4 Days: The Great Halloween Blizzard

This morning we woke up to this:

It's our first measurable snowfall of the season and it's COLD and it's not even Halloween yet!

Halloween and snow in the same sentence always bring back vivid memories of 1991. If you know anyone from Minnesota at that time, they probably share my memories. You see, in 1991 was the historic Halloween Blizzard (cue spooky music). This was a big deal. It still holds records for the most snowfall in one storm. There are multiple wikipedia entries for this single storm. By the end of the storm, parts of Minnesota were under as much as 37" of snow.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Douglas's blog. He's my favorite weatherman ever.)

I remember this year. I was at the peak age of trick-or-treating glee--I was ten. That year was one of the first years I remember not having a hand-me-down costume. It was one of the first years I got to pick what I wanted to be and my mom made my costume. It was thrilling. I was a green M&M.

(Unfortunately I don't have a picture of me. This is not me. This is just for the visual representation. My costume was WAY cooler. I promise.)

For years I had heard trick-or-treating stories from my brother, 3 1/2 years older than me, of walking for miles to get to the rich neighborhoods where they had full-sized candy bars. He'd come home with pillowcases completely full of candy. It was like Halloween lore that I was determined to discover the truth behind.

The snow started around the time school got out on Halloween. No problem, just a little snow. By the time dinner had finished and it was getting dark, a few inches had accumulated. No problem, I'll put on boots. I was determined. I set off by myself that night in my puffy green M&M, cute white tights and purple boots. I think by house #5 I realized it was a hopeless venture. My legs were frozen solid and the snow just kept coming. My dreams of full-sized candy bars would have to wait for another year. School ended up being cancelled for the rest of the week.

I bet when I cued that "spooky music" you thought this was going to be a SCARY story. HA! Gotcha!

The end.