Christmas In Georgia

A kid in Georgia can dream of a White Christmas

After 47 Christmas holiday seasons spent within 10 miles of the Pennsylvania and Ohio borders, I am spending my first in Georgia.  So far it has been a little weird.  I am not getting the normal environmental cues that Christmas is coming.  For example, there are usually a couple of months of very lousy cool/cold weather that leads up to Thanksgiving which leads to cold and snowy conditions. 

I am writing this on November 23^rd and it was 77 the past two days for a high temperature. It has averaged about 68 degrees around Atlanta for a high temperature this month.  It has been about 3.5 degrees warmer than usual up North this November and the average high has been 56 degrees.  My mind is telling me it is late September or early October.  The calendar wins the argument.  I went to the grocery store in shorts yesterday and they had Christmas trees for sale!  Something is wrong with that picture. 

As we enter the first full week of December I am thinking about the things I will miss about that cold weather.  Despite loving the warmer temperatures, I can list a few.  Here they are:

• Christmas parties with friends in a house warmed by a roaring wood fire.  It is so good to feel warmth after being in the cold. 
• Warm beverages such as mulled cider or hot chocolate.  We can have them down in Georgia too but it won’t taste the same in shorts.
• A fresh blanket of white snow covering a field and sparkling as the sun shines brightly upon it.  That is a sight I will actually miss.  Of course, the sun is a rare bird in the winter months in the Great Lakes “rust belt”.
• Houses decorated with pine wreaths and snow-covered roofs.  That is an appropriate cue that Christmas is on the way.
• Snow men and snow forts in front yards.
• Sled riding down the local sledding hill. 

 Have a great week – wherever you are.