guilt-free Tuesday of doing absolutely nada.

Does it get any better?

Today, Williamsburg got about 3-4 inches. Offices and schools shut down. The city went quiet. Even as an adult, the dopamine jolt coming from the ‘Office Closed’ email makes me feel like a kid again.

And it’s so pretty sitting here in the living room, gazing at the Christmas tree and the snow. A living holiday card.

The rare joy of an unscheduled slow day. The sweet surprise of an empty meeting calendar and reduced to-dos.

It’s nice to have forced timeouts.

Never let the simple pleasures expire with age.