Growing up in Northeast Wisconsin, I took a white Christmas for granted. That’s not to say it snowed on Christmas Day every year, but lawns were white on December 25. The lawn was so white, in fact, that there were places we couldn’t get to unless we trudged through snow up to our knees. Most years there was so much snow that when we went outside during Christmas break (early in the afternoon so there was still sunlight) we could build snow forts in the drifts around the house. Since those are my childhood memories, I thought a white Christmas was the norm. Moving to Alaska cemented my belief that it was an occasional oddity that the ground was not white on Christmas.
The year I moved to Denver all of that changed. Yes, they had a white Christmas that year. It was the year of the big pre-Christmas snow storm that shut down the airport for three days. Later, in February, there was a lot on the news about the record of 61 days of snow on the ground somewhere at the airport. Here I thought if snow fell any time after Thanksgiving the ground was expected to stay white until at least March. It wasn’t always the same snow, but enough snowfalls and temperatures cool enough to keep the snow when it did fall, so the new snow constantly covered up the dirty snow. Now I’m living in Reno. According to one of the local news stations there is an 11% chance of having a white Christmas any given year. Out here a white Christmas means it snows on Christmas Day. Just yesterday it snowed a little in the morning but by early afternoon the lawn was just sage brush and dirt again. It seems that evergreen trees grow better than deciduous trees out here and grass is hard to keep growing so lawns look about the same on December 25 as they do on June 25. It’s no wonder that most of the world just doesn’t understand the quiet serenity of the Christmas season. In Northeast Wisconsin the weather often forces people to stay inside, giving them time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Snow isn’t just a one day thing, like the spirit of Christmas shouldn’t be a one day thing. From now to mid-March you will likely have frequent reminders of fresh starts when a good snowfall covers the dirty snow with a new blanket of white. I’m jealous.
1 Comment
marjorie vorpahl
12/24/2020 10:11:07 am
You could always move back to WI. We would welcome you with open arms and a snow shovel.
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