Yay, it is a White Christmas this year!!!

White Christmas..... sounds so dreamy. Doesn't it?

This term was alien to me until I heard for the first time when I was in the States. It was the month of December and snowing quite a bit. Everyone started speculating it could be a white Christmas that year, while many wished silently it shouldn't be coz of an upcoming project go-live on the New Year eve.

So what exactly is this White Christmas? If we wake up to a blanket of snow or snow fall on the day of Christmas, it is considered White Christmas. Since ages, the very thought of Christmas brings the picture of Santa riding on his sleigh over snowy mountains carrying loads of gifts. Though I grew up in a city, which could never get a speckle of snow, Christmas always made me think of snow. Many songs and novels associating Christmas with snow, like the classic by Charles Dickens, Christmas carols, the famous White Christmas song by Irving Berlin, etc. made us believe it is true. I am sure this is how many around the globe, perceive about Christmas.

But Christmas isn't white as we dream across vast majority of the globe, except for Antarctica, few places in Canada, US, Europe etc. Also different countries have different definitions of White Christmas - few places consider it is White Christmas if it snows on Christmas eve or the day of Christmas, for few they should get new snow on 25th Dec, for some it is enough if the ground is covered with snow (new or day(s) before) or just few snow flakes and it varies country to country.

For Canada, the ground has to be covered with at least 2cm of snow on the day of 25th Dec (whether new or old) to call it as White Christmas. The province where I stay is expected to get good amount of snow fall every year in December and the probability to celebrate a White Christmas is roughly 50%. While we had snow on 25th Dec in the year 2020, it didn't snow last year.

A major winter storm had hit Canada just days before 25th Dec and many places (especially in western parts of Canada) have received lots of snow. At Ontario too its not been any different. Luckily, the place where we live didn't witness exceedingly large amounts of snow, but had snow blows due to heavy wind, causing damages to roads and houses, power outages, flight cancellations during this much awaited holiday season.

Many might have called off their plans to travel, meet family and friends or couldn't celebrate the day as planned due to the adverse weather. But isn't this the snowy Christmas we dreamt off when we were kids? Doesn't the true spirit of Christmas lie in spending our day remembering all the gifts life has given us, hoping the best for the days to come and spreading cheer amongst everyone near us?

I wish you and your family, a very merry and joyous Christmas - whether it is white or green!!!

Note: I will be back on the 8th of Jan, with an interesting book that I am currently reading. Until then, happy reading and a very happy holidays!! Make the best of the remaining few days in 2022.

Follow me on my Youtube channel to get notified about my latest articles!!

Comments

Review: Farzi (Web Series)

Indian web series aren't new to us. Recently, multi-starrer web series, that too combination of performers from North-South film industries is on the raise. Farzi falls into the same category, with Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi foraying into web series along with Bollywood's heartthrob Shahid Kapoor. Farzi (meaning Fake), is an Indian crime thriller web series, from the creators of Family Man series - Raj and DK. It is released in Amazon Prime on 10th Feb 2023, in multiple Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada). Raj and DK have directed and cowritten this series with Sita Menon and Suman Kumar. Apart from Vijay Sethupathi and Shahid Kapoor, the star cast includes Bhuvan Arora, Kay Kay Menon, Raashii Khanna, Zakir Hussain, Amol Palekar, Regina Cassandra etc. Michael Vedanayagam (Vijay Sethupathi) is a fierce task force officer, on a mission to eradicate counterfeit currency mafia in India. He is on look for the Indian counterfeit network head Mansoor Dal...

Review: Anex Monkey Smart Watch

Hello Readers, Welcome back. While browsing through a weekly flyer by Canadian Tire, my eyes got hold of a smart watch, primarily for its name - Monkey Smart Watch. It's original price was $89.99. On account of Father's Day, the price was slashed 70% and offered for just $24.99 (from June 9th to June 16th). As it was listed on Canadian Tire website, I thought the product should be genuine and googled to know more about the product. But there weren't sufficient reviews online. So I decided to try it myself and booked it online. This smart watch was launched in the last quarter of 2021 as Anex Monkey Smart Watch. Last year, it had been sold for just $19.99 as part of Black Friday deal. Even after 5 days of waiting, Canadian Tire didn't process my order. On the other hand, the stock was vanishing real quick and only 80 watches were available in our near by store. When checked with their customer service executive, I was told to cancel my online order or wait until they p...

Book: Sidney Sheldon's The Silent Widow by Tilly Bagshawe

If you are from 80s, like me, it is most likely you would have started your reading journey with a Sidney Sheldon's novel. Hands down, he is a master story teller known for his thrilling plots, inspiring characters, suspense and unexpected twists. Looking at the name of the book Sidney Sheldon’s The Silent Widow , don't mistake it for written by Sidney Sheldon. Tilly Bagshawe is the author of this book. Tilly Bagshawe is originally known as Matilda Emily Mary Bagshawe. She is a fictional writer who has written many international best-selling novels like Adored, Flawless, Temptation, The Show, The Bachelor etc.. Sidney Sheldon's estate thought Tilly's writing style is similar to Sidney Sheldon and chose her to write under his name. Thus far she has written 8 books as part of Sidney Sheldon series. Coming to the story of The Silent Widow, Nikki Roberts is the main character and she is a psychologist. She lost her husband in a car accident and since then is heartbroken n...

Book: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

After reading a lot of positive recommendations about this title, I wanted to read it last year. However more than 100 people in our community library, eager like me have blocked this book, making it certain to move this book to my TBR 2022. Though I had a soft copy, I waited for the hardcover. The joy of holding the book in hands is incomparable. Don't you agree? Finally, its my turn at the library!! The Silent Patient is authored by Alex Michaelides who is an author and screenwriter. He is half Cyrian-half British. Alex is an M.A. in English Literature, M.A. in screenwriting and holds a degree in psychotherapy. He has worked as a therapist in a psychiatric unit for teenagers and has been the inspiration for writing this book. The Silent Patient is his debut novel with more than million copies sold world over and is rated as the New York Times and Sunday Times best seller. This work has fetched him the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Mystery & Thriller of 2019 and has been sho...

Review: The Fame Game (web series)

The Fame Game, is an Indian web series released on Netflix in late February 2022. It is has 8 episodes of 45mins each (on an average). If you haven't watched yet, you can still read through this post. No spoilers involved. I know, this review is coming late. Honestly, I don't prefer web series, as we have to invest a lot of time for watching. So obviously, this one wasn't on my watch list. Accidentally, one day, I read somewhere that this series depicts the life of a famous Bollywood heroine. Isn't this not sufficient to arouse the much needed curiosity?😜 ( The official poster of 'The Fame Game'. Credit: IMDb) One Friday night, after a very hectic week, I sat down to relax and pamper myself with a good movie and The Fame Game trailer flashed on Netflix. I convince...

Manu's Medley

Search This Blog