By Arvid Huisman

 

On snowy mornings I enjoy watching school closing announcements on television. They bring back memories of sitting anxiously by the radio in Mom’s kitchen waiting for the announcement that we would not have school that day because of snow. It was a snow day!

 

A snow day was a great day for us kids but not necessarily for our mother. Dad always made his way through the snow to work but Mom was stuck with her ornery kids. The radio’s “no school” announcement was not as exciting for her.

 

Snowfall sufficient to close schools was sufficient for fun. Sledding, snow forts, snowmen, snow ball fights … there was no end to the fun. Even shoveling snow wasn’t all that bad when we had good backs. After clearing our own sidewalk I threw a shovel over my shoulder and knocked on the doors of neighbors offering to shovel their sidewalk (for a fee). 

 

The best part of a snow day was Mom’s legendary One Dish Dinner casserole. Frequently on a frigid snow day Mom made One Dish Dinner for our noon meal. 

 

She got out one of her big blue roasters and filled it with sliced potatoes, stewed tomatoes, macaroni, onions, lots of ground beef and other ingredients and then cooked it to mouthwatering perfection. With Dad’s help, we four boys and our two little sisters could polish off a full roaster of the stuff in one sitting.

 

By afternoon the excitement of the snow had worn off and we began looking for indoor things to do. Indoor things to do usually involved at least one good fight. We Huisman boys all get along well now but back then it didn’t take much to incite a fracas. With a few exceptions we didn’t hurt each other … too badly.

 

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