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And may all your Christmases be white
December 26, 2013
"In the Bleak Midwinter" is one of my favorite Christmas hymns.
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.
I don't know that "frosty wind made moan" was the world that Jesus of Nazareth was born into, at least not his physical world, but it is without a doubt, the physical world I inhabit.
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow
Snow is my Christmas reality. And playing in the snow has been the dominant theme of our last week, with more to come.
Perhaps because of my northern European ancestry and the fact that I live in a northern culture, Christmas is as much about snow as it is about Advent and Jesus born in stable.
Snow is my Christmas world. The Christmases of my parents and their parents, of my childhood, my children's childhoods, "I just can't imagine Christmas without snow", Celine commented to me recently.
Neither can I my dear, neither can I.
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Brittany on Dec. 26, 2013, 8:32 p.m.
Celine, I've never had a white Christmas in my entire life... and I'm 33 with two small children! I have lived in sunny Southwest Florida all of my life, and yet I wish every year to experience a true winter. Next year, we're hoping to have just that and relocate our celebration to Upstate New York!
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Katja on Dec. 26, 2013, 9:02 p.m.
Merry Christmas to you and your family and a happy New year!
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Julie on Dec. 27, 2013, 3:18 a.m.
Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year!!! Being from Northern Michigan and living in Wisconsin, I can't remember a Christmas wtihout snow. Less snow and maybe the grass peeking through in some places but never NO snow. It just wouldn't be Christmas without the snow. I'm not sure it would feel like Christmas without the snow, it is what helps put us in the mood for Christmas here in my house. Sledding is our favorite outdoor past time and we spend alot of time sledding (depending upon the amount of snow).
For us Christmas and snow...well...you can't have one without the other.
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GO HERE on Jan. 14, 2014, 1:31 p.m.
When I initially commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added" checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Bless you!
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Tiffani on Dec. 31, 2013, 11:26 a.m.
How beautiful! My Christmases growing up consisted of shorts. I remember one year, yes ONE, getting to wear a sweater to our Christmas Eve service because it had gotten a little cooler. But by the time we got home, off it came because I was burning up! HA!
That's south Louisiana for you!
Thank you or sharing your absolutely gorgeous pictures! I can't even imagine how wonderful that must be!
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jacinda on Dec. 26, 2013, 7:48 a.m.
Celine should head to New Zealand sometime and experience a Summer Christmas swimming at the beach :-) I'd love to experience a cold, dark Christmas, experience an advent where I get to turn inwards and slow down rather than the energy of early Summer and all the busyness in the garden. May you and your family be blessed this Winter Solstice and Christmas time.
Thanks for a beautifully evocative post...I shared the post with all the family and there were such gasps of admiration and disbelief at the amount of snow.