Sunny or snowy: Which makes for the better holiday season, and why?

Sunny or snowy: Which makes for the better holiday season, and why?

Oh, snowy, definitely snowy!!!

I grew up in Western PA. There is nothing that says Christmas better than snow.

Unless it is listening to Christmas music in the snow.

While my favorite Christmas carol (hands down) is Dominick the Donkey, that song doesn’t really go with the whole cold and snow thing. More appropriate is to roll down your window when you are driving your car through snow covered Christmas lights… because then you get the whole effect, cold and snow, music and festivities. And to cap it all off, drinking cocoa (or hot coffee with peppermint creamer) and a giant Snickerdoodle.

Okay, so I am a little off. Shoot me.

My daughter thinks I am very left of center. I start singing (and I cannot sing to save my life) Dominick the Donkey or I Want A Hippopotomous for Christmas and she just rolls her eyes.

Dear Son gets a real charge out of it. He eggs me on, laughs (bordering on giggling) and helps me find the words and websites on line.

http://members.shaw.ca/cybernana/funpage/dominick/dominick.htm even has links to the Italian words in the Lou Monte song.

I keep thinking that I am getting way too into the season… but then I think… naw… not possible.

Next year I would love a 12 foot tree… that would give me so many more places to hide the pickle.

Hiding the pickel?

http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth11.htm has “the story”

“A very old Christmas eve tradition in Germany was to hide a pickle [ornament] deep in the branches of the family Christmas Tree. The parents hung the pickle last after all the other ornaments were in place. In the morning they knew the most observant child would receive an extra gift from St. Nicholas. The first adult who finds the pickle traditionally gets good luck for the whole year.” This Christmas pickle story, with a few minor variations, can be found all over the Web and in print inside the ornament package. It says that Germans hang a pickle-shaped glass ornament on the Christmas tree hidden away so it's difficult to find. The first child to find it on Christmas morning gets a special treat or an extra present.

Of course the About page goes onto describe how it couldn’t have happened that way… but it makes a good story, especially when you are a totally odd 14 year old.

Anyway… I hide (REPEATEDLY) a glass pickle ornament in the tree and he (my son) hunts it till it is found. He often needs several *getting warmer… *getting colder hints, but it is our game. Except that sometimes he doesn’t get around to hunting for a few days… then I forget where I put it…

Sigh

Ah the joys of the holiday season.