Texans no longer have to dream of a white Christmas

Amazingly, many Texans are no longer having to dream of a white Christmas. They have one. We don't have it here in our exact "neck of the woods", but I have seen some flurries. According to Pete Delkus of Channel 8, that has not happened since 1975 in the Dallas area - a year before my time.

I'll share more about my Christmas Eve day with you in the next couple of days, but tonight, I share with you a few paragraphs from the book that I am currently reading, The Soul Hunter by Melanie Wells.

It is very ironic that the weather situation of the day matches what I was just reading. If you aren't from Texas, this describes what we experience as far as "winter weather". If you are from Texas, I think you will get a laugh out of this description.

Once or twice a year maybe, during what Texans call a "hard freeze," which means anything below twenty-five degrees, we get freezing rain or snow or a mixture of the two. Every exposed surface ends up coated with a glassy sheet of ice.

Since Dallas has no winter storm equipment--snowplows, sanding trucks, and road salt are not urgent budget items in a city south of the Red River--roads are essentially impassable until the ice melts. The city simply shuts down to wait it out.

This sort of event in Dallas excites a uniformly childish sense of glee. Meteorologists, suddenly thrust blinking into the spotlight and flushed with self-importance, chart the impending storm with morbid enthusiasm. A gossipy string of warnings is passed along by everyone you met the day before. And after the ice storm has arrived, everyone pops out of bed at 5:00 a.m. and flips on TVs and radios to see if schools and businesses have been shut down for a longed-for snow day. If our luck is good, we get to go back to bed, sleep late, and then start a pot of chili sometime that afternoon.

Now, I'm not sure if we will be able to make it over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house tomorrow or not. That is still to be decided based on the weather. If it's icy and such between here and Kaufman, I may be just sitting in the comfort of my own home with a bunch of blankets in the living room. I'm still lacking the weather stripping that I asked my dad for 2-3 weeks ago. Well, I have it, but it's not on the door frame.

For now, I bid you go and get nestled all snug in your beds, get your visions of sugar-plums (whatever those really are) dancing in your heads, and get ready for Santa if he hasn't already visited you like he has me. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Comments

Qtpies7 said…
I have heard of the ice in Texas! I am from Minnesota, so not overly impressed, lol. It used to drive me nuts in Virginia when they would shut down the schools and businesses when you could still see the grass poking up through the snow! We'd pass 4 wheel drive vehicles on the interstate because they were scared of driving on the roads. We don't think twice about it.
We have us a good winter snow, and could possibly get 12-24 inches over our Christmas weekend. But it is keeping my son from coming home, the buses are not moving in South Dakota where he is stationed.
Enjoy your Christmas!
Pam said…
I am very thankful that we have had no snow here today. I don't dream of a White Christmas ever!
Not that I ever remember us having one, but still...
Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!