#throwbackthursday 'Tis the Season for Snow Days!

Written by Ruby A. Iadeluca


I suppose you've seen it. And you've read all the posts on Facebook that state the obvious: It's snowing! I suppose we need to consider ourselves lucky up here in the north that we've made it nearly half-way through November before it snowed.

I'm not certain what drove my ancestors to land here in Traverse City. In the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I am thankful that at least they didn't land in the *U.P. *That's Upper Peninsula to you folks who aren't trolls who live under the bridge - meaning the Mackinac Bridge.

I don't remember as a child being be-fuddled by snow. It never occurred to us - ever - that the roads were too icy to drive on. Never thought how unlucky my parents were, having to drive on the nasty roads, while us kids had a snow day.

Now I know. But I'm sure, with el Nino and global warming and whatever else the politicians and scientists and weather forecasters want to through at us, that the winter roads now are waaay worse than they ever were when I was a kid!

I could be wrong! Not our car, but I know the blizzard of '78
left us driving through drifts as high as a house.

Snow days were great! Honestly, I think the best part of the snow day was the lethargic, angry mood we would be in while listening to the radio waiting for them to announce that Buckley Community Schools was closed. After that.... don't remember much.

One of the things that my sister and I used to do while we stayed at home was play with paper dolls. I remember some of the details vividly, and others are just a blur.

Carrie, Katie, Sarah and Becky

 

This mush have been Sarah's living room at Christmas. Maybe it was Carrie's?

 

 

Katie's ice cream parlor.

 

 Carrie's bedroom.

 

I'm certain this isn't an exact replica, but it will give you some idea... 

 

We started out the The Gingham Girls, my sister was Carrie - with the dark hair and blue outfits; and I was Becky, with the blonde hair and yellow and red outfits. They suited us well. The paper-dolls came with a cardboard backdrop of an ice cream parlor, amongst other things. We played for literally hours. We would painstakingly set up all of their many rooms in their mansion all over the large Indian-print rug on the living room floor, in front of the huge Zenith console TV.

Again, don't know if this is an exact replica, but I am certain it was this big!

I don't know if anyone remembers how thick the old JCPenney catalogs were, but after mom was done poring over them and ordering her thermal-lined curtains, sis and I would carefully tear out the pages of the prettiest bedrooms and living room and kitchens in the catalog. We would take the pages, trimming them down if necessary, and lay them out, just so, on the Indian-print rug. It was our super-huge paper-doll mansion! We would lay them all out in perfect alignment, setting them up so there would be an intricate maze of hallways. **Sis, did we use secret passageways?

Later on, we got a little more sophisticated when I had gotten a set of Barbie paper-dolls. The Barbie set came with an RV and Ken and Skipper. Ken! Don't remember much about Ken. He must have been a dud. There was just no way to tell if he was such a cool guy that he had girls - lots of girls - around him all of the time; or if he was one of the girls and like them for their conversation and hair-care tips. Barbie had a lovely wedding dress. I think she must have had some kind of complex because I made her wear it a lot!

Anyhoo.... that's one of the many ways we wiled away the hours on a snow day. Enjoy!