Dreaming of a White Christmas This Year? I Say; “Bah Humbug” To That

A Call-Out for a Green Christmas from Doug Draper, reporter/publisher, Niagara At Large

Posted December 23^rd, 2023

I heard a newscaster from one of the cable networks saying that at least some people around us –and maybe even you – are dreaming of one of those ‘White Christmas’s’ that Bing Crosby used to sing about.

So you say you’re dreaming of a white Christmas. Do you want to end up possibly looking like this? An image of Omar Sharif from the movie Dr. Zhivago after suffering his way through snow and ice in the frigid fields of a Russian winter.

To that I say; “Really? You’ve got to be kidding!”

The forecast for this Christmas is a green one and that has me dancing merrily away with sugar plums in my head.

For those of you dreaming of a white Christmas, try finding a copy of the movie Dr. Zhivago and fast forward it to the part where the lovesick doctor (played by Omar Sharif) is wading for what seems like days through mountains of frigid Siberian snow, with blue cheeks and icicles frozen to his beard, in search of the woman of his dreams.

If that doesn’t purge your dreams of a white Christmas, go on the internet where you can remind yourself of the monster blizzard of ice and snow that pummeled the Niagara region and Buffalo, New York area during the Christmas of 2022.

One of the many photos taken along the shores of Fort Erie in Niagara, Ontario, and posted on social media in the wake of the Christmas blizzard of 2022.

On the Ontario side of the border, communities along or near the shores of Lake Erie were hit the hardest with days-long power outages and homes covered from roof to ground level with think sheets of ice.

Some people in the Fort Erie area found themselves stranded for a day or more inside a Walmart store which seems horrifying in and of itself. For me, the only thing that could ever be worse than going into a Walmart is being trapped in one. Please wake me up from that nightmare.

Another one of many photos taken last Christmas along the shores of Lake Erie in Niagara.

Worst of all, more than 40 people, most of them on the American side of the border and many stranded in cars or unable to be reached in their homes while suffering a serious health episode, reportedly died in that store. That was far more deaths than were reported in the epic ‘Blizzard of ‘77’ which became the stuff of a book called “White Death” which can still be found in some bookstores and on library shelves.

If white Christmas were more like the ones I grew up with a couple of centuries ago, with a few inches powdery snow cover, sparkling in the moonlight. I would take it.

Here is but one glimpse of how things looked in the wake of the Blizzard of ’77. This shot taken somewhere on a road in Niagara Falls. Many of the stranded  – freezing and out of food – were saved by brave rescuers on snowmobiles.

But in this age of climate change, snow storms too often mean having to push your way out of the house because you’ve got you’ve got two-or-three feet of heavy snow and ice piled  up against your doors, and trying not to injure your back or, worse yet, have a heart attack while you are digging your way out of the driveway.

So any time I wake up on a winter morning to a snow-free lawn, I’m a happy guy. For those who like to skate and ski in the winter, pack your gear in your car and head for the northern reaches of Georgian Bay or the mountainous heights inthe so-called ‘southern tier” of Western New York.

If all of this makes me sound like Scrooge, then okay – guilty as charged.

As for dreaming of a white Christmas in this age of climate change and ever more severe weather, I say; ‘Bah Humbug!”

To watch a CHCH broadcast on the blast of snow and ice that hit our region during the Christmas season of 2022, click on the screen below –

To read Doug Draper’s wishes to all for a Happy Holiday Season, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2023/12/22/a-happy-xmass-to-all-from-niagara-at-large/ 

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