(Flickr photo by brianjmatis)
The weather has been on everyone’s mind lately–are we having a snow day? are the roads too icy for travel? do I really have to leave my bed? The love/hate relationship with winter is in full bloom.
While some parts of America are already white-blinded, I’m still wishing for snow. Recently, we got flurries that inspired hope and childlike excitement for a full three minutes, then stopped as quietly as they started, leaving nothing behind to mark the event. Today, our weatherman, sporting a tie with snowflakes and Frosty himself, had the nerve to tell us to expect seventy degree temperatures by Sunday. Seventy!
I’ve heard “be careful what you wish for” all my life, but to my northern and snowbound friends, I’d like to tell you: It goes both ways. Can you really imagine spending the holiday season looking out the window at trees adorned in neither the colored leaves of fall nor the snow-covered boughs of winter? Just dark gnarled fingers scratching a sad gray sky.
Can you imagine passing up all the wonderful winter fare–eggnog, apple cider, hot chocolate–because it is simply too hot? No chestnuts would be roasting over open fires because a fire would only add to the heat.
What about your favorite Christmas garb? Interested in cutting the sleeves out? Really. Keep in mind, decorating sleeveless blouses and muscle shirts with a snowball motif just hasn’t happened yet. The closest you’ll come is a cowboy-boot clad Santa shouting, “Merry Christmas, Y’all!” from behind a cactus appliquéd on a snuggly warm sweatshirt.
Do you love to ice skate on a frozen pond? Do you love to ski? Or do you just love to see the sunbeams sparkling on your white lawn? Oops. Too bad! You’ll have to settle for muddy yellow patches of dead and dormant grass.
Sigh.
Okay, so we don’t have the roof damage from icicles or run the risk of our power going out. We don’t need to sand our driveways or shovel our walks. There are some perks to the warmer climate here. And it isn’t really as bad as all that. Even if it doesn’t snow often, it does occasionally get cold enough for soups, stews and chilis, fires in the fireplace, blankets shared on loveseats, old holiday movies.
But just once, I’d really love to have a white Christmas.
Several years into it, and this blog still refuses to be categorized. It's eclectic and includes everything from writing posts to snippets from my ordinary life. 
Linda W. Yezak 
But I agree, it doesn’t seem like Christmas when the flowers are still blooming. I don’t mind the lack of snow and even worst, ice. I was caught in a white-out two Christmas’ ago, so the fasination of having a white Christmas is gone from me. This year we will be traveling, so again, I prefer the nice dry roads.
What I would prefer is a Christmas that started in December instead of October, one where a Nativity set could be set up on the court house lawn. One that celebrated the Love that came down.
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Oh, yeah. I’d give up all hopes for a white Christmas if we as a nation could remember the true meaning of Christmas!
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It’s presently 1 degree above zero here in Wisconsin this morning. I love looking out at the ten inches of snow on the ground but getting out in it is another story.
Fortunately,the sun’s shining so that will keep the Avalanche a tiny bit warmer as it sits in the parking lot here at work.
I’ve always lived here so I can’t imagine Christmas without snow. If I could, I’d ship some your way.
A Christmas without all the glitz would be a miracle, wouldn’t it? I’d love to focus on God’s gift to us and not be overwhelmed with the world’s perception of the season.
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I am *not* a winter person. I would perfectly happy if it was summer 90% of the year, and I’m always threatening to move to Hawaii for the winter months. But there is something very special about a wintery December. The Christmas magic makes up for the bitter temperatures. And they *are* bitter here in western Nebraska right now. A couple nights ago it was -31 with windchill. 😯
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Wow, you two–does it have to be *that* cold to have snow? I’m a wimp at 27 degrees!
Maybe after Christmas, you should both move here–for the rest of the winter, the lows will probably be around 35. You can handle that. Bring your swimsuits.
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Personally, I think snow is highly overrated. I’ll take an 80 degree Christmas day any time. Does that make me a hum bug? And I do get very frustrated with trying to find holiday garb with short sleeves. Can usually find a few decorated T-shirts, but that’s it. Obviously, clothing manufacturers don’t have southeast Texas in mind when they put together their Christmas line. And of course, in our age group sometime we need those short sleeves indoors even when it is freezing outside. Hot flashes do occur even where there are white Christmases. Maybe next year I will take your suggestion and make some of my own holiday garb. 😀
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Ack! 80 degree Christmas? Bite your tongue, girl!
Fortunately, my days of hot flashes are over, unless they’re Crohn’s-related–thank you, Lord!
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A touch of the white stuff occurred here, temps are really cold and the winds uprooted a tree by our pond! However, have not gotten the massive amounts of white that the rest of the country seems to be getting. Still hoping for a White Christmas and beyond though 🙂
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Hate that the tree was uprooted. It’s always sad to see a symbol of strength down. I hope you get a white Christmas though.
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Stopped by again, Linda, and White Christmas is so nice and we hardly know any other type of Christmas. Sure we are cold and snow blowing/shoveling the 13 inches we got last week got us more exercise than we wanted. However, on the other side when we spent those several weeks in Orlando over Thanksgiving I sort of forgot what season it was. Wearing shorts and t-shirts got me in the summer mode and coming home I called a girlfriend to look in the paper to see if St. Louis Cardinals were having a baseball game as we would be driving by the stadium and didn’t want to run into traffic. She informed me they don’t play baseball on the 1st day of December – a senior moment? I certainly hope so!
Merry Christmas!
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It isn’t something to travel from south to north in winter? Packing for such a trip must be a meterological challenge!
Thanks for sending me your snow picture. Gave me something to sigh over!
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