Six-and-a-half shopping days until Christmas. How are you doing ...
Six-and-a-half shopping days until Christmas. How are you doing in that department? Is your Christmas baking completed and in the freezer? House decorated? Are you feeling the Christmas Spirit? I don’t know about you, but I really miss having snow on the ground. Oh sure, there’s a little pile here and a little drift there, left over from that single snowfall we had a couple of weeks ago. But we really need some snow.
My grandchildren don’t even know what a real snowfall is. I sound just like my parents; but really it’s not like it used to be. For instance in January of 1975 we had a real snowfall. It snowed hard for days and nights. When Erc Aga, the local KXRA radio personality, rode his snowmobile into the station, every few feet he’d hear an eerie hollow sound. It was a few days later when he realized that sound was made when he drove over the tops of abandoned cars along County Road 22, the road that goes between the white tanks out towards Arrowwood. That was quite the snowfall. I was home with my two little girls over in the 1500 block of Irving Street, just a block from the hospital. I was so relieved to hear Erc Aga’s voice when he put the radio station on the air. He stayed on day and night through the entire storm.
We had plenty of food and my parents were just ten blocks away. But no one could get anywhere. The roads were impassable. When the snow finally stopped falling and the wind stopped blowing, I opened the drapes on the picture window to find that the entire house was buried in snow up to the eaves. We couldn’t get out. As soon as he could, my father-in-law came over on his snowmobile and shovelled away enough snow so that we could at least open the door if the house started on fire. It was many days before sidewalks and driveways were completely opened.
I wonder if we’ll ever see snow like that again. I have always felt kind of sorry for our fellow Americans who celebrate Christmas without snow. I love living where the seasons change; and lately I’ve been feeling a little sorry for myself.
Today my neighbors had their family Chrismas get-together. They were out on the lake in front of my house ice skating and fishing. The lake is safely frozen…but there is no snow on it. Watching them obviously enjoy each others company it suddenly felt very much like Christmas. I realized that the season is what you make of it, celebrating the birth of the Christ Child and enjoying the company of those you love, whether you live in sunny Arizona or here in snow-bare Minnesota. And suddenly I can’t wait for next weekend, snow or no snow. Lucky I’ve had this change of heart…because I don’t think there’s going to be any snow!