The first snowflakes have fallen. They were a surprise in the middle of the afternoon, a few lone flakes soon turning into a full on snowfall with a dusting of white accumulating on the tops of the brown sedum blooms and on the wooden bench out in the garden.

Even though I watched the excitement alone from my dining room window, I could almost hear the cheers of children for miles around: Yippee! Snow!

While adult minds immediately think of slushy streets and blizzard warnings, the minds of children leap to snowmen and snowball fights, snow angels and snowforts. What fun they imagine: rolling in the snow, sliding along frozen sidewalks, taking their toboggans up hill and down. And snow means hot chocolate, snow days, and Christmas too. Hurray!

Of course, as I look out watching the flakes there aren’t even enough to cover the ground yet. The days are not quite cold enough, and the ground not quite frozen enough for them to stay. It may be a month or more before children in this part of the province can revel in the cold, white fun.

Still, there is something to be said for the joyful dreaming that goes on when the first white flakes appear. Living the delight before we get there, planning for all the fun that has yet to arrive–these are great ways to expand life’s all-too-brief moments of pleasure.

I had to run out into the backyard myself today, to taste the snowflakes. I thought about the coming winter weather that will inspire warm evenings cozied up with tea and a good book. I imagined the coming holiday season with its happy refrains of “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!” Silly as it may be, I am just as excited about the first snow fall as the kids. Here’s to the beginning of a winter full of beauty and fun!