We had snow on Christmas Day. It wasn’t in the morning but started coming down in the early evening. It snowed all night and continued the next day. The last time I remember having snow (on the ground) Christmas day was 1992.  From my memory, there has been one, true ‘White Christmas’ here in my part of Oregon, that was in 1988 where it started snowing Christmas Eve.

I had a four day weekend.  Friday and Monday were holidays for me around Christmas.  I spent Friday cooking as I made mole from scratch.  We had a low country boil for Christmas eve dinner.  Saturday was Christmas and Sunday was a down day.  Monday, it was back to work, so to speak.  Since my mother-in-law was staying with us over the weekend, it was time to get her back home.

I shoveled a path on the deck, stairs, driveway and a few access points.  Part of why I did that was forecasts were all over the map in terms of high temperatures.  I didn’t want the packed snow to ice over and be days worth of problems, including the driveway.  When I got to her house, I knocked the snow off of the awning, shoveled the snow off the roof, shoveled a path to the door.  We then discovered that the water line was frozen.  I spent an hour defrosting that and getting the water running.

When I used to work outside of the home, a snow day was not a day the office was closed, unlike the kids school or working for the state, like my wife.  I would plan extra time to get the car cleaned off and drive half speed or less.  When I had the ability or forethought to take my equipment home before the storm, I would work from home while everyone is watching movies and playing in the snow.

In 1988, my brother and I got mountain bikes for Christmas.  We road them in the snow and ice for the first time.  Needless to say, we found that combination didn’t work too well.  I don’t remember my brother’s outcome but I know that I laid my new bike down several times that day.

I suppose that I get my tendencies from my parents because a snow day was just a regular day.  They would go off to work in the morning and we were left to ourselves. We lived on a hill in the country and there was some traffic but not a lot.  We would start a fire in the woodstove in the shop and sled for hours down the hill, every couple of hours going into the shop to warm up and dry off.  

There is a stark contrast between what we did and my kids.  They don’t really play together, not even making a snowman or snowball fight.  I would estimate that they barely spent an hour a piece over the last couple of days outside.  Maybe they get it from me?  I was spent from the month of December and the hours in the kitchen over the last week.  I just wanted to sit down and watch football for a couple of hours.

It seems like a lot of people appear excited to have snow.  Here, it is about a once a year event.  But, the truth is, I don’t see a lot of people doing stuff and really taking advantage of it.  Maybe it is just a good excuse to do nothing?  I guess what I feel like is that there is everything that needs to get done, plus more work and time to do it.

My son asked me if I was excited that it snowed. I told him that I have spent winters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada;  not really.  I used to work for a Canadian company and the majority opinion was that it was better to live somewhere where snow was not in the daily routine.  One guy even told me that people had winter cars because of the salt on the roads (at least he did).  

End Your Programming Routine: I like seasons, I don’t think I would do well in a semi-tropical climate.  Last year I wrote about the transition to Winter makes you appreciate the Summer and was necessary for life to recharge and grow strong.  That being said, I am OK if this is our annual snow event.  It has been a number of years since we have seen any accumulation of snow.  I really appreciate that I don’t have to add several hours to my drive or even leave the house at this point.