I Cold You I Love Winter!
- navakallc
- Dec 13, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 3, 2024
Winter is finally here! With it, it brings friends, family, and most of all, Christmas joy! Being a resident in Redmond, Washington for the past 4 years, I've gotten used to some dreary and rainy winters, but the lights that I see around my area always ignites a warmth within me. I live in an area that is called the temperate zone. This is where the weather is cold during the winter but not freezing, and hot during the summer, but not sweltering. The sunrise is also really late, the day not starting before 8:00 in the morning. Plus the sunset is super early, the shortest day of the year ending at like 4:00pm. It used to seem a little bleak at first, but the way that everybody starts all the activities is truly magical and
miraculous. My city is usually a good balance of temperature, but there's a lot of rain. Sometimes, you can hardly see the sky and never the sun becasue it is always pouring. This is why, they convert December into the most festive season!
As Sogyal Rinpoche said, "You cannot ask the darkness to leave, you must turn on the light". I believe this to be true, and which is why it seems like my whole city just lights up as December arrives. This seems especially true when you walk through the neighborhoods here and see so many lights and decorative Snowmen, reindeer and lit up trees on people's front yards. Redmond Lights are showcased, which are the annual light show Redmond potrays, with its wide range of lit up animals, glow in the dark tunnels and steaming hot cocoa. It's always situated at our downtown park, and the cocoa with marshmallows is an old tradition. There are so many more traditions here, such as the SnowFlake Lane.
SnowFlake Lane ocurs annually, and it's a beautiful parade they execute though the streets winding around Bellevue Square (a mall). It's kind of similar to the Republic Day back in India, when each city builds a float and parades it proudly through the street. Though in the Snow Flake lane, the floats are all Christmas theme, blue for Winter Wonderland and red and green for Christmas. There are people dressed as snowflakes, fairies, dances, and Nutcrackers. Nut crackers are classics of any Christmas Show, inspired from one of their most famous ballets. A simple portrait would be a soldier in a red suit and a big black top hat.
Though most important of all, and my personal favorites are all the lights! Each float and costume are practically glowing with their wide array of lights and sequins. I simply adore the strings of lights bethrown on the otherwise bear tress. They give such a beautiful look to the trees who lost their leaves in the fall, and are simply biding their time to gain them again in the Spring.
The people from the parade are always entertaining, dancing, and singing. They are so energetic and truly want to make families and little ones have the time of their life. Another special aspect is all the fake snow enveloping around us like a cocoon wrapping itself around a caterpillar, soon waiting to blossom as a butterfly as spring approaches. I am truly grateful to be in a place where I can experience the four different seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter), and I am so glad that the temperate region gives me that.
India is in the tropics, which is full of the sun, and warmth all year round. I love that too, and that feeling, the sticky air hugging to my T-shirt as I go running after my friends will always be my favorite. Though it’s a nice change to experience a world so completely different, something that makes me feel like I have so much more to achieve in the world, so much more to experience, and lights and times like these truly drive that idea home. -Navaka