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: 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...

Rutabaga: An Underrated Superfood & A Delicious Indian Recipe To Try!

Trying something new can feel uncertain, whether it is a new routine or new job or new city or even a new vegetable, as we often find comfort in the familiar. I had reservations about this particular vegetable until I cooked and tasted it. Let me introduce you Rutabaga, a lesser known vegetable (at least for a person from tropical region like me). It is nutrient-rich, flavourful and incredibly easy to prepare. When I first saw Rutabaga in the grocery stores here, I thought it would be from the yam family and ignored it, primarily because of its starch content. In addition, Rutabaga's sheer size always made me think twice to try it. In India, grocery stores sell small portions of vegetables like yam, cabbage or pumpkin, allowing customers purchase only what they need, which is...

12 Months, 12 Books: My 2024 Reading Journey

In 2024, I made a conscious decision to read regularly. Instead of treating reading as a past time activity, I adopted it into my daily routine - aiming to read 10 pages each day. There were days where I couldn't read due to various reasons - sickness, time constraints, fatigue or other commitments. However, I managed to meet the target of 10 pages a day (on an average), over the year. This approach helped me overcome the reading slump and voila I could finish one book each month, totaling 12 books in 2024. In this post I would like to share all the titles I read last year. The Art of Happiness: My quest to learn more about Buddhism led me to this book by His Holiness Dalai lama in collaboration with Howard C Cutler. The content of this book is deep and highly relevant to everybody's life irrespective of one's region, religion and culture. The authors put forth "How to be happy" in very simple terms, while implicitly explaining the essence of Buddhism and Buddhist...

Recipe: Kesar Kulfi (Summer Special Dessert)

Read at your own risk. This post may stir up childhood memories and serious dessert cravings!!😜 Do you remember the bells ringing close to midnight? Most of the 80s and 90s kids used to wait to hear those bells without sleeping. I remember the days were my brother used to try all odds to defy sleep, just not to miss them. The moment the shrieking sound is heard at the corner of our street, he used to rush outside and scream out aloud "kulfi uncleeeee!!!", to make sure the kulfiwala doesn't turn away without entering our street. Especially when our cousins visit us during holidays, the entire gang will be awake to treat ourselves to that mouth-watering dessert. In our city, kulfiwala used to come on a tricycle, with a big earthen pot filled with kulfis. He removes the kulfis from the cone, cut them into pieces and serves them on a leaf. Those days, kulfis will be of only one flavor - elachi (cardamom). The leaf on which it is served added a peculiar aroma and flavor to t...

Recipe: Idiyappam | Sevai | String Hoppers

Idiyappam, is a well known break fast item in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka. It is also known as sevai or string hoppers (in English) and is primarily made out of rice floor. Like idli, idiyappam is made through steaming using no oil, making it very easily digestible and light on stomach. When I think about idiyappam, I remember 2 instances from my childhood. One of my friend's mom, used to feed her 2 year old with different colourful sevais for evening snack - white, yellow, red along with a liquid version of it too, almost 3-4 times in a week. Later I learnt from her elder daughter (my friend) that they are coconut sevai (sweet version), lemon sevai, tomato sevai and rasam sevai. Though born and brought up in Chennai, we aren't much into idiyappams. I don't remember eating them until I crossed 10 years. Whenever we visit a doctor with fever, our doctor used to give a list of food items - kanji, bread, idli, idiyappam and rasam rice, which I was usually averse to even...

Manu's Medley

Search This Blog