Do You Enjoy Snow?

I need to admit, unlike most people, I enjoy snow. As a photographer, I can’t resist photographing a blanket of white that covers the ground. How about you? Do you enjoy snow and snow photography? Maybe you are also in the minority like I am.

My love for snow goes deeper than just photographing it. I grew up in the western region of New York state. Yes, the snow belt! Almost every year we got tons of snow. My neighborhood buddies and I built snow forts, went sledding, fought in snowball fights and played king of the mountain on snow mounds. We also played football, hockey, and soccer and did so much more in the piles of the white stuff. What a blast we had! As far as, I am concerned, kids growing up elsewhere had a deprived childhood.

As an adult, I still enjoy snow. I enjoy taking walks as it falls, I love to ski and do other outdoor activities in the snow. And of course, I take pleasure in photograph it.

A Christmas Card Snow

Now many people reading this may think I’m crazy, but it seems that there may be a time, or at least a setting where everybody enjoys snow. Most people like the idea of a white Christmas, even if they’re only dreaming of one. People also really like the nostalgic, dreamy looking Christmas cards where a blanket of snow that covers a timeless scene.

On the cover of those timeless Christmas card may sit a cozy house all by itself in the woods. Snow covers the house, smoke puffs out its chimney and a warm, yellow light emanates from the windows. Down the road leading to the house journeys a horse drawn carriage. The people on the wagon ride covered with warm blankets.

Maybe the card depicts a Victorian village scene where snow covers the buildings, the lamp posts and the Christmas decorations. Carolers sing in the shop-lined streets and people are walking about. And of course, on the main street resides a church with that same warm, yellow light filling its windows. Parishioners walk the path headed to the church for the Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Cards and the True Meaning of Christmas

Cards like these appeal to us because of how they speak to our heart and inner longings. We long for peace, purity, timelessness and connection/relationship in our hearts. And even though these cards may not have depictions of the first Christmas or mention Jesus, they actually point to Him and the true meaning of Christmas.

The true meaning of Christmas is found in why Jesus came as baby to live among us. Jesus came to earth to offer peace, purity, timelessness and relationship to all those who believe in Him.  In Jesus, we find peace. In Jesus, we find a purity that covers our impurity. In Him, we find the timelessness of eternity, where time no longer matters. And in Him, we find perfection in relationship and connection. That perfection of relationship is not only with God, but also with all those we love.

So, even though they may not write it, those Christmas cards speak of the gospel. The Gospel message is that the incarnate son of God came to earth to give us what we cannot get for ourselves, yet deeply long for. That is the true meaning of Christmas.

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