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| Christmas Candles by Michael Henderson - Flickr CC |
As a kid I always wanted snow on the ground. Yes, the "White Christmas" aspect was very important, I don't know why, but it's expected to have snow on the ground on Christmas Day where I hail from. (Vermont, for those who are new here.)
But from a more practical standpoint, without snow, you couldn't go sledding. You couldn't have snowball fights, or build snowmen, or have snow forts. Why, without snow winter was no fun at all! It was just cold, gray and miserable without snow.
Maybe you have to be a New Englander to understand that. Or from Michigan.
Speaking of Michigan (where part of the family resides and where I have a number of dear friends), last year we traveled to Michigan to celebrate New Year's with The WSO and her husband Big Time's tribe. Simply awesome people, fun to hang out with and they make you feel right at home.
Yup, I spotted it too. A digression.
Anyhoo.
When we flew into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW on your navigational charts) I noted a rather alarming absence of snow. I mean, what the heck! It's late December, we're in Michigan for crying out loud. Where is the white stuff?
Big Time's Dad told us that they had had a little snow on Christmas Day but to be patient. More snow was in the forecast.
Yup. It started a day or so later and didn't stop. It was still snowing when we flew back to Little Rhody in early January. So I did get to see snow. Lots and lots of snow.
This year rain is predicted for much of southern New England.
Rain.
At Christmas.
Sigh.
We shall see.
Anyhoo. I'm going to be traveling (a lot) over the next week or so.
I'm planning on having a few posts scheduled to fire off auto-magically while I'm on the road.
But that means I need to write them. Like now (now being Monday, the 22nd).
So far I've got one in the hopper. This one.
I better get to work!
Enjoy this day. I always have.
Even if I never could get to sleep. What with the excitement and all.
I know I'm 61. But in my heart, I'll always be 12. (A not very mature 12 I might add...)
May all your Christmases be Merry and Bright!
I hope you have a snowy and merry Christmas too.
ReplyDeleteAs for us at the Barco, give us "...warm summer breezes, French wines and cheeses".
All the best to youse guys up North!
Barco Sin Vela II
I can't say for sure, but I don't think I've ever had a White Christmas certainly not that I remember. I'm sure there probably was when Dad was stationed in North Dakota and Montana, but I was less than 5. So, I'm more with BSV above."...warm summer breezes, French wines and cheeses"
ReplyDeleteBut the viewing of "White Christmas" whilst putting up the tree is the official start of the season, since forever.
Merry Christmas to you, rain or not. We're two feet shy of our normal snowfall totals at this point, but at least the ground is white. And they're calling for a few inches today, tonight and tomorrow, which is present enough. :)
ReplyDeleteMERRY CHRISTMAS, I hope you and your family have an awesome time!!!
ReplyDeleteI never expect snow for Christmas but always wish for it. Snow on Christmas is like icing on the cake, makes for a perfect Christmas day. Most of the time.
We woke up to snow on Christmas day 3 years ago and I told my better half that this was going to be the perfect Christmas day. We headed off to my daughters house with our van loaded with presents for 12 grandchildren and made the 20 mile drive through heavy snow with no mishaps. We had a great day of family, food and sledding. The back of my daughter's property is about 2 acres of 30 degree downhill slope that makes for some awesome sledding, especially when the pond at the bottom is frozen.
When we headed home that night, the snow was so deep that we began pushing snow with the front of the van and couldn't get up their driveway. David got out his 1 ton truck and opened a path to the road so we could head home. Since the snow was about 18" deep by this time and there had been no traffic on their road, we started plowing snow again with the front of the van and got stuck about a mile down the road. I had to walk back and get David and he opened a path to the main highway. Needless to say, it was a long drive home that night.
About 3 miles from our house, we came across a young lady whose car had slid into the ditch and she was trying to shovel all the snow away with a piece of cardboard.
After stopping to help, I found out that she was an A1C headed to her new assignment at Whiteman AFB and had tried to take a short cut on the back roads. She was from "Sandy Eggo" and had never seen snow before and wanted to know if Missouri was like this all winter. I was happy to assure her that this was extremely rare and got her headed the right direction to get to the base.
Made it the rest of the way to the house only to get stuck in the entrance to our driveway. Left the van there and dug it out the next day!
But it was definitely a White Christmas to remember. (We traded the van in for an SUV!)