I’m dreaming of a white christmas. Frickit.
- By Alison
- 19 December, 2009
- 8 Comments
I’m dreaming of a white christmas,
just like the ones I’ve never known.
Where rubbish bins glisten,
and children listen
to pet cats buried in the snow.
I grew up with snowy scenes on christmas cards – twinkling vistas of snowy pines and winter wonderlands.
Tiny robins peeking from behind snow laden branches, ruddy faces singing carols in a picturesque village. Jolly fires burning in fireplaces loaded with freshly cut felled pine, and the heavy snowfall beyond the window blanketing the garden with pure unsullied white.
The children tobogganning down the hill with streaming skarves and lost mittens, the forest bunnies peeking from beneath heavy bows. The rich aroma of hot christmas pudding and roasting chestnuts.
It’s heaven. And I’ve never experienced it.
In downtown Sydney – at my grandmother’s house in Lane Cove, Christmas day was usually baking hot, with not a cloud in the sky. The morning would be set to the chorus of cicadas in the treetops. By lunchtime they’d all stop suddenly and the air would suddenly be uncannily still as heavy clouds would roll in. The air would start to feel heavy and oppressive, and if it wasn’t see through, it would be purple.
After lunch the clouds would let great big fat raindrops fall from the sky, and the smell of wet asphalt would fill the air. The rain would spatter down over leaves and grass for about half an hour – with the added bonus of thunder and lightening if we were lucky – for about an hour. Then the storm would pass, and the heavy heat would return, with barely a nod of relief to the oppressive air. We’d have to wait for evening for a breeze that contained some coolness to arrive.
I love the hot Aussie christmas, but a white one has always been a goal of mine. You’d think it wouldn’t be that hard, since I now live in England. In fact, I’ve lived in England for 13 years, and the closest I’ve got to a white christmas is snow on boxing day, 13 years ago, while spending christmas in Skipton at my boyfriend’s parents house.
I didn’t count it as a white christmas, because it has to snow on Christmas day for it to count. So I waited. And waited. Our early christmases were spent up in Skipton, but no more snow.
Then I married the boyfriend, we had children, and started to spend christmases down in London instead of Skipton. We get snow in January maybe, but never christmas.
Until this year. This year is looking set to snow on Christmas Day. Well, metcheck.com tells me that there is a 10% chance, which doesn’t sound like much – but right now the weather forecast has heavy snow for Monday, which is only 5 days before christmas. The cat was shocked to see it snow earlier this week, as it means he has to poo in it, and it confuses the heck out of him. Not to mention freezing his nads off.
So, a white christmas in London. This really really sucks. Because this year I am NOT IN LONDON. I am in Sydney, enjoying my hot summery christmas. If there is a white christmas in London when I am not there HEADS WILL ROLL!
To whom do I write to get this white christmas business annulled?
Photography by jordanfischer
Copyright © 2024
We already have snow on the ground here. An area about 2 hours from me (mostly east) had four feet fall in 48 hours and they are expecting more. I would offer you pictures but that would just be rubbing it in.
Merry Christmas!
I’m so glad I’m going home for Christmas this year. For whatever reason, back in Ohio, we get the nastiest winters but by some great handy-work of God, never does it snow on Christmas Day! (Makes a lot of sense right?) But this year when I go visit and leave my desert-lands of Southern California, I will likely have a white Christmas.
Fingers crossed for you that you get your anti-snow wish. Haha.
ah get over it Ali 🙂 I’m still waiting to actually see it really snow in Canberra, been here for almost 5 years and the two days it did – I was in aother state 😉
Lol. I have to laugh. I’m used to those Christmases too, being from South Africa. And I’ve been waiting for a white Christmas for 6 years myself! It’s been snowing on and off in my little neck of London, but I’m still holding thumbs for Christmas day!
Although I’d love to be home myself, so enjoy it!
(SITS)
Jaysen, stop it or I may have to send some iranian gymnasts around to practise on your rings!
The wifey, hope you have a lovely one either way!
Janie, with the blast of heat we had down in Canberra last week, I can’t even imagine it getting cold, despite the fact that I know it does.
Luschka, as long as it only snows on your house, I might accept that!
Just go ahead and send your complaint to Sarah Palin. Any excuse to send her a mean letter is a-ok in my book! In the meantime I’ll mail you some of our snow. It should be there in time!
I hope you get snow. I think we were the only ones on the east coast of the United States to not get snow.
It’s rare to get a white Christmas here in the Philadelphia area too, but we just *might* get a white Christmas if the storm we got last night doesn’t melt by Friday.
When I lived in California, it was just all sorts of wrong to have warm weather for Christmas. Like, it goes against the natural order of things. Why are their white Christmases in movies? Because it’s the law. That’s why.