What's So Great About a White Christmas?
Dec 22, 2006
Answer: Just about everything.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, feels better than sipping hot chocolate at mid-day, with people you love, while looking out the window from a warm place at snowflakes drifting to the ground.
It is so much more difficult to imagine Santa and his reindeer racing across the sky if that sky is blue and the air is warm.
Traveling may be difficult in snow. But arriving home on a White Christmas, after long and difficult travels, the lights of your home, the one where you grew up, shine oddly brighter.
A White Christmas means you can walk to church on Christmas Eve in the snow, holding out your tongue to catch it, stomping it off your boots as you enter the church. The congregation will be cheerier if everyone strolls in speckled with melting snow.
A White Christmas means that after the chaos of opening gifts on Christmas Day, you can take the kids out to build a snowman or make snow angels, then everybody can come in and lay around or maybe even take naps, spent from their outdoor antics.
We can survive a warm, gray-brown, dreary, snowless Christmas. We can survive it, and we will. But it won't be right and next year, as always, we'll dream again of a white one.
(Susan Ager is taking a brief vacation from blogging. See you in the New Year!)
Comment by Jodee | Dec 22, 2006 8:08:11 PM
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone. Have a GREAT time off, Susan.
I don't mind not having snow, but I sure don't say anything about it out loud. (Blogs don't count, right?) It reminds me of when there were only about six Democrats around here. They kept their mouths shut.
I know there will be snow this winter and winter is only one day old, so I'm not worried. I don't mind not having to shovel, I don't miss the scary driving, I like not having to lug water out to the barn. Call me Scrooge (or something worse), but it feels like a blessed reprieve. Snow doesn't make it Christmas. Presents do! I mean, family. Yeah, that's what I mean ...
Have a lovely time, everyone.
Comment by JGolden | Dec 22, 2006 10:53:36 PM
I can remember many Christmas Eves spent walking to church with snow crunching underfoot, crisp air freezing the tip of my nose - which was pretty much the only thing showing, my mother believed in wrapping scarves around our faces.
The best snow is fresh-fallen at night, still white and new and shining like a sea of tiny diamonds in the moonlight. I'd reach down, scoop some on the tip of my mitten and feel like the richest kid in the world.
G-d bless and safe travels, everyone!
Comment by EX-TROLL | Dec 23, 2006 1:30:52 AM
Snow is definetly the icing on the cake, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.. wow that almost sounds like something GW might say. It was a blog about the UP that led me to this site and the (almost) promise of a white Christmas that help lead me to the UP. Twenty years out of Twenty two ain't doing too bad, but it sure is quiet here in Munising without all the snow machines buzzing around town. If you can't fight the urge to pelt someone with a snowball here's a little tip, head down to the ice arena and get yourself some Zamboni snow. My kids never see them coming. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
KEEP ON BLOGGIN
Comment by Rose | Dec 23, 2006 8:01:39 AM
As we traditionally travel on Christmas Eve from SW Mitten to metro Detroit and back, our personal preference is for the white stuff to hold off until at least the wee hours of Christmas Day. Or at least not make the roads too treacherous while we are on them!
Our neighborhood takes on a distinctly Currier & Ives persona in the snow and I love the peace and innocence that a thick mantle of winter give... I enjoy sitting by our woodstove encouraging it to pile high and deep - once we are HOME, and especially if our grown children are here, too! Which, happily, they both will be, this Christmas.
Susan, have a restful, regenerative time-off; I also hope your husband's health is on the upswing.
Peace and joy to one and all in this season. Keep the rubber side down, tell someone you love how precious they are to you, and smile at everyone whether they deserve it or not.........
Comment by Yooper Rick | Dec 23, 2006 9:22:41 AM
Last December my wife and I walked a quarter mile along a country road to a really small decommissioned Catholic church that the township now owns for a Christmas Carol sing. The night was starlit and yet dark, we have no streetlights, It was snowing softly and It was as if we were going to mass a hundred years ago. I am sure that others long dead had walked to that same church at that same time for mass. We reconnected then to those now forgotten.
Merry Christ mass to all you Bloggers and If your not a Christian, then Peace be upon you Brother and Sister.
Jesus left his throne to be born in a stable in a cold cave, to die by the hands of man, so that we might learn from his sacrifice how to love others.
Susan thank you for your talent and this forum, Blessing to you and all your family. :)
Peace Out
Rick Weiss
Comment by Hank Nuwer | Dec 23, 2006 10:26:13 AM
Susan: Here's my xmas musing on my Father's Xmas, 1941. Happy holidays. Hank
In Memoriam and Remembrance, Christmas 1941, Fort Benning, Georgia
Sixty-five years ago my dad (Hank Nuwer, Senior; 1915-1984) was a Private First Class and training at Fort Benning for what became his five-year stint with the Hell on Wheels outfit, the Sixty-Sixth Armored Regiment (Light). 2nd Armored Division. *
I guess it's the time of year, but I lost myself this morning contemplating the few military souvenirs my father brought back from World War II combat. Why few? When he docked in New York after years spent as a light tank driver under General Patton in North Africa, Belgium, Sicily, France and Germany, he stopped at a pay phone to call my mother. When he hung up, he discovered a thief had waltzed with his duffel bag.
"Welcome home, Dogface," he remarked about the incident in his laconic way, when I asked what he thought after seeing the empty spot on the concrete.
He refused to say much more, just as he refused to say much more about such matters as the death of his tankmate and best buddy who was blown away by a shell while they were on a break. My dad's tank was nicknamed Lonely, and that's what's printed on its side in one surviving photo my mother has.
My Christmas thought for you is to think of my dad and all those other beloved Dogfaces sitting down to a formal Christmas dinner just weeks
after Peark Harbor. My Dad had been drafted and in uniform about one year.
Here is the menu from his Christmas Dinner, 1941, printed in a beautiful red, white and blue booklet.
Appetizers: Oyster Cocktail, Hearts of Celery, Mixed Pickles, Olives, Cream of Celery Soup
Main Course: Roast Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Oyster Dressing, Giblet Gravy with Rice, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus Tips, Creamed Peas,
Creamed Cauliflower, Apple and Date Salad
Dessert: Mince Pie, Ambrosia, Pound Cake, Ice Cream
Beverage: Coffee, Lemonade
Breads: Crackers, Hot Rolls
Fruit: Tangerines, Oranges, Apples, Grapes, Bananas
Well, because mincemeat pie was my Dad's favorite, I don't have to wonder what his dessert selection was. By some crazy coincidence, I found mince pie yesterday at Wal-Mart, and it is in my fridge now. I had not so much as a slice of this dessert since scarfing down my late Aunt Marion's unbeatable mince pie many, many years ago in my dad's hometown of Alden, New York.
My new wife Lizabeth's cousin is just back from Iraq, as is my cuz Lorenko's son-in-law, and we are grateful for their safety and sacrifice.
So here's to them and you for a beautiful holiday, as I give thanks to all the veterans (God Bless the Ordinary Troop-level Dogfaces), beloved family, friends, students, colleagues and casual readers of this web site.
Dad, if somehow you're reading this... "Welcome, home."
You're going to be a Great-Grandfather in January. And for Christmas, Lizabeth and I are having the same menu you had 65 years ago at Fort Benning.
We'll lift a thin stem with lemonade and say, "Thanks, Dogface."
--Hank Nuwer and Lizabeth
Comment by Sue | Dec 23, 2006 10:59:03 AM
You find just how much you took those white Christmases for granted when you spend a Christmas in California. I grew up in MI (30 years), then lived in CO for 20 (and even then we didn't always have a white Christmas, but at least you had snow on the peaks.. close enough), but now that I'm in CA, I feel like I'm living that one song about the traveling salesguy being in LA at Christmas. The rains have started, so everything is greener now than it ever is in the summer heat. I put lights on a tree in my back yard, and there's a planter full of impatiens under the tree. Talk about your incongruities. My brain is having a very hard time wrapping around that sight.
Oh well.. at least I have my memories of those white Michigan Christmases years ago.. even if you aren't having one this year in Detroit.
Hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy 2007!
Comment by Kelly | Dec 23, 2006 12:19:23 PM
I've lived in Michigan all my life but two years spent in Boston. I think snow is wonderful for Christmas. It could snow a lot - as long as my family was all together and safe - and I'd be fine with that. It could all melt December 26th, however, and not snow again all winter, and I'd be happy about that too. I can't imagine a Christmas without at least chilly temps and preferably some snow - but it doesn't always work out that way! Thanks for the blog, Susan, it's very enjoyable. Merry Christmas!
Comment by BillJ | Dec 23, 2006 1:20:11 PM
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, Susan. And Hank, that story of your Dad was great, and the menu idea is the coolest thing I've heard in a long while. Made me think of my step-dad, Ray Seidel (PFC, forward artillery observer, 336th Field Artillery Battalion, 87th Division). He's been gone over three years, now. I wonder what he was eating on Christmas Day in 1944 in the Ardennes. I can bet it wasn't his favorite pie, lemon meringue. And with the way he hated shoveling snow, I'm sure the idea of a White Christmas was the furthest thing from his mind. But I'm sure I know what he wanted for Christmas: to make it home in one piece, and that's the gift he got. Here's hoping beyond hope that all the men and women in uniform receive the same gift this year. God Bless them all.
Comment by Tony | Dec 23, 2006 5:40:49 PM
Even though most people in Michigan or anywhere in the midwest dream of white christmases, even people who hate snow love a white Christmas. Do you ever stop to think in some parts of the world it is now summer, that there was NO SNOW when the Christ Child was born.
Merry Christmas. And did you know that Michigan is the ONLY state in the union that forbids alcohol sales on Christmas. Like a baseball man once said, "You can look it up,"
Comment by Denise | Dec 24, 2006 10:26:56 AM
I love a white Christmas, and it still doesn't quite feel like Christmas here is the Detroit area, but we'll have to make do with what snow may come Christmas night into Tuesday morning--close enough I guess!
EX-TROLL--that's the best idea!
God Bless out troops, and Merry Christmas to all!
Comment by Ellen | Dec 24, 2006 4:37:35 PM
Bill J's post about his stepdad reminded me of my own dad. He, too, was in the snow that December of '44 - deep in the Battle of the Bulge. He was with the 35th. Division (Harry Truman's old outfit), 137th Infantry. Recently my mom came across some of the letters he wrote home (and some she wrote to him) and let me read them. Those from Europe did not have a lot of information as to where they were - all classified material. I know from his letters that he just wanted to get home in one piece, too. He did manage to do that but I can't ask him about the menu that day. He's been gone 19 years in November.
I remember another Christmas Day my mom took a picture of me sitting on the porch in my shirt sleeves, reading the newspaper. It may have been when I was in high school - pre-1960. Now that I'm retired, any day without snow and ice and not too cold is a good day!
Comment by Karen | Dec 25, 2006 12:32:25 PM
Well, no white Christmas today, Susan. It's a wonderful day anyway, isn't it? Merry Christmas and peace to all...
Comment by barb d | Dec 25, 2006 10:08:59 PM
No snow? Who cares? My family and I spent a wonderful Polish Christmas Eve and a lovely Christmas brunch without it. I know that they arrived at their next destinations safely. That's what matters most!
Comment by Sarah | Dec 26, 2006 10:38:53 AM
Hum... I hate snow... & I would rather not have a white Christmas. I'd be thrilled if we could go a whole winter with no snow. Although I know this will never happen. Looking out a window & seeing everything covered in whiteness kinda makes me want to hurl. I can't stand it... cold AND wet? Ick.
So, those of you who like the snow, sorry you didn't get it this year, but I'm happy :) Hope you had a good holiday anyway.
Comment by Marie | Dec 28, 2006 7:56:51 AM
Sarah, I'm sorry, but I LOVE snow. My feeling is that if it's cold and nasty, why not have some snow to compensate. I don't see it as a downside of winter...it's a blessing! Yay, bring on the snow. Deep fluffy piles, sticky, good packing piles, even the freezing heavy stuff. It's one of the things I love most about living in Michigan.
My family has spent many a year traveling to Marquette to see grandma and grandpa for Christmas. We take turns, they come here one year, we go there the next. I think I have seen every kind of travel weather going "up north". Even sitting in Mackinac City one year for a few hours because they closed THE bridge. And they don't do that very often.
If it's snowing we take our time. We always pack for the weather and have plenty of food and drink in the car. Along with our shovel, sand and salt. My mom used to say if you travel to the UP between October and May, you better be prepared. Even Marquette didn't have snow for Christmas this year. It was pretty green. But we know that won't last for long. : )
Comment by garyk | Dec 29, 2006 2:16:27 PM
While there are those that dream of a white Christmas I dream of a Green Spring. With the warm temps lately it appears that the Presidents Global Warming Policies are working
Comment by EX-TROLL | Dec 29, 2006 4:22:04 PM
It started around noon now the whole town is white. There's already snowmobiles on trailers at some motels, some sled-heads wait all year for this week, not to mention the bar/reastaurant/motel/gas stations who depend on the "white gold". I'll have to take another drive around town after dark, Christmas lights look so much better with snow around them. Maybe Munising will be able to keep the "Snowmobile Capital" title after all.
why do we to say not to mention when you know your going to go ahead and mention something??
Comment by Hank Nuwer | Apr 6, 2007 8:20:21 PM
Susan: Fyi--I have a grand daughter-Zoey.Trust you are well
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