A Not-Quite-Snowy Christmas Eve

     If you live in a northern part of the world that sees snow and blustery weather on a regular basis, you may not have a complete understanding for those of us, with kids, that don't.  For those who have never spent a year past the Mason-Dixon line, I'd like to paint a picture for you.  Imagine you're a kindergartener and when October hits, the class units turn to Falling Leaves, Changing Colors, Seasons, Cool Weather and you're walking around in tank tops and shorts.  Then after Thanksgiving, the arts and crafts unit center around snowflakes and mittens and you're still wearing short sleeves and the typical southern five-year-old is wondering when snow will fall from the sky.
If you're lucky like us, you'll have grandparents who live in great states where snow always falls.

      What is unlucky though is that we can't plan the date of the big blizzard, and our wishes don't always play out in real life.

        We left our warm Texas weather and ventured into frigid Oklahoma, and by the time we stopped at a gas station in Dallas, it really was getting cooler.  Light coat worthy.  We had such anticipation.  Then when we cruised into Tulsa late at night, we had freezing temps. Mitten and hat worthy.  And in the mind of a child (and mine too) anything this cold should be accompanied by wet flakes.  Instead, we had frozen grass and icicles on trees and a few minutes of glorious dry flakes.  It isn't what you envision when you think of a true White Christmas (Eve),  but to these completely unspoiled snow kids, it was just as exciting as you could get.  They spent tons of time in and out of the house breaking icicles and throwing rocks at a frozen creek behind my parent's house.   When it came down to it, I was more concerned then they were that snow angels wouldn't be on the agenda for the day.

       And though I'm pretty disappointed we missed out on a winter wonderland, the mitten-worthy weather, the actual enforcement of heavier coats and being able to see our breath was just enough to satisfy these warm-weather kids.

(And we still have Nebraska to look forward to.)

Wherever you are -- may your Christmas weather be just what it you want it to be.