"Snowed in"

There is something magical about having a white Christmas here in New York City. It's picture perfect and if you're like me, it makes singing Christmas carols that much more fun. Well, we had our first big snowfall of the winter season and almost in time for Christmas. (We got a whopping 12 inches, more in other parts of the NYC and about 25 inches in parts of Long Island. Our local Church leaders even canceled services yesterday.) Just six days later and we well and truly would have had our white Christmas!

Okay, I must admit that for those who have to trek out in the snow and use public transportation it is a hassle, not to mention a real pain when home and business owners don't shovel and salt the streets as they should. Likewise, for those of us who own cars, the snow is a quite a nuisance.

Just this morning a lady from down our street, who had parked her car right on the corner of our busy intersection, was seen complaining to two police officers. I thought, "Really? Are your serious?!" Maybe she was complaining about all the hard snow around her car. (It had almost turned into ice from the low temperatures overnight.) Maybe she got a big fat ticket because it was 10am on Monday and she was still parked by a sign that reads no parking from 7am to 4pm on school days. I don't know. I saw the lady and the police officers pointing at each other and the snow by her car. A short time later, they walked away shaking their heads. Then, of course, the lady and her son went to work to "dig out" their car. Less than an hour later, she drove away.


This scene made me remember our big snowfall of winter 2002. So, I dug up these these couple of photos that I took from my bedroom window in my apartment in Queens -while it was still snowing!

THIS is what I call, being "snowed in" and quite literally digging your car out!

You see, the trick to making your life easier in a scenario like this one is to go out periodically during the snowfall to brush and shovel the snow off and away from your car, that way when it finally stops snowing, you don't have the daunting task of the massive snow removal, (I like to compare it to raking the leaves in Autumn), that is, of course, if you are one of those people who needs to have a snow-free car for a quick getaway. Otherwise, I would opt to just stay in and sleep, eat and have some quality uninterrupted family time.

Was my car one of the unfortunate cars deeply buried in that snow? My car was parked in a climate-controlled, indoor parking garage around the corner from my building. HA! I was so pleased that I didn't have to deal with the whole situation, that I sang: "...Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!..." that whole weekend.

So, where is my car now? It is parked outside on our street, "buried" in our pre-Christmas snow of 2009.

Maybe it's time to buy a shovel? Maybe we will get one as a Christmas present? (Hint! Hint!)