By Les Ferguson Jr.
Columnist

Growing up, I experienced a white Christmas a few times – in Virginia and Texas. But here in Mississippi, I’m just as likely to wear shorts on Christmas Day as anything else.

It’s the blessing and the curse of Christmas in the deep south especially all those years lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

But a guy can dream, wish, and hope for the magical white stuff on a magical day. But alas, here in Mississippi we are most likely out of luck – year after year, ad nauseam.

However, since moving to Lafayette County, I have experienced snow every winter. And as much as I might dream of a White Christmas, snow on any winter day remains an exciting adventure.

You might imagine my inner glee in the past week as the weather reports pointed toward a significant winter snow event. Even though I had doubts that snow would appear, the anticipation built quite quickly.

Let’s be honest, it’s snow, man! The stuff of school closures, snowball fights, building snowmen, hot chocolate, and riding snowmobiles.

Ok, that last part doesn’t really happen unless you reclassify the abundance of four-wheelers and other ATVs here in the snow-deficient southland.

Do I need to grow up? Probably and even certainly, depending on the subject at hand. But if you’re going to convict me of being overly excited by the prospect of snow, then there are a lot of other guilty parties.

Even I, the excitable, overgrown aficionado of snow, walked through the aisles of the grocery store, shocked by the emptiness displayed. One store, which shall remain unnamed, was utterly bereft of eggs!

Who buys eggs in anticipation of a snowmageddon? It’s milk and bread, folks, milk and bread!

As I write this, it is early Monday morning, and I’m slightly disappointed. While the ground is somewhat white, we mainly received sleet. But still, it’s beautiful here in the woods of our home. Peaceful, too.

I’m reminded of the repentant words of King David in Psalm 51:7, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

Maybe that’s why I love experiencing snow – seeing the landscape turn white.

The world can sometimes be a dark, ugly place full of heartache, yet God still cleans what we will let Him.

May the beauty of a winter wonderland transform your soul and give you peace.