Megan made the trek from the desert to Colorado last month, to meet newborn nephew Benjamin. Brayden and Camden stayed home with Dad so they wouldn’t miss school, but as Declan is obligated only to two mornings a week at preschool, he had the privilege of joining Mommy for the visit.

The first morning of their stay at my house, Declan woke me early, bounding into my bedroom exclaiming, “Gramma! It’s SNOWing!”

Declan, who has lived his entire 4.5-year life in the desert, has seen snow on the ground just once, during a trip to Flagstaff. Never, though, had he seen the white stuff actually fall from the sky. He was mesmerized… and I was delighted the visit to Gramma’s provided the milestone experience.

He simply could not get enough of the snowy scene out the windows.

Now, Mommy Megan was born and raised in Colorado and had shared many a story with her sons about her mom (that would be me) making snow cream for her and her sisters when they were youngsters. So Declan naturally needed to sample the snowy treat. At Mommy’s insistence, Gramma got busy and whipped up a batch—serving it up before breakfast.

And he liked it! He really liked it!

(Truth: Mommy Megan and I liked and licked up our fair share of pre-breakfast snow cream, too.)

As no first falling-snow experience is complete without making a snowball, Declan later made his way outdoors to fashion a chilly bomb for lobbing. (Wearing Gramma’s gloves because, heck, desert boys don’t own such things!)

When Megan texted photos of Declan’s adventures home to Brayden and Camden, they weren’t all that impressed with the falling snow. Or the snowball. The big bros had been there, done that.

Tasting the legendary snow cream? Well, that’s a different story, as neither Camden nor Brayden have ever had the snowy sweet stuff.

Yet!

The entire desert-dwelling family is scheduled to visit Gramma’s in January, though, for Benjamin’s baptism. We have our fingers crossed Mother Nature will put on a spectacular show of snow during their stay—and bowls of Gramma’s snow cream will at last be sampled and savored by grandsons one and all!

SNOW CREAM RECIPE

In light of requests since publishing this post, here’s my off-the-cuff “recipe” for snow cream. It’s simple and requires ingredients most folks always have on hand… plus snow. The key to tasty snow cream is fresh, clean snow, preferably obtained while it is still snowing or soon after it stops. I prefer getting my snow from a spot that’s not on the ground (for dirt and dog-pee free assurances), most often off the deck railing or a picnic table.

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, depending on sweetness preference

Few sprinkles of cinnamon (optional)

In small bowl, combine the ingredients until sugar is dissolved. In the largest bowl you have (or a roaster pan), collect fresh, clean snow from outside, using a large mixing spoon. I like to scrape off a thin layer of the snow then scoop up the fresh snow beneath. Fill the bowl as full as you can. (It’s snow… if you don’t use it all, it’s no biggie).

In a medium bowl, add a few cups worth of snow. Just eyeball it, no need to measure. Slowly add a bit of the milk/sugar mixture, quickly stirring snow to absorb it. Add more snow and more milk mixture—ensuring all snow in mixing bowl has been mixed into the sugary milk—until you’ve used as much snow as you can/want and snow cream is the consistency of barely frozen ice milk or a soft-freeze sherbet of sorts.

Scoop into serving dishes and eat quickly… as it melts quickly!

Yum!

One cup of milk with sugar mixture plus all the snow necessary for absorbing that should make about three cups of snow cream, give or take. For larger groups, mix up more all at once or make more as grands (and grownups) request it.