I have seen the promised land, and it's in my hot tub

On this day, when the snow is reaching 14 inches and blowing horizontal, let's step back and enjoy the largess. Shall we?

A modest hot tub came with our new house. For the past three nights, The Tribe Called Hall has been enjoying the tub in the four seasons room. Right now, the season is winter. It's going to be one degree tomorrow. And that's the high. So yes, let's hot tub.

After supper and shower, we turn off all the lights. We flip on the bulb that illuminates the water from below. Outside, the moonlight bounces off the icy white snow drifts, making the windowed walls seem lit from within. We start the jets and they whersh mightily. We all climb in, smiling and giggling.

The water warms everything, our arms, our legs, our skin. It cooks our bones. Untold reams of stress spiral loose with furious haste. I can barely say my name after a while. It's like being drunk on warm.

The kids went bananas the first two nights. Splashing and thromping. Spreading their pale limbs outward, swirling in the jet propelled water. They get wilder and we say stop. They temper their feral urges, for a bit anyway. Last night they were calm, floating and still.

Then I have this conversation with Pancake, my daughter of seven years. She says "Momma, this is sooo coool having a hot tub!" I can see the flicker of crazy in her eyes. This tiny swimming pool is her size. Like it was made for her.

"Yes sweet cheeks, it is very cool. But, ya know what makes this so special?"

"We have a hot tub and then in summer we can go swimming in our swimming pool and we can . . ."

"No. It's not the fact that we have these things, it's that we are here together, as a family. If you think about it, how much fun would it be if you were here, in the hot tub, all alone? The hot tub and swimming pool are just things. But us being here, in our house, together as a family, that's what makes all of this so special and fun."

She thinks really hard. She pauses and really, really thinks about it. She smiles. And then she says, "Yeah, like when we have fun doing other stuff".

Then her brother grabs her head and tries to pull her under for the seventh time.

OK guys, time to get out of the tub . . .