Yes, Virginia, There Is a Snow Poem

This year I have had lots of opportunities to recite the snow poem. It's a tradition in my family that goes back to my mother (Virginia) and her father, a bakery owner in Fulton, Mo.

We're now into the fifth generation with the poem, which my sister Dayle and I long ago turned into a game. When we see the first snow flake, we rush to be the first to call the other one. Each winter we usually come out about even.

Of course, I have also shared the poem with coworkers, and still have friends from Hallmark, Kansas City Power & Light plus many clients who know me for the snow poem. Some even help by alerting me when they see snow so I can call my sister.

Here's how the poem goes:

“Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow, can do no wrong.
Over the housetops and into the streets,
And into the faces of people it meets.
The beautiful snow can do no wrong.”

My dad always said it was obvious the poem was written before cars. About 20 years ago I discovered he was right. (Pop was always right!) I found the poem, with about a dozen more verses, in a poetry anthology. The poet was Joseph Warren Watson, who died at age 23 of consumption in 1872.


What fun family traditions do you have? Do any of them carry over into your workplace?