When I was a little girl growing up in Canfield, Ohio, there were considerable amounts of snow throughout the winter months. Just like in summer, my siblings and our friends spent hours outside playing. When it came to the white stuff mom bundled us up from head to toe.

I recollect owning a bright blue ski parka with a red and white stripe across the middle and snow pants to match. Hats and gloves were always a hit-or-miss with a house of 5 siblings. When we played outside we always had to scramble and search for a match. 

We had a large wooden bench in our basement with a pop-up lid that housed our winter gear. Since we only hunted for seasonal accessories a couple of months out of the year, it always had a faint smell of mothballs and old clothes. If the snow was the packable kind to make snowballs and a snowman, we fought for dad’s heavy waterproof gloves that reached past our wrists so we could keep our hands extra warm and dry.

The first big snow was always the most exciting! I still remember that feeling of stepping out from our toasty house and catching your breath on that icy air into the calm and peace of the quiet earth around us. However, that serene and hushed moment would only last a minute or two. Soon Dartmouth Avenue would be bustling with neighborhood friends dragging their sleds and chatter of what creations would be made or games we would play. 

The best part of playing outside in freezing temperatures all afternoon? Stepping into the warmth of our cozy house with mom straddling us to help pull off our boots, the smell of dinner on the stove, and hot chocolate, of course! Looking back it felt like the combination of a Hallmark movie and an episode of Little House on the Prairie, simple and sweet. It may be cold outside but remembering these stories always keeps my heart warm.

We are the curators of that wooden bench. It has been in our basement for years and used to house OUR kids’ mittens and hats too!

This post commemorates the Blizzard of 1978 in Ohio which happened 44 years ago yesterday. I was 10 years old and remember it well! Mom and Dad didn’t let us play outside for a couple of days because of the high winds and snowdrifts. It was an unbelievable storm.