The doldrums of winter are here. There is very little to look forward to other than the occasional snow day. In fact, as this is being written, we are in our 3rd snow day of the school year with a good chance of the same tomorrow. I've finally acquired a snowblower so the days of shoveling the entire drive are behind me. I can't understate how great this device is. I can clean off my entire driveway in minutes rather than hours. Last year we had one snow storm that was particularly nasty. 16+ inches of snow. Same for the winter of 2005. There is very little to like about this kind of weather. That is, until the invention of The Blizzard Party.
The Blizzard Party was invented circa winter of 2005. Our dear friend Desmond came over to our house during one of the snow days. Des and I decided that making a pot of chili sounded like a good idea. We hopped in his truck and made our way to the grocery store. On our way in we saw a mass exodus of road construction workers with cases of beer under each arm. With this image as inspiration, Des and I decided that having a few drinks didn't sound like such a terrible idea. Des, Jackie, and I had a great time eating chili, drinking beer, and watching movies that day. Thus, The Blizzard Party was born. In the years since that fateful day, we have enjoyed numerous Blizzard Parties. One might ask, "Do you have a Blizzard Party whenever you have a day off?" the simple answer is no. For one, it would get too expensive, but there are other factors too. #1: It has to be a weekday. What fun would it be if it were on the weekend? #2: There has to be a high probability we will have the next day off. Those are really the only two factors we look at, but #2 has been ignored before.
There usually has to be forms of entertainment other than movies. We've gotten a lot of milage out of the Nintendo Wii and the Play Station 3.We've played cards and board games too. Other friends have joined us too, but the core three were always there.
Unfortunately, Des moved to Massachusetts last summer to pursue his doctorate. Our Blizzard Parties were thought to be over for good. However, mother nature smiled upon us over his Christmas break and we were able to enjoy one this year. Now that we have a daughter our Blizzard Parties are even more low key, but the times spent with good friends is always worth a day off.
