It’s sad and brown all over the Midwest this holiday season, but there’s a magical place where you can pretend it isn’t.

It’s that white ribbon of snow painted on the front of each of our favorite hills. If you close your eyes and want it enough, it might even feel like skiing.

Yes, the white ribbon is back and it’s all we’ve got right now.

Complaining about the ribbon is worthless. In fact, anything but celebrating it won’t be entertained by this writer.

It may not be pretty, the quality of snow may be poor and it may get crowded too easily, but the work that goes in to just painting one ribbon is commendable.

In reality, we shouldn’t even be here. Skiing before the snow falls is not how our forefathers intended it. Thanks to modern technology and a group of dedicated snow makers, we get to make these unnatural turns.

This year, I’ll take whatever we can get. I need the ribbon and you do too.

So enjoy it. The snow will come (*vigorous wood knock*). And then you can forget about your humble ribbon beginnings to the ski season when you’re smashing pow in March.