In the Alexandria neighborhood of Del Ray, Amy Young's three children started the morning calling their friends.
"The day kind of took on a life of its own," she said, as nine children between the ages of 3 and 15 appeared for a lunch of beef-and-barley soup after sledding.
At the FDR Memorial, local photographer Jean-Louis Monfraix makes use of an umbrella to prepare the president for his close-up.
(Robert A. Reeder -- The Washington Post)
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Young, a creative writing teacher at the Lab School in Georgetown, said she was accustomed to more restful snow days. "I think of it as a day to read as much as possible, to play board games, to sit in front of the fire." Drying a load of snow-drenched children's clothes was not on the list, "but I gave in to it," she said.
In Montgomery and Howard counties, students enjoyed their first snow day of the year. "We were concerned about having buses out on the roads if the roads started getting bad," Howard County schools spokeswoman Patti Caplan said.
The fat, wet flakes that coated Southern Maryland slowed traffic and cut electric power to about 180 Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative customers but caused no widespread problems, officials said.
In Charles County, where school was also out, 15-year-old Dawn Howdyshell was shopping for popcorn at Safeway in her flannel pajamas.
"This is the coolest thing that has happened this year," said Howdyshell, a freshman at Lackey High School in Indian Head. "We're going to lie on the couch, eat popcorn and watch movies. And there better be no school tomorrow."
Her mother, Holly, 38, stayed at home rather than brave the snowy commute to the District for her job as a human resources coordinator with the AFL-CIO: "I'd rather be stuck home than in D.C."
Youngsters flocked to the St. Charles Towne Center mall in nearby Waldorf.
Tri Nguyen, 12, eagerly checked out the video games at the Game Stop store. He had his heart set on a blast-'em-up game, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf.
"I'm going to play this all day," said Tri, a sixth-grader at Mattawoman Middle School in Waldorf. "Where'd my mom go? I need some money."
Staff writers Steven Ginsberg, Annie Gowen, Hamil R. Harris, Arthur Santana, Karin Brulliard, Peter Whoriskey, Cameron W. Barr, Tara Bahrampour, Ylan Q. Mui, Brigid Schulte, Maria Glod, Allison Klein, Clarence Williams and Daniel de Vise contributed to this report.
