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| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"holidays",<br>"author":"denmarkguy",<br>"permlink":"how-did-this-whole-idea-of-a-white-christmas-come-about",<br>"title":"How Did this Whole Idea of a \"White Christmas\" Come About?",<br>"body":"<html>\n<p>\"<em>I'm dreaming of a White Christmas,<br><\/em>\" the song goes.<\/p>\n<p>Every year around this time,<br> it's almost inevitable that the tones of Bing Crosby will croon this somewhat sad Christmas song at us from a radio,<br> movie or PA system at the mall. <\/p>\n<p>When I was a little kid-- growing up in Denmark-- everybody always talked about a \"White Christmas\" like it was a special thing. Even the adults-- who typically hated snow because they had to drive in it-- seemed to warm up to the idea. Of course,<br> it <em>actually<\/em> happened disappointingly rarely.<\/p>\n<h2><em>This morning,<br> I looked at a sunny day outside...<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>... and got to thinking about where this whole idea <em>came<\/em> from.<\/p>\n<p>\n<div class=\"pull-left\">\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8bqwVGo.jpg\" alt=\"SnowChair\" \/><br \/>\n<em>White... something...<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>We have all these idealized holiday movies... and it's always snowing on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It's definitely a \"thing,<br>\" in greater culture.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn't make sense that \"<em>White Christmas<\/em>\" would have Biblical origins... Baby Jesus was born in a place that doesn't really see snow,<br> on a regular basis. Depictions of the birth of Jesus don't tend to show a crowd of people stomping snow off their boots,<br> either.<\/p>\n<p>If we assume,<br> for a moment,<br> that \"White Christmas\" is a purely <em>Christian<\/em> notion... there are Christians living all over the place,<br> and many of them in places where it <em>never<\/em> snows. Doesn't seem particularly fair to be dreaming of something that can't possibly happen.<\/p>\n<h2><em>So... It's That Song...<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>\n<div class=\"pull-right\">\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/EGfHEU7.jpg\" alt=\"Santa\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Hah! Still have one of those stamps!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Which leads us all back to the question of whether this was just an idea invented as a result of Bing Crosby's popular 1942 song <em>(and subsequent movies,<br> including the 1954 hit)<\/em>... and the world just took it and ran with it. Let's face it,<br> when you sell an estimated <em>one hundred million copies<\/em> of a song,<br> that has to have to impact,<br> right?<\/p>\n<p>The underlying lore there,<br> of course,<br> is that songwriter Irving Berlin lost his son on Christmas Day 1928,<br> and that this rather melancholic holiday tune-- <em>written years later<\/em>-- was inspired by that event.<\/p>\n<p>And now hundreds of millions of people around the world look to the skies for snowflakes,<br> every December 24th-25th. Because we humans are strange like that.<\/p>\n<p>Of course,<br> this is intended to be a somewhat light-hearted look at holiday lore... so I'll end with this curiosum: When I was a kid,<br> I was a stamp collector... and it always amused me that Australia had issued a Christmas stamp featuring \"<em>Santa on a Surfboard.<\/em>\" <\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What do YOU think?<\/strong><\/em> Are YOU \"dreaming of a White Christmas?\" Have you ever wondered where that idea came from? Do you live someplace where it <em>never <\/em>snows at Christmas? Does the whole thing seem rather silly? Or do you feel there';s a deeper message there? <strong>Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/gRypnga\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE STEEMIT BLOGGERS ON DISCORD<\/a>\n<p><center><img src=\"https:\/\/steemitimages.com\/0x0\/https:\/\/cdn.discordapp.com\/attachments\/382917260022382592\/388985975487070218\/STEEMIT-BLOGGERS-GIF.gif\" \/> created by <a href=\"\/@zord189\">@zord189<\/a><\/center><\/p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><em>(As usual,<br> all text and images by the author,<br> unless otherwise credited. This is original content,<br> created expressly for Steemit)<br>\nCreated at 171223 10:17 PDT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/html>",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"holidays\",<br>\"christmas\",<br>\"white-christmas\",<br>\"snow\",<br>\"santa\" ,<br>\"image\":[\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8bqwVGo.jpg\",<br>\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/EGfHEU7.jpg\",<br>\"https:\/\/steemitimages.com\/0x0\/https:\/\/cdn.discordapp.com\/attachments\/382917260022382592\/388985975487070218\/STEEMIT-BLOGGERS-GIF.gif\" ,<br>\"links\":[\"https:\/\/discord.gg\/gRypnga\",<br>\"\/@zord189\" ,<br>\"app\":\"steemit\/0.1\",<br>\"format\":\"html\" " |
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