By Ashlie Miller

We were braced for it: a well-stocked pantry for cozy recipes thanks to an email newsletter; boots brought from the garage to be warm enough to welcome eager feet; gloves paired into actual matches to protect hands for snowball fighting.

At the first sign of flurries, I popped a couple of frozen hash browns into the toaster oven, switched on the electric hot water pot, and opened a sleeve of hot cocoa powder. The littlest kids were ready! I sent them to the treehouse with treats in hand (or, rather, mittens). I spied upon them from the kitchen-nook window as they nibbled on their salty potatoes, sipped their decadent cocoa, and wishfully watched the flurries fall.

It was not long before the teens came out, ready for adventure. One took the siblings through the woods to “Big Rock” — our name for the boulder along the survey line of a neighbor’s backyard. It isn’t quite Narnia, but one can believe it is nearby. Later, they successfully had a snowball fight. Where did enough snow for that come from? Well, Dad had forgotten to remind them not to scrape off the snow from the cars — oops!

“Can we make snow cream?” my daughter asked as she presented a small monolith of snow in her mittens. “Is there really that much snow?” I asked, bewildered. The snow bowl that had been optimistically set out was scant; she had scraped snow off the dirty railing. Oh dear, it really has been too long for them to remember any snow etiquette.

With hopeful hearts, the children finally came in for a dinner of fireside stew by the gas-fire logs (naturally). We decided to watch “Prince Caspian” from the Narnia series because we had rewatched “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” during Christmas break. These movies feel quite wintry.

Topping off the evening were small bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes that I had frozen recently to thaw out for the perfect occasion. This certainly seemed to be shaping up to be such.

However, as you know, the evening did not end with more snowfall but rather ice, sleet and cold rain. Wistfully, we all went to bed. The next day did not look magical; it looked disappointing. But, I still had a couple of little people eager to get the most out of the barely used sleds — sleds purchased at a yard sale maybe a couple of years ago, still in like-new condition. And guess what — you can slide pretty successfully on frozen grass, even if it looks just like normal brownish-green grass! It may have only given an hour’s or so worth of fun, but it was fun just the same.

Sometimes our expectations are not met. More likely, it is truer to say they are seldom met. I am a realist and feel more like a pessimist at times, but slowly, I am learning to make lemonade from lemons. No, we can’t make snow cream out of dirty snow. But rather than sulk or blame the weatherman, we can choose to foster gratitude in the little people watching us. Little eyes are watching me. They are still making memories. They won’t all be awesome, but good enough can be sufficient, too.

Ashlie Miller and her family grass-sled in Concord. You may email her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.