A Canadian Christmas Requires Snow

I have lived in Canada my whole life, and save for three years spent in Ottawa, Ontario as a child, the entire time has been in Saskatchewan.  That means that snow and Christmas, for me, go hand in hand.  I am an expert at complaining about winter, how could I not be after 35 years of practice?  However, it's not the snow that bothers me.  Oh sure it makes driving more challenging but I get used to that.  In fact, I kind of enjoy driving right after we get a huge dump of snow. I feel powerful and mighty maneuvering my van through the drifts (Murphy, you didn't hear that did you?).  I am woman, hear me roar, a little snow isn't keeping me down. 

Yes, I am in therapy, why do you ask?

So when early last week, Regina got it's first dump of the fluffy white stuff,  I was elated.  It was partially fueled by the fact that only minutes before it began to fall, we finished putting the Christmas lights on the evergreens in our front yard.  Christmas light are pretty. Christmas lights shining through fluffy white snow are idyllic, in my opinion.

The brown, dreary landscape we've been looking at for months now was old, a fresh covering of snow was just what I needed.  It appears that there is no consensus on this issue though.  Facebook was overflowing with grumbling about the freshly fallen snow but in equal contrast were those who relished in the freshness it provided.  It got me thinking about Christmas.  For me, Christmas without snow is missing something.  Uh, like the snow.  Let me explain.  When I was ten years old, we took a trip from our home in Ottawa down to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  This trip occurred over Christmas.  The trip was amazing but I never felt like we had Christmas until we arrived home and had a belated celebration.

The last time I remember a brown Christmas here in Saskatchewan was 1997, the year my husband proposed to me on December 30th by writing "Will you marry me?" in the sand of a local beach.  I love telling that story, I get a lot of strange looks, because really, now often can we, as Prairie dwellers, talk about a brown Christmas?

I'll be honest, that Hollywood ideal of big white fluffy snowflakes that begin to fall at dusk on Christmas Eve is pretty much my ideal too.  Except I like it to fall on the already existing snow, just to freshen things up to celebrate the coming of our Saviour.

Original post to Canada Moms Blog.  Kami also complains about the weather, among other things at Kami's Khlopchyk