It is snowing... in Texas... and it makes me laugh and smile as memories come flooding back... the first snow of the season always amazes me as it is a rare sight here... I know that it will never stay too long... it probably won't even accumulate but that doesn't lessen the feelings I get... this year the memory that came first was our trip to Denver for Thanksgiving 2004... Chris and I took the kids to my sister's for Thanksgiving and I can tell you how much fun it was that a drive that takes me 13 hours by myself took 15 1/2 hours with the family... the kids needed to get out and stretch their little legs and Chris had to stop and smoke... I drove most of the way and was a little disappointed that we got to Denver after the sun had set... I wanted the kids to experience the first time seeing the Rocky Mountains as I had... floating snow caps in the distance where you could just make out the purplish outline of the mountains... for me it had been breathtaking... I wanted them to feel the same... but it was not destined to be that way... we arrived in the early evening and we switched drivers... I let Chris drive as I told him which way to go... and then Chris was panicked... then I realized what it was... there was snow coming down and it was as if he had never seen it before, let alone have to drive in it... now I moved here from upstate New York where the Alaskan troops did their winter training and this was nothing to be worried about... I laughed as I allayed his fears... the ground was too warm for the snow to stick... we'd be fine and we were only 30 minutes away from my sister's... we arrived in one piece and that was our last Thanksgiving together as a family... it was a bittersweet trip for us as a couple but the kids had a great time... it didn't snow for the rest of our stay but there was enough behind my sister's house for Hannah to make a little snowman... she still talks about that snowman... it's the last one she's been able to make... so maybe this winter we'll get another chance for a new snowman as we have our new set of firsts...