It all started with a text message from my father, congratulating my nephew for being the first name on “the next 24-year plaque.”
Wait. What? My nephew is the 25th winner of the Mikols Family Snow Contest? When did we hit 25 years on this thing!?!?!
Please allow me to back up and explain.
I am the oldest of four kids, and any of you with multiple kids know, children will argue and fight about anything and everything. Add in some stubborn Polish genes (my father is 100 percent Polish) and a competitive spirit, and we REALLY could argue about anything ... including the weather.  
I don’t remember exactly, but I believe this is how the snow contest was born: I would have been 16 at the time, and with siblings ages 14, 11 and 8, I imagine we were squabbling about who was the best at guessing. I imagine a certain amount of posturing and one-upsmanship followed. In order to settle the squabble, the snow contest was born. Each member of the family was permitted to enter the date of the first snow of the year at my childhood home in Wichita.  
On year one, I am proud to say I was the victor. The only prize was bragging rights, but the competition was on. When my father won the second year, he decided a plaque with the winner’s name was an appropriate prize.
The competition was, and still is, fierce. In the early days, there were blazing arguments about what constituted “snow.” Any time a white speck would float from the heavens, the heated debates would begin. Is sleet snow? What about freezing rain? The contestant who was slated to win would campaign and try to sway other family members to vote “yes,” it had snowed. I might have bribed my youngest two siblings on multiple occasions.  
As we left the house for college, debates continued about when it actually snowed. Especially if my parents were out of town. As soon as it would flurry in west Wichita, we would start getting texts — but it wasn’t snowing in east Wichita. Eventually, we all agreed that the weather conditions at the Wichita airport would be the official location for snow, mostly because of the detailed logs kept by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As we have married and had children, rules have been added to adjust for these family members. A spouse must be married into the family before the date the sealed contest entries are opened. Furthermore, children must be in first grade before they may submit a guess.
I’m happy to report both of my paternal grandparents won the contest before they died.
Looking back and seeing the dates of each victor is a bit of a walk down memory lane. I remember how excited we all were when my mother finally won (on the 12th year). I remember that I was the first to win twice. My husband was the first spouse to claim the traveling trophy a mere month into our marriage.  
Traditions can begin in the most unexpected of ways, including an absurd argument among siblings.  
I hope you are all enjoying holiday traditions, whatever that looks like for your family.  
Bonar is the editor/publisher of the I-R and can be reached via email: kbonar@indyrepnews.com.