OK, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but we did all six cozy up to watch the movie Home for the first time this afternoon and the tag-line stuck with me, in part, because The Welschies pretty much enjoyed every inch of this snow day possible.

For those of you not in NE, or in a surrounding state, some of which are also getting some serious snow, Winter Storm Kayla (is that close to the actual name?) is upon us. Perhaps you’ve seen the multitude of fuzzy snow-covered-windows pics online? Because this snow has been legit and sticky.

After three nice (dare I call them “balmy?”) days to end the month of January, winter is back upon us with 12.5″ of snow and possibly more still coming – or maybe that’s just all the wind making it seem like it is still snowing. I don’t know and I don’t intend on finding out personally tonight. I did a little stomp around the house mid-morning, but now I am warmly planted on the couch with candles in the fireplace (we’ve lived in the house for four years and neither of us still has any clue how to actually run the thing) and some DMB (wine, that is and it is good) to keep me company while B is outside working on Operation Snow Clean Up in the dark and cold and WIND.

Thankfully school was called off yesterday afternoon in anticipation of the weather and Mother Nature did not disappoint or make any school administrators look foolish. I say that because sometime people feel the need to get up in arms when a school calls off and the weather turns out to be not as nasty as predicted, but let’s continue to err on the side of safety, shall we? I hate to see kids miss school, too, but hate even more to see kids put at risk because of dangerous weather conditions. So naturally I’m glad tomorrow has already been called, too. The fine folks of Hastings (and much of the rest of the state) are going to need some time to dig out from this one and knowing they don’t have to do it in any rush for school tomorrow lightens the load a bit.

Ah, but perhaps that right there is why I can look at today and declare it Tops because snow days do in fact lighten my own load. How can they not? When you’re married to a school teacher, snow days are just as awesome as when you were a student because your whole family gets to hunker down, help out, and flat-out enjoy being home. Of course the fact that we had plenty of prior knowledge of this storm, stocked the fridge, and haven’t lost power or been in any sort of danger helps, too.

But seriously – our little fam had the Best Day EVER! and not just because we had a chance to sit down a watch a family movie mid-afternoon. I mean, there was plenty of snow day awesomeness happening including naps and coffee (maybe too many cups on my part, which could mean for an interesting night ahead) and puzzles and brief snow play for 4 out of the 6 of us (obviously not the baby and even though we suited him all up, Linky high-tailed it back in the house as soon as the wind/snow hit his face). But it wasn’t all that. It was that we were together and we (at least B and I) were present that this was a Good Day.

Today, with its foot of snow, was a gift in the middle of a storm for us to be all here without any pressing tasks and nowhere to go – a day free of obligation in the middle of what has been a very busy school year. And best of all we saw, multiple times throughout the day, all that it had to offer. So am I biased because my spouse is a school teacher and having him out of school naturally makes my world easier? You bet. But I can tell you there’s a lot more gratitude and contentment in my heart tonight than anything else, regardless of what else this storm, or others, decides to throw our way because being together, being home, does in fact make for the best day(s) ever.