Let it Snow !!

So close to Christmas I don't mind the snow at all. Having two young children makes it even better. We're in the middle of a storm right now and my kids are home safely with my husband while I stay here at the store waiting to help those customers brave enough to venture out in bad weather. It doesn't surprise me that we get quite a few customers during the bad weather. Horse people have trucks, trucks with good tires, and we don't mind making our way out in any weather. It is especially nice so close to Christmas when you know non-horse owners, or people without trucks, are staying home clearing the way for us to shop to our hearts content with short, if any, lines.
I'll probably arrive home with a freshly made snowman by our walkway and the smell of chicken baking in the oven (ok, now I'm starting to let my mind wander a bit) Hopefully some laundry will be done and the house will be somewhat clean. We still have one big chore to do and with this snowfall I feel we're a bit behind. You see, my kids love to sled, most do I presume. Our backyard is perfect for sledding until you get to the bottom of the hill where it drops off quite sharply down to the arena we built a few years ago. At the first big snowfall we pull out the snowmobiles and make a track down the hill which banks at the bottom to steer the sleds to the left before they are able to go over the hill....or so we thought. It worked well until last year...one icy day that I shouldn't have had the kids out sledding. The kids made a few runs down and things were going well. Then for some reason my son, Lexington, only 3 at the time, didn't bank to the left. His sled went up over the banking due to the ice and headed towards the steep hill (ok, cliff, about 20 feet down). I yelled for him to jump but of course as he later told me, he was too scared. I started running down the hill, thigh deep in snow, still yelling for him to jump off before he went over. All of a sudden his little hat disappeared over the cliff and he was no where in sight. I yelled back up to my daughter, still at the top of the hill by our house, to go get daddy...quick. I made my way to the edge and looked over...sitting at the bottom was Lexington, a bit scared but looking unharmed. I jumped and tumbled down the hill (believe me, not as graceful as you see in the movies)ran over and checked him over for any injuries. He was fine, a bit shaken but proud of his sledding skills. We looked at the cliff and it seemed like the sled had been airborne, bouncing only once on the way down until landing correctly at the bottom. Just then my husband came down via snowmobile to see what was going on. Lex gladly jumped on the back and headed back up the hill. I sat quietly in the middle of the snow covered arena with tears streaming down my face, realizing how close we came to a serious injury. To this day Lex still talks with pride about his sled jump. My husband & I now purchase extra hay in the Fall to create a banking at the bottom of the hill that no one, not even an adventurous youngster, can make it over. My chore for the evening is to make sure the hay is lined up so the sledding season can begin...safely.