As much as I’d rather an all-year-long summer, even I have to admit there is something magical about the first snowfall.

We were outside (cleaning the yard to prepare for winter, fittingly) when the flakes began to fall. The kids started screeching excitedly, “It’s snowing! It’s snowing!” Later, as it covered the ground in a blanket of white, they dressed in snowsuits and built a carrot-nosed, coal-eyed snowman.

I stood for a moment, watching the snowflakes fall from the black sky, and felt the promise of many cozy winter nights ahead.