I’ve had my share of white Christmas during all these years of living abroad. Each at different points in my life, some happy, some not so much. The snow can be both calming and beautiful as well as chilling and heavy. Having been brought up in a city that has rarely been painted in white, Lisbon, I had always dreamt of a white Christmas.
The type that sounds more like a fairytale, a wonderful Christmas tree, a hot cup of the most exquisite hot chocolate and a fireplace to warm your body and spirit while you look outside and admire the rhythm of the snow flakes falling and covering all in white.
In this picture there is no room for digging the many meters of snow accumulated around your house and car and getting frustrated by the traffic jams or getting stranded in a storm on a white highway somewhere. That was definitely not part of the fairy tale. But that was something I learned always comes together.
So here I am in Tehran, 3 months after my arrival, having found the white in all its glory but also its less glorious side that gets me stuck in terrible traffic jams every time it snows heavily. For the first time I’m exchanging one white for another. About to embark to the old continent, to spend Christmas and new year in Austria, I thought I would leave you briefly with a few white Persian notes.
The first time I woke up to this wonderful mountainous white sheet, my family still slept and so I sat in peace with the world admiring how a white coat can change the perception you had before. It is like a new landscape emerged while you were sleeping to surprise you at dawn.
I don’t know how long I sat there, just interrupted by the whistle of the kettle announcing tea was ready. The smell of saffron sugar invaded the room. It comforted and kept me warm, almost like a real fireplace would.
White mantle or not, I wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas with your loved ones!
