I’m starting to think that you simply have to be of a certain age to appreciate snowfall. Sadly, though, it’s not younger people to whom I’m referring. I think older people, particularly people in my age range, appreciate the gift that snowfall truly is.

It’s not just a day off from school or work but a blanket of pure adventure lain across one’s entire landscape. And in an age of Nintendo Wiis and Playstations, it seems that children simply don’t get into what it means to have a blanket of white cold stuff spread across a steep hill.

As a child, snow on the ground meant a chance for me to test my limits. Snow meant falling down was no accident but a chance to experience falling without the consequence of breaking a bone. Snowfall also meant a chance to continue a lifelong pursuit of being a stunt man. After all, the entire world was pretty much a giant airbag.

Moreover, snowfall was a chance to air some grievances with friends by pelting them with snowfalls. Knowing there was very little chance of hurting my friends with a snowball, unless of course I decided to put a pebble in it, gave me just the safety blanket I needed to fire snowballs at my buddies’ heads until someone’s skullcap came flying off. And then we’d all be off to celebrate with some hot chocolate later.

Nowadays, it seems that children just don’t get the fun of being hit with a snowball. I know this to be true as I recall the first time my niece, the only link I still have to today’s youth, encountered a really big snowfall.

A few of years ago, my mother and I took my niece out into the first big snow she’d ever seen. We all got dressed up nice and heavy and headed out. My mom and I, being old hands at dealing with the white stuff, pretty much dove right into the experience. We did what people are supposed to do in snow. We ran. We jumped. And dare I say we frolicked in all the winter bliss.

All the while, in the middle of this winter wonderland, my niece looked stumped, perplexed even, as to what to do.

And as my mom popped me in the face with the biggest snowball I’ve ever tasted, my niece looked at us both, with a panicked, almost alarmed expression, and asked “Why are we doing this?”

Unbelievable. I could not believe I had lived long enough to meet a child that just didn’t appreciate what fun it is to be smacked in the face with a snowball.

So, as we look to these snow days ahead of us, I urge each of you older people to get a child away from his video games and Facebook accounts and show him how to have some real fun. And maybe some day, today’s young generation will again appreciate how awesome it is to get hit in the face with a giant snowball.

Enjoy the snow, Suffolk.