It’s a wonderful time of the year in Florida too. After spending most of our lives in more wintery climes it seems strange to see Christmas decorations and pool furniture in the same settings. People attending Christmas Eve church services dressed in their finest, or not so finest, shorts. That is normal, right? How about a Christmas Boat Parade with all of the participating boats decked out with holly, lights and bows? That is borderline I must admit.
It is starting to feel normal now, enjoyable actually. What’s not to like; Christmas with warmer temperatures, being outside without gloves, hats and scarves. Swimming ( in heated pools of course) and boating while enjoying a refreshing beverage with little brightly colored umbrellas. I love not have to deal with shoveling and chipping ice and snow off my car.
Realistically, most of the world does not experience snow during December. There is no mention of snow and ice in the Bible either. Maybe there was snow in the mountains east of Jerusalem
Snow probably first became associated with Christmas during the Victorian era in the UK which started around 1837. It seems the UK was in the throws of a mini Ice Age and Charles Dickens probably was snowed in with nothing to do but write stories. It was during that time when Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol”. He included a lot of snow and ice in his popular book.
I wonder what the Christmas Holiday would look like if Dickens had been vacationing in the South of France during the early 1840’s.
