"Oh, the Weather Outside Is ..." not frightful enough

This was the scene that greeted us this morning, after several hours of snow cascading to the ground yesterday afternoon and evening. Yes, hours ... and this is all it amounted to.

At 6:45 a.m. Aidan walked into our room, complaining of a tummy ache. We gave him two Maalox Juniors and sent him back to bed for 15 minutes. First, it was too early to be up, and second -- I pulled another "forgotten fairy" role! Remember the quick-thinking I had to do several months ago, when Aidan's lost tooth still (disappointingly) remained under his pillow in the morning? Well, I had a similar brain-lapse last night, this time affecting our little nod to Sinterklaas (the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas, whose "day" is today). After doing our annual ritual last night -- reading the abridged story I wrote about Sinterklaas, checking out the corresponding maps (Spain, Holland, etc. -- for Aidan's cartographic benefit), and singing the Sinterklaas song (in Dutch, of course -- yes, it's true!), the kids ran out onto the front porch and put carrots into their wooden shoes. So far, so good ...

... until Aidan woke us up at 6:45 and I realized that I forgot all about it! After shuffling him back to bed, I scrounged around for the small gifts I had purchased last week and made my way out, barefoot, to the freezing front porch. I made the switch and ran back inside, with no one the wiser. Around 7:30, we woke up Grace and completed the Sinterklaas celebration, along with ecstatic screams and hugs of gratitude. Phew.

Shortly thereafter, Grace made her way into the kitchen. I heard a sharp intake of breath and saw her standing by the window, mouth hanging open, staring wide-eyed out into the back yard. "Mommy, look!" she exclaimed. "It's snow!" She turned her gaze back to the window, then frowned.

"But man, it's just not enough!"

More to come, my dear ...