A white Christmas is always lovely. But this year a white Christmas seemed ever more desirable because we were giving the girls snowshoes as a main gift.

It turned out that we had a white Thanksgiving and a brown Christmas. November and December traded places. We did have big snowflakes falling down on Christmas day, but somehow those didn’t stick. It’s Murphy’s Law — if Minnesotans give their children snowshoes for Christmas, there will be no snow.

Much to our delight, in the evening the day after Christmas, the backordered snow arrived. It fell thick through the windy night, and by morning we had 5 or 6 inches.

Southern girl that I am, I had no idea if 5 or 6 inches is enough snow to snowshoe in. But a few friends I consulted thought it was, so the girls and I bundled up and headed to the backyard with our brand-new snowshoes. Yes, I received a pair, too!

Snowshoes attach to your snow boots, and I think I got mine on right.

As a test, the girls trekked around the backyard for a bit.

Then we headed out onto the frozen lake, feeling very adventurous.

I can’t decide if snowshoes make me feel more like a mountaineer or more like Big Foot. But I do like them.

We left a few tracks on the frozen lake. We didn’t make it all the way across yet since it was 11 degrees and getting dark.

We’re looking forward to another snowshoeing adventure soon!