Saturday, December 25, 2004

(White) Christmas Greetings

KEV, LIVE FROM SUGAR LAND--For the first time in recent memory (or, for that matter, since they've been recording this stuff), we had a white Christmas in the Houston area. Never mind the flurries from yesterday's post; this was the real thing. It happened while I was inside rehearsing with the choir last evening, and I didn't find out that it had happened until we were walking between buildings and had to go under a covered breezeway for a moment. I was already covering the horn with my jacket to keep it warm, but then I found myself getting...snowed on? Sure enough, the snow had come back even stronger this time, sticking to roofs and cars and even the lawn for a while. Snowball fights ensued between services (not for me *sigh* since I was wearing a suit), and it took quite a while for my car to defrost before Dad and I could get home.

Sure, the picture postcards always show snow on Christmas, but in Houston (where I've spent every Christmas since third grade) that's just never a reality...until now. Most of it will probably melt off today, as it's supposed to go up into the 50's, but I did get out there early enough to take some pictures (which, like the ones from Wednesday, will take a while to post since I haven't entered the digital age yet). But for maybe the first time in my life, I can honestly say I've had a white Christmas. It really added to all the other great things that have happened this year.

As always this year, my computer time is short, so I'll post more after I'm back late tomorrow. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

UPDATE: Note the comments from James to this post; Christmas in Australia is quite a different thing, weather-wise.
UPDATE 2: I got pictorial proof of the snow from Mom; here's a picture of their house covered in it:


Wow, I was never this naughty: A guy here in Houston got so tired of his kids' bad behavior that he auctioned off their presents on eBay and even took the tree down.

QUOTE OF THE (YESTER)DAY: "I'd like to welcome those of you who are visiting with us tonight. Some of you may be interested in knowing that our Easter service will be held on March 27."--Assistant pastor at the services last night, aiming a good-natured barb at those who only show up to church twice a year. (Laughter ensued.)

5 comments:

Eric Grubbs said...

I think of all the time I lived in Kingwood it snowed maybe twice. Enough to create your own snowman. Very cool.

I remember it iced a few times too. That was not cool.

James said...

Throwing that awesome cultural spanner in the works - it was icky humid, very sunny and about 35 degrees here (about 100 degrees F) for most of the day. We had a bit of a cool change during the arvo tho which dropped it back to about 27 or so :)

But us Aussies wouldn't have our Christmas any other way! There's nothing better than having a relaxing swim in your backyard pool on Christmas arvo with a beer on the side :) lol

Kev said...

Just curious, James--does the Australian representation of Santa still wear a big fur coat? Seems like he'd get heatstroke in that thing...

James said...

Nah, he gets around Australia in a white singlet with red footy shorts (or as we like to call them, stubbies) and a pair of thongs on the feet... not to forget the beer in the hand...

Ok, now I'm just stereotyping my own nation ;) But yeah, he's still very traditionalistic here. Still in the big red fur coat. We haven't been inventive enough to create our own outfit for Santa - altho if we did, it wouldn't be far off the above :)

Kev said...

Heh, the cultural exchange continues. But now you're gonna have to explain the singlet and the footy shorts/stubbies. I'm already aware from previous posts (and my own days as a really little kid) that thongs are what we now call flip-flops and not a really skimpy pair of underwear... ;-)