A Snow for Christmas

As the old song says, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”  I’ll bet close to 100% of those who celebrate the holiday think a snow on Christmas day helps to make the season bright.  Well, my grandson, Richard, lives in Rome, Georgia, where snowy Christmases are few and far between.  The last recorded white Christmas for that area, according to the National Weather Service, was in 2010, four years before Richard was born.

But there is a bright side about where our grandson lives too.  A Snow has been spreading Christmas cheer in Rome for quite a few years.

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Annie and I travelled to Rome in early December this year to celebrate Richard’s birthday.  The little man was turning eight and we were invited.

Amanda, Richard’s mom, coordinated his party at the Floyd Bowling and Amusement Center.  Before cake and ice cream, while other attendees bowled, we sat and visited with Amanda’s parents, Cliff and Carla.

A wonderful couple, Cliff and Carla are a joy to talk to.  After all, I have no doubt that they love Richard as much as we do.  So our main topic of conversations was…Richard.

They told us some of the impressive things our grandson had been up to that we weren’t already aware of.  It’s amazing how much we miss out on when there are so many miles between us.  Amanda tries to keep us up-to-date on everything, but still…  We talked about going out to eat that evening, to catch up on life even more.

Somewhere in the conversation, Cliff mentioned, “Y’all need to be sure and go by to see Allen’s yard while y’all are here.”

We agreed, having seen the display on a previous visit.

Then we forgot about it.

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Richard had a great time at his party, eating, playing with friends and relatives, and opening his presents.

After the celebration we helped clean up the fallout from a bunch of grade schoolers at a birthday party.  Then we talked about where we wanted to go for dinner.  Carla has been having some medical issues and had been putting every bit of her sparse energy into Richard’s party so she was absolutely worn out.  She and Cliff felt that they should go on home and let us enjoy Amanda and Richard all by ourselves.

We had a delicious dinner at Southern Kitchen and then Annie had the idea to take Richard to Sweet Frog Premium Frozen Yogurt, one of our favorite places to over-indulge while we are in Rome.  Heck, they even have no-sugar-added ice cream.  When it’s topped with fruit and nuts it’s almost a healthy snack…almost.

As we chowed-down on the frozen deliciousness Amanda caught us up on some of the many things going on in her busy life and mentioned that she had two papers she needed to get done for her nursing classes.  Annie suggested that Richard might like to stay the night with us in the hotel, which would give Amanda a much-needed break from the responsibility of corralling an eight-year-old on a sugar high.  Besides, it would free her up to get her two papers done.

She agreed it was a great idea.  First, she said, “Before you drop me off at the house, we need to go by to see Allen’s yard.”  She added, “He’s bought some new stuff this year.”

We were all for it.  We hopped in my car.

I thought we might be getting close when we saw Santa Clause standing in the parking area of an old, closed filling station.  Amanda said, “That’s him.  Pull in.”

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Allen was dressed in his familiar Christmas garb at an old, closed filling station.  We pulled in, noting a young couple manning a side-by-side which was hooked to Santa’s sleigh.  It was a special sleigh, with enough seats for about ten people, but we four were the only ones in it with Santa.  He didn’t hesitate but “mushed” his reindeer and we were off.  As we talked to Santa vehicles passing by kept honking their horns, to which Santa cheerfully returned a wave to each and every one.

The station was on the corner of the street where Allen lives, close enough that, before we even boarded the sleigh we could see the lights.  Allen’s modest home sits in the middle of a large, I should say huge, yard.  But you couldn’t, wouldn’t, see the house unless you looked for it.  The yard was what draws the eye.

We’ve all seen those, usually nylon, lit-from-the-inside, inflatable figures.  Well, in Allen’s yard, carefully laid out, with enough room between them to establish little theme-oriented groupings, and to keep everything from looking too cluttered, stood hundreds of brightly-lit Christmas-themed inflatables.  There was the Nativity, of course, and the Christian cross, Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, the Grinch, Nutcrackers from the Nutcracker Suite and old movies, reindeer, the North Pole, polar bears, snowmen, including Frosty of course, Christmas trees, snowflakes, Baby Yoda, gingerbread men, puppies, teddy bears, and others, too many to see on just one trip.  Oh, and there were Santa Clauses: standing and waving, sitting, kissing Mrs. Clause, unpacking his bag full of toys, flying an airplane, even skiing behind a boat piloted by Rudolph.

It was a magical Christmas wonderland.

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We talked to Santa for a short time; it is his busy time of year, after all.  On the way to Amanda’s house, I asked her more questions.

Allen Snow had a full career working at Rome’s Trend Mills with Amanda’s Uncle Richard, our grandson’s namesake.  When he retired, Mr. Snow gradually collected inflatables.  About a dozen years ago he started setting-up spooky ones on Halloween.  He was pleased at the happiness his displays brought to so many people.

Then he realized; what better way to spread unmitigated joy than to do the same with a Christmas theme?   He spent hours setting up his yard.  I’m not sure at what point he decided to include a real-live Santa, but that was the icing on the Christmas cake.  People could drive by and view the decorations, but the road on which Allen lives is narrow and not designed for the kind of traffic the popular exhibit draws.  He acquired his special sleigh and, since snow and reindeer are rare in that part of Georgia, a side-by-side to pull it.

Uncle Richard introduced his brother, my brother-in-law Cliff, to Allen about 25 years ago.  Now Cliff sometimes helps drive the side-by-side.  Other volunteers pop-in from time-to-time to lend a hand, but the majority of the labor and time come from Allen himself.  It takes weeks of planning every year and many hours of setting-up, taking-down, and putting away but Allen cheerfully takes in on every year…and he does it all for free. 

That’s right, this modern day Santa does all this work just for the pleasure of seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they see his work.  He does not realize one red cent of profit from everything he does to spread Christmas cheer.

That, my friends, is the true spirit of Christmas.

Rome, Georgia may not be your typical winter wonderland, but A Snow certainly does make the season bright.

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I would like to wish all my friends who read A Different Drummer a very merry Christmas.  I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

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