A White Christmas

When I first moved to America, my family settled in Atlanta, Georgia in October 1995 and we experienced our first white Christmas in December of that year. I was eight and found everything in this foreign land amazing and beautiful wherever I turned. I remember grabbing a handful of snow on my right hand and threw it at my sisters in the backyard of our apartment.  I also remember trying to build a snowman but it collapsed at every attempt and me getting all fussy because the snowman did not stand as I wanted.  That first white Christmas was the most unforgettable memory and it represents one of my first few experiences living in this land of opportunity called the United States.

Then my family and I moved to Southern California and the white Christmas disappeared. We can have white Christmas but we have to drive up to the mountain for one to two hours to get the full snow experience and besides, it is always a hit or miss type of thing as the snow in the California mountain can be unpredictable and my family did not want to put our lives in danger by driving in the narrow spiral roads to where the snow is in the mountain; we did not know the existence for the tire chain for driving in the snow twenty years back.

White or non-white Christmas, I am fine with it. I used to get jealous of the East Coast and Midwest Americans who get all the snow in the winter during Christmas time but my visit to Chicago proved that the last thing I want is the white Christmas as the temperature can drop below zero. Sometimes not getting what we want in life can be a blessing. Maybe that one thing we want is not right and good for us. The snow and the freezing temperature are definitely not good for anyone and I am thankful that I do not live in that type of environment where everything is cold in the winter and where my body cannot handle the low temperature.  I am grateful for the beautiful weather that I have every day in Southern California and I would never trade it for anything else--even if it is white Christmas.  I love my non-white Christmas. I have my family and the people who care for me in my life and that is all a person needs in life.