It’s incomparable to Christmas in the Midwest.
When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind? Santa and his reindeer? Playing in the snow? Hot cocoa by the fireplace? These characteristics are portrayed in almost every Christmas movie, yet not everyone gets to experience those. In Southern California, where it’s warm all year round, Christmas doesn’t have that movie feeling.
Growing up in the Midwest gave me a different mindset when it comes to the holidays. When I think of Christmas, I think of hot cocoa, snow, ice skating, sledding, cold weather, tree lightings and Christmas shopping until the day is over. While you can still do some of these things in Southern California, it’s a bit harder to achieve.
Coming to Azusa from Indiana, I knew that the holidays wouldn’t feel the same. Christmas has always been a big celebration at my house, and being over 2,000 miles away from home has made me appreciate the time I get to have with my family. There’s still holiday spirit in Azusa, but it feels like something is missing.
The true mark of Christmas for me is snow and cold weather. There’s nothing more like Christmas than having to wear a giant coat, hat and gloves everywhere you go. With the cold, you also get all the winter activities (building snowmen, sledding, snowball fights, etc.). I have fond memories of sledding and ice skating all day then coming inside to hot cocoa and a Christmas movie to finish the day. Then, on Christmas day, waking up to snow on the ground and opening presents makes everything perfect.
There’s other students at APU who feel the same way. Bryce Sloan, a graduate student from Portland, Oregon, agrees that Christmas in Southern California seems different from his hometown. “When the weather drops below freezing, [it’s] gloomy and the moon is peaking through the clouds, it’s a different feeling of wanting to cuddle up in a warm blanket in front of a fire with a hot chocolate.”
The biggest setback living in Southern California is that the seasons only slightly change. The leaves barely change colors, and it’s rare that you wake up with frost on your car windshield in the winter. The warm weather makes it feel like summer almost all year long.
The last time it snowed in Los Angeles was in February of 2019. Snow fell across the Los Angeles area from Malibu all the way to Pasedena. Locals expressed their excitement by posting on social media, but there wasn’t enough snowfall to do many snow-related activities. The LA Times reported that there were a few flurries in parts of LA, and that the last time it snowed before that was in 1962.
Another attribute I associate with Christmas is the outdoor decorations and lighting. Driving around through different neighborhoods, blasting Christmas music and looking at all the lights is a big tradition in my family. Each neighborhood tries to decorate their houses to the extreme, so we enjoy looking at the final products. Our local paper even includes a guide to see the best houses in the area!
The lights near campus are good, but I haven’t seen a house decked out to the max with their decorations. Chick-fil-A is the closest thing that I’ve seen to how houses are decorated back home. As for Southern California as a whole, ABC7 featured a story on the best Christmas light displays. Despite the beautiful displays, most of them are companies and not personally owned homes.
To get a little taste of a white Christmas, there are a few places close to LA that do experience the winter season to its full extent. Big Bear is a popular vacation spot for those looking to see some snow. It’s only an hour and a half away from LA and offers a lot of winter activities. Another nearby location that gets yearly snow is Snowdrift Tubing Park in San Bernardino. You can have fun sledding down several hills and playing in the snow.
I think that everyone should experience a white Christmas at least once in their lifetime. There is nothing that compares to the feeling you get during the holidays in a state or area that experiences the cold weather, snow and endless activities. While Southern California has endless good weather and some Christmas celebrations, it doesn’t compare to a true white Christmas.