The White Christmas Writing Challenge

I was challenged to write a story about a time I experienced a white Christmas. Being from Texas, I haven't had many. Here's my best one ever.

The Christmas Snow

Texas isn’t a place for snow.

Not that you can plan for. We do get the white stuff, and sometimes a lot, but it’s here and gone, rarely when we want it or find it convenient.

Except that one Christmas Day …

I’m from the Metroplex (Fort Worth-Dallas), and we were headed to the Gulf Coast for Christmas week. Galveston, to be specific. As December rolled on, the forecast suggested an ever-increasing chance of Christmas ice storms for Fort Worth.

No!! We were driving, and we would be stuck 300 miles from the sun and the sand! It couldn’t be allowed!

We lit out a day early as the snow started to fall, glad to leave the winter weather for the Christmas stay-at-homes. Galveston! Sun! Sand! Christmas on the beach!

We stayed the night north of Houston and woke on Christmas Eve to MORE WHITE STUFF. Again, we outran the storm, taking off for Galveston as soon as we could throw ourselves and our things into the car. Two hours later, we crossed the causeway onto the island, laughing at how we’d outwitted Mother Nature.

We set up a Christmas tree in our condo, and the sunset over the water said that Christmas Perfect was to be ours.

Then the world changed. We awoke on Christmas morning to eight inches of snow covering everything. EIGHT INCHES … IN GALVESTON … ON CHRISTMAS DAY.

It was the best Christmas present ever. We’d driven two cars, my wife’s SUV and my Jeep Wrangler. We took the Jeep to the beach and did donuts in the snow … on the sand … on Christmas Day!

That’s my Christmas snow, the best Christmas in Galveston anyone could have. Plus, the snow was gone by the next day, and we enjoyed the sun and the surf for the rest of the week. Who could ask for more?