Thinking about it, if we lived in the Southern Hemisphere, it wouldn’t be a holiday tradition, at all. As a matter of fact, it’s very existence requires winter weather.

Can you guess what it is?

Congratulations! That’s exactly right. The tradition is: Who can trick the other spouse into looking out the window in anticipation of seeing snow, when it’s not really snowing, first. My mother used to work me over, but I moved out at the age of 9, when it started to get out of hand; I was pretty sure it wasn’t snowing out one Fourth of July, but she just couldn’t leave it alone. Freak snow storm... right!

Anyway, I got my spousal unit just yesterday. That’s two years in a row before Thanksgiving for those of you who are keeping score. Now, you may think this somewhat trivial, but it truly is an art form. And, when you have to do it year after year, and your spouse is trying, too, and you both know it’s coming, well it’s some work, I promise you.

Got your attention, huh? Wanna try it out on your spouse? Like some pointers? Not a problem. Unfortunately, it did snow today, at least is some parts of Central PA, so winning the "first snow of the season" false sighting is over. But, don’t dismay, it was only a flurry so there’s plenty of good tries left.

If you want to learn how to do this right, there are some excellent techniques and tactics you’ll want to remember. I’ve learned over the years that there are two approaches to "tricking" your spouse. The first one, and the one I use the most, is the direct approach. It’s the "Did you look outside yet?" tactic. It’s been quite successful for me. My significant other uses the indirect approach more often, and has gotten me on several occasions. It’s tricker to execute, but much more rewarding.

I’ll start with an "indirect approach" scenario. You’re spouse is sitting on the couch or somewhere where you can walk behind them. As you walk by, pause at a window, make a little sound of satisfaction, pretending you didn’t see your spouse on the couch, (but knowing they saw you), and keep walking. If you do it just right, your spouse will get up and go to the window (after you’ve left), to see what you were so "happy" about. That’s when you burst out from around the corner chanting "I got you! I got you! I got you!" As I said, this takes a lot of practice, and won’t work consecutive years. There are other ways, but they take a good deal of pre-planning to execute.

I prefer the direct approach, which for me requires less thought, can be applied in a spontaneous situation, and often results in winning with a reluctant pace to the window by my spouse, head shaking, mumbling "You better not be tricking me."

Why does my approach work so well? Let’s say timing is crucial. You see, my spouse/boss is a coffee drinker, and all of you non-coffee drinking spouses know what that means. Answers to complicated questions and snap-judgement-required reactions just don’t happen in the morning. Hee, hee, hee.

Be careful though, they can pull the same "timing" thing on you with the old "Middle-of-The-Night Bathroom Visit" scenario. You know the one. You get up to go to the bathroom, when you come back they’re standing at the window and they say something like, "Look at how bright it looks outside." Arrrrrrrrgggg! You’re too out of it to believe that they’d get out of a warm bed to "get you", but that’s what it’s all about... now, isn’t it?

Remember that all of this is predicated on the fact that you LOVE snow, and wait with child-like anticipation for the first "sticking" of the season. It is also completely dependent on your spouse being equally "into it." It’s a bummer if you’re into it, and your spouse isn’t , but still likes to "trick" you from time to time. (I’ve got some retaliation tricks for those folk, just e-mail me.)

All of this stems from the fact that this issue of MODE Weekly is chock-full-o winter-ish, holiday-ish, events and entertainment. It’s fun to get into the season, and who knows better than the staff here at MODE. You can throw our eggnog right into flames with one match!

On a final note, please check out our Holiday Gift Ideas page. It features a lot of new advertisers we hope you will patronize this holiday season. A special thanks to our sales and production staff for doing a terrific job with this issue on such a short deadline. THANKS EVERYONE!

Enjoy.