---

Do you remember when you threw your first snowball? Made your first snowman or built your first snow fort? Do you remember lounging in your PJs in front of the TV waiting to read the school closings, hoping your school had a snow day that day?
Last week, my aunt, uncle and cousin made their nearly 15 hour trip from Glencoe, Alabama to my grandmother's house in Kieler, Wisconsin for our family's Christmas. Accompanying them was my cousin's new girlfriend, Kellie.
A pretty gal in her 20's, Kellie shared with us that she hadn't done much travelling and this trip was the farthest north she had ever been. "I've never even been above the Mason-Dixon line," she told me and my family in her sweet, southern drawl.
Believe it or not, Kellie had never seen snow before. Never tasted a snowflake on her tongue or rode a sled down a snow covered hill. Never witnessed a Wisconsin winter.
In Alabama, the average temperature is about 65 degrees year round. This year on Christmas Day, it was 54 degrees in Glencoe, with about two inches of rain falling in that area.
My uncle, who was born in Wisconsin, explained that when the temperature drops below 50 degrees in Alabama, residents get out "winter" coats and bundle up. We all laughed when he told us this; it was hard to imagine wearing a heavy winter coat in 50 degree weather!
But it was true! It began to get hot in the basement at my grandmother's and we turned all the ceiling fans on when opening presents. Kellie was the only one who was cold and put on an extra sweater to stay warm.
As a special treat, my aunt and uncle took Kellie out for her first ever snowmobile ride across some family land outside Hazel Green. To an average Wisconsinite, bundling up and taking the snowmobile out for a ride might be something they take for granted. But I could only imagine how exhilarating it must have been for Kellie.
Sadly, like every time they visit, my out-of-state relatives had to pack up and leave shortly after Christmas Day. They will return next Christmas, and I'm hopeful that Kellie will return with them.
"People up here are so much nicer than people in Alabama," she said.