Let it snow...

We don't get snow in San Francisco. Ever. Ok, wait...I stand corrected.  There was that time about 10 years ago when I was downtown one winter on an unusually cold December day and for about thirty seconds we got a few snowflakes (and the whole town literally stopped in shock). But does that really even count as snow?  I mean, where I grew up, it would snow to the point where school would get canceled. Snow days rocked.  I miss those.

Apparently snow days do exist in California schools, so I have heard. However, they aren't for snow in the city, but rather a scheduled "day off" so kids can head up to Tahoe when the skiing conditions are ideal.  Seriously?!?! That's not a snow day - that's a vacation.  The beauty of a snow day is you don't know when and if it will even happen.  Half the fun of it was staying up as late as possible so I could catch that 11 o'clock news cast - keeping my fingers crossed that the newscaster would utter those golden words - "looks like heavy snow tomorrow".  Cha ching!  Get out the snow boots and sleds. Now that's what a REAL snow day looks like.

I do have to say though, as much as I miss having a white winter, I don't miss the pains of what those frosty days mean as an adult - driving on black iced roads, power outages, scraping ice off your car window (even when the car has been sitting in the driveway warming up for 20 minutes already).  I do, however, love basking in the 65 degree sun in December in San Francisco (I was even wearing a tank top today!).

So since I can't have a white winter this year, I decide to bring a little bit of snow to us.  Snow globes have always fascinated me - enclosing a little bitty world inside a glass jar and then making the seasons change inside it. How fun is that?  When I saw this DIY project in Martha Stewart's Homemade Holiday Crafts book, I had to make it.  If you are the crafty type and are a glutton for the holidays like I am, I would highly recommend getting this book. However, if you want the short version, you can find the same tutorial here.  So now when I am longing for a white winter, I can just give one of these a jiggle and watch the flakes fall. Ok, maybe it's not the same but remember, I'm the one who's driving around in the last month of the year with my windows open and a tank top on. :)

*Helpful hints:  I went through 2 glues for this one - one that said it was water resistant (yea, right) and your good old fashioned hot glue gun. Guess which one worked? Yep, the glue gun. The first round was with the recommended glue and within 24 hours my little figures were floating at the surface of the jars.  I repaired them with the hot glue and they seem to be sticking just fine.  Also, I can now see why Martha says to get plastic figures. I used metal ornaments (which are working fine) and little evergreen trees that are found in model train stores. At the time I though they looked so much cuter than the plastic ones but once in there, the color ran a bit and kind of gave the water a greenish tint (you can see a difference in the last two photos). I don't mind it so much but if you want your water to be totally clear, stick with plastic.