Thanks to the ice and snow, most of students in the area received an early Christmas present: school being called off, the majority until the new year after Christmas break.

Even if a child struggles to get up every morning of the school year, he or she will pop right out of bed if there is any chance they need to check the radio for school cancellations.

At this point, some kids will return to bed, not to emerge until lunch is called.

Others stay up for the day and this is where things may begin to go downhill and not in a good way like a slippery sled on a snow-covered hill.

One of two scenarios presents itself when a family is faced with a snow day.

The parent must still report for work but must find child care if the student is young. Hopefully, this situation remedies itself by finding a babysitter and everyone goes on with their day.

Then, there are those parents who are either home anyway with their child or opt to stay home for the day - and the fun begins.

At the beginning of a snow day, the novelty of everyone being home is still fresh and new. The possibilities are endless. The crafts to make. The books to read. The snow to play in (provided it actually snows).

But somewhere around Hour Three, both sides may begin growing testy.

The parents are tired of picking up wet gloves and hats, especially since the child spent 25 minutes getting dressed to go outside and spent approximately 2.5 minutes outside.

The children are tired of being told to pick up their winter items, especially since they only used them for approximately 2.5 minutes.

Craft time doesn't go much better. The little children nibble on the glue sticks. Older children think the craft idea is lame.

Attempts at making Christmas cookies and candy are mixed.

Only half the cookies make it into the oven since the cookie-making theory was "one for me, one for the pan."

Candy-making is equally stressful since the parent spends the majority of the time trying to keep the candy-thermometer from breaking, then scorches the pan of candy because she got distracted by the sounds of shattering from another room. Regardless, she knows her sweet-tooth children will gobble down their attempts at candy-making.

By the end of the day, the children are lamenting that there are only 13 more days of Christmas break, while the parents are wondering if they will make it through the remaining 13 days of Christmas break.

My favorite quote from Erma Bombeck was that picking up after children while they are still young is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing. Both of which applied this week.

-- Ronda Graff wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and is thankful for the little bit of snow the area received (even if she is jealous of Colorado.)