I have the good fortune (or misfortune, depending on how you
view winter weather) to live where Christmas most often looks the way it’s
depicted on Christmas cards. There is snow, of course, sometimes heaps of it,
sometimes just enough to turn the world a lovely white. The trees are frosted.
Colored lights glow under snow-draped bushes, giving nighttime an ethereal
quality. Around almost every corner are decorations, from the traditional Santa
to the latest holiday cartoon character. The Rotary runs a wonderful light and music show in the park. Our
town is host to horse-drawn sleigh rides on selected evenings, and there’s a
holiday parade to welcome Santa.
In short, it’s definitely Christmas card country. And I sort
of take it for granted that Christmas looks this way for everyone. Except I
know very well it doesn’t. Great swaths of our country don’t have or even
expect a white Christmas.
I lived in West Texas for a couple of years and Christmas
looked very different there. Instead of evergreen boughs, yards were decorated
with silver, green, and gold spray-painted tumbleweeds tied up in bunches. At
night, instead of electric lights, luminaries lined driveways and sidewalks,
giving the darkness a flickering, fantasy glow. The Christmas parade rode down
perfectly clear streets, and Santa didn’t need an overcoat. I certainly didn’t
need mittens, muffler and boots to watch it.
I don’t remember being too disconcerted by my couple of
Christmases without snow, without all the traditional—at least according to the
card company—trappings of the season. I still got presents. We still had a
tree.
Back up here in Christmas card country it’s easy to forget the
season looks very different for a good share of the world. When we’re deep in a
blizzard, it’s hard to imagine some of those people in the other part of the
world are actually longing for a Christmas like ours. We’d happily ship some of
our snow and cold anywhere that would take it. Hey, we’ll share! If only we
could.
But we can’t, and we really don’t need to. Christmas is what
we make it, wherever we are and with whatever we have. Christmas is the people
we share it with, not the weather or the card-company trappings. It’s your
Christmas to enjoy, and I hope you all do so. Best wishes for the season!
Helen C. Johannes
http://helencjohannes.blogspot.com/
13 comments:
Your words rang so very true, Helen. Thanks for sharing! Happy Holidays!
Helen, I live in a part of the country (Pacific Northwest) that gets very little snow around the holidays. Last year for the first time in a long time we had snow at Christmas and everyone enjoyed making snowpeople. Thanks for sharing a bit of your home with us.
Thanks for commenting, Mary and DeeDee. Our part of the country loves snow, and we have plenty of it this year already. Having that white blanket definitely puts us in the Christmas spirit. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
Liked your post, Helen. Once upon a time when I was a wee girl we lived in what we considered the North country [Edmonton, Alberta] and heaps of snow were the norm, expected, wanted. Now, after 30 years living on the West Coast, I admit snow at Christmas is rare, sometimes missed, usually not. :-) As you say so well, it's Christmas wherever you are, whatever your traditions you keep. And you also have a wonderful, snowy holiday!
Cat
Helen, like you, I live in Christmas card country! In fact, looking out my kitchen window today, down toward our creek, I see what would make a very lovely card, indeed. I think the trick is to be grateful for whatever beauties one's area offers. Personally, though, I wouldn't trade that cozy, snowy-day feeling!
Love the snow! I lived in Phoenix for a year and also experienced a hot, humid Christmas. The people are the same no matter where you are and every place has its own magic during the holidays. Thanks for sharing!
Nice reflection. I often wonder about other places when the weather is snowing hard on Christmas and traffic is a nuisance and reflect on how warmer places celebrate the holidays.
Thanks, Cat, Laura, and Kristal, for sharing your 'snow' thoughts. Christmas is all about those traditions you carry with you wherever you are for the holidays, and that's a much more comforting 'blanket' than snow. Merry Christmas to all!
We forget that Christmas looks and feels different around the country and world for that matter. Thanks for the reminder It’s snow country where I live too. Can’t magine Christmas in shorts and t-shirts every year.
We often have a nice temperate Christmas day and I am always amazed to see pictures of the beautiful white Christmas some of you experience, but then I started interacting with our friends in the other hemisphere and discovered that they are often sweltering at Christmas. Fascinating world that we live in! Thanks for the post!
We, too live in Christmas Card Country--love that you refer to it as such. Its the rare Christmas that we don't have snow here in the lower part of New York's Finger Lakes Region. I do however have relatives and friends that live in the south and actually travel to warmer climates for the winter and the holidays and they don't mind celebrating the holidays in the sunshine. Have a wonderful Christmas.
Your Christmas Card County sounds lovely. I live in northern British Columbia in Canada and we always have a white Christmas, but so far this year, there isn't snow. Global warming? Merry Christmas.
I can appreciate your post about Christmas Card County. I live in Northwestern Pennsylvania and snow is usually here for Christmas. Although, this year, it's quite dreary out and there is mud and grass but no snow. My dogs are especially in need of getting their paws cooled off my Mother Nature. My husband was raking leaves yesterday! Happy holidays!
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