Although it's been said many times, many ways...

Footprints in the first snowfall last year

It may have been 80 degrees outside the past few days here, but I’ve been seeing a lot facebook statuses about the first snowfall posted by my friends in other, snowier, places. This is going to be my first snow-less winter, and I’m a little sad about it.

When I was young the one thing I wished for more than anything else as this time of year rolled around was a white Christmas. Christmas was my favorite holiday by far, and not just because of the presents (although they were definitely a nice perk).

To me, Christmas meant snow and lights and Christmas Eve at my grandmother’s house with all my cousins.

It meant mittens and crisp cold air, decorating the tree and writing a letter to Santa.

Searching the house with my brother and sister for my mom’s gift list to see what presents we were getting.

Building structures out of the presents under the tree, including a fort for the cat.

Having snow battles with the neighbor kids.

Seeing Christmas lights glowing everywhere you looked.

Playing an angel in the Christmas pageant at church.

Standing with my cousin in front of my grandma’s big picture window on Christmas Eve with our noses pressed to the glass, searching the night sky for Rudolph’s red nose.

Night view of Radio City Music Hall at Christmastime

One of my most vivid memories from childhood, evoked every time I listen to the Oak Ridge Boys’ Christmas album (a family favorite), is of coming into the warm, bright house from the snowy darkness outside during Christmastime. The house would be lit up with lamps and Christmas lights everywhere, my mom would have the Oak Ridge Boys playing on the speakers and the smell of baking Christmas cookies would fill the air while I pulled off all my snow clothes and rushed into the kitchen to taste-test the warm gooey cookies fresh from the oven.

Although it has been years since I’ve done that, the memory lingers.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been kind of a Grinch the past few years due to some family problems, and I’m not entirely sure why I’m suddenly so nostalgic now. Maybe it has something to do with being so far from my friends and family and everything I know. The exotically warm weather is just the most obvious manifestation of how different everything is for me now.

Now more first snowfalls for me, at least for the next two years.