Prelude: If you live in one of those enviable climates where the weather is perfect all the time, there is plenty of warmth and sunshine, and you don’t know what it feels like to break your ice scraper while trying to remove an inch of ice from your windshield, this is not a blog post for you.

It’s snowing.

Yep, the first year that we have a driveway to shovel, a car to clean off from snow (no garage here), and our daughter in daycare (which has snow days as opposed to our nanny, who didn’t), the first snow has come earlier than in many previous years. Most likely it will just be an inch or so, and might turn to rain by morning, so it’s not technically anything to worry about. (Funny enough, my daughter and I had completely different reactions to this not really being a storm. Me: “Oh, good, just a little snow.” Her: “Oh, no, mommy! There isn’t enough snow for a snowman and you promised that when I wore my warm winter coat there would be!” I miss being a kid.)

The potential–extremely unlikely in this case–of having a snow day on Monday got me thinking:

Why can’t we schedule snow days?

I’d really hate to have my daughter’s daycare closed for a snow day on a Monday, for example. It’s a day when I try to be ultra-productive because I don’t get as much work done on weekends as during the week. (Yes, I work on weekends, fellow entrepreneurs please nod!) I’d prefer to have a snow day on a Wednesday or Thursday–a mid-week break for me and a fun chance to hang out with my daughter.

But nobody is asking and as most working families, tonight we’re trying to make a plan for what we will do when we actually do have a snow day. My husband has a job where surprisingly, a boss without kids is extremely flexible in terms of him coming home early or even working from home. He says he will try to work from home on most snow days, unless there is a reason to go into the office. That way, we split the day and both get some work done and throw some snowballs with our daughter outside.

Last year our nanny couldn’t come in one day because there was so much snow that the subway trains weren’t running. I had an important meeting I had to make but my husband had already left for work. (She called after he left.) I was all frazzled cancelling the meeting, emailing people, stressing out and then I stopped myself. Yes, it’s a challenge, yes, timing was horrible, but here I had this chance to just hang out with my daughter and get all silly outside. I forced myself to forget about the stress (not entirely successful) and enjoy the day. I also did 3 things that made that day go smoother, and I thought I’d share them with you here–for your next snow day or sick day, perhaps:

•  Check your work calendar ASAP. I mentioned that I had a big meeting, which I remembered to cancel. What I almost forgot was a conference call that was schedule at the last minute the day before. If I hadn’t checked my work calendar a not-so-nice situation would have come up.

• Schedule an hour to get work done–and use a TV helper if you have to. If you can take the whole day off, great. I couldn’t get away with doing nothing, so I turned on some cartoons and caught up on emails for an hour. It made a huge difference.

• Use the day to get ahead on meals for the week or catch up on some creative projects together with your kids. This way, you’ll free up a bit more time later on in case you need to get some extra work done, at the office or at home.

What about your family? What do you do when it’s a snow day and school or daycare is closed? Is it a welcome break or a scheduling challenge?

P.S. On a very unrelated topic, I’ve been “memed” (for the first time ever!) by one of the members of the Work It, Mom! community so watch out for a post with 7 random things about me. (And since I have to tag 7 other bloggers, check your comments soon!)