If there’s snow on the ground….

…that means it’s time for the first barefoot snow walk of the year.

I’m posting this today because I know a lot of people expect these photos every year. It’s a tradition handed down for generations from my paternal grandmother (Gia Gia), who originated the challenge about 75 years ago. One day in the dead of winter, she took off her shoes and socks and tromped barefoot in the snow to the far side of her yard and back. It was a distance of perhaps 100 feet each way. Pretty much every year since, my family has been holding annual barefoot snow walks whenever we get together for the holidays.

The photo below is of a Christmas-time snow walk we did in 2018. We called it the “deep freeze” walk because we were experiencing record low temperatures that day.

Even when we don’t get together — and we haven’t been gathering much lately — we still try to find any excuse to carry on the tradition. Like my Gia Gia’s birthday, or my mother’s birthday.

Or the first significant snowfall of the year.

Last year since we didn’t even come close to getting together for Christmas, we actually did an extended family barefoot snow walk via Zoom, which included my children in Cheektowaga and Gates; brothers in Pennsylvania and Connecticut; my sister in Greene (NY); my aunt and uncle in Cape Cod; nephew in Massachusettes; even my cousins in Corning and Arizona (where my cousin Laura put her feet in the pool).

Here’s the video from that craziness:

I hope you and yours can enjoy your family traditions this year. If you do anything particularly fun and crazy, let me know about it!

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