Amy Lu's View

Not only am I not a fan of long dark nights, I am not a fan of snow.

Sure, a little snow for a short amount of time is fine, but Minnesota (even in this era of global warming) goes overboard. This may seem heretical to many, but although a “White Christmas” is undeniably romantic, I’d choose no snow on Christmas if it meant a less snowy winter overall.

Ignoring/denying what it signifies about global warming and the long term health of our world, I’ve totally been digging this warm and brown (although I prefer to call is “sepia”) winter that we’ve been having so far. I love that our lack of snow (and more importantly, ice) has made it possible for me to do a lot of running.

But of course, our snowfall amounts are not up to me, and it looks like that all will change tomorrow. (I am trying to prepare myself for my running streak ending on Day #210). To quote an influential Christmas carol from my childhood, “Here Comes Suzy Snowflake.”

When I was about 9 (to the best of my recollection) I got to play Suzy Snowflake in our school Christmas program. My role consisted of walking down the aisle as everyone sang “Here comes Suzy snowflake” and the piece de resistance was that I got to sing the line “Come on everyone and play with me for I haven’t long to stay” as a solo.

My mom made my Suzy costume and it was a work of art (another rare and treasured example of my mom venturing into the world of craftiness). Like our Christmas stockings, my Suzy costume was also a shining example of felt art, as my mom painstakingly cut out numerous intricate felt snowflakes, framed them in glitter, and hotglued them to a big flowy satiny nightgown. The gown was trimmed in silver garland and I also had a silver garland wreath for my head.

I was SO excited to be cast in the “starring” role of Suzy. I anticipated the big night for days, maybe even weeks. Sadly, when the big day came, I had a really terrible cold. Oh, I didn’t miss the performance–I knew at a young age that the show must go on–but I felt miserable, and I was sad that I so congested that my voice sounded awful.

But I still remember–or think I remember–being the limelight in the old high school gym. Yes, my craving of the spotlight started at a young age.

My monlogue about Christmas pageants in our recent “Uh-Oh, Here Comes Christmas” production inspired me to think about my past experiences with childhood school and church Christmas productions. Not only did I revel being Suzy, I also enjoyed getting to recite bible verses at our church Christmas endeavors. We didn’t do anything as showy as a “pageant” with costumes, etc., but we stood woodenly and spouted Bible verses (from memory!) and stoicly sang some religious carols.

(I do fondly recall the paper lunch sack of crappy candy we got at church. That’s the thing about traditions–they don’t have to be “good” per se–just regular, to be comforting).

I also remember getting to play some type of hand held bells in the school program and being afraid that I was going to drop my bell while sitting in the bleachers. I definitely had stressful images of the bell slipping through my sweaty fingers and making a huge horible noise as it crashed to the ground.

Sadly, I don’t have any photos of young, chubby (yes, I was definitely a “hefty” kid) nasaly Amy as Suzy Snowflake. But I will always remember how much I loved that snowflake dress and the anticipation of my starring moment.

And I do hope these Suzies that are supposed to visit us tomorrow also don’t have long to stay.