My wife and I will be flying into the Washington, D.C., area Wednesday night to spend two weeks in the East for Christmas.

I suppose it's a good thing we weren't arriving tonight. The D.C. area got hit with the biggest December snowstorm in measured history, with nearly two feet of snow on the ground in many parts of the area. Ironically, the storm might not be considered a blizzard, since it apparently didn't meet all the criteria.

<em>The winds didn't reach 35 mph.</em>

[caption id="attachment_195" align="alignright" width="300" caption="An old fashioned snowstorm"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-195" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/snow-300x224.jpg" alt="An old fashioned snowstorm" width="300" height="224" />[/caption]

All I can say after looking at dozens of the pictures on the <a title="Washington Post" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com" target="_self">Washington Post</a> website is "Wow."

As you know, both of my children are living and working in the D.C. area now, and I would be willing to bet that for two kids who grew up in California and the South of France, this is probably the biggest snowstorm they have ever seen. I'm not sure about my son, who did spent part of a winter in Russia, but I'm pretty sure Pauline never saw anything like this in Cameroon.

I've seen a couple that were bigger than this during the two years in lived in northern Colorado, including waking up the day after Christmas in 1987 to find there were already 20 inches of snow on the ground and the storm was getting even more intense.

There's something about snow -- especially when you don't have to be out in it -- that's really wonderful. You can sit by the fire drinking hot chocolate and when you go to the window to look outside, everything seems so clean and pure.

Of course, by the time we get to Washington, the snow will either be melted or old and dirty.

It could be yellow, for all I care. I've seen plenty of snow in my life. I'm going to Washington to see my kids.

They're what matters to m