White Christmas?

....I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas.... hey wait a second, that should be white not wet shouldn't it? Around here right now wet is the word. After years of very low rainfall, dam levels below 40% capacity, water restrictions and drought reports on the news each night we have been thrust into waterworld.

Overnight last night 87mm was recorded as falling on us. Gutters are running fast, dams are filled to overflowing, and the grass in the yard gets to knee height in record time. It feels quite surreal.

Christmas season to me is always couched in thoughts of heat, sweat and dust. Not damp, rain and wet ;) Yes I am sure there have been wet Christmas seasons before, but the overriding memories are of those long hot days leading up to Christmas, of being too hot to sleep at night, and of dreading the thought of having to cook and eat a hot meal for Christmas lunch. This year as the season starts we are far from those kinds of thoughts. Its probably amplified by the fact that the past few years we have been under drought conditions, so all of the green and damp feels decidedly out of place.

One of my dreams for Christmas is to actually experience a white Christmas. When I was 21 I spent a Christmas in Switzerland, surely you would expect snow... but no, for the first year in I don't know how many they had no snow for Christmas. Disappointed? you bet. I love seeing the snow scenes in photos from my overseas friends, everyone rugged up and red cheeked, it all seems so special, so romantic. At home we are all red faced from the heat, and hot, tired and irritated often too. White Christmases seem to be absent of all of that, although the reality is most of that is probably very good marketing from Hollywood lol.

So this December I am settling for a wet Christmas. Its cool enough that we can be a little rugged up, we can snuggle up inside with hot chocolate and watch movies together, we can leave the tree lights on without fear of melting the tree, we can have a hot lunch, and hot pudding without complaints.

...yes I'm dreaming of a WET Christmas ;)...