Is there Magic in Oregon's Christmas Snow?

Christmas snow fell across much of Western Oregon and for some, it is a sign of better things to come.

A Christmas view from the King's front window Photo by: Bonnie King

(SALEM, Ore.) - What were the odds that the ground would be blanketed with snowflakes on Christmas day? Many Willamette Valley children awoke to see it floating down from the winter sky just in time to open their presents yesterday, what a special treat. Of all things that underscore the holiday tradition, snow certainly makes a winter holiday brighter.

You see, many people believe that a snowy Christmas morning is a good sign for the future, an indicator of better things to come. Some say it is "magic snow" and if there is magic, then it surely would be good for this troubled world we live in.

It seems the years we are in now are critical to the future of everything and everyone we know. We live in a beautiful world but have not managed to figure out how to negotiate our way without bringing destruction to others. Perhaps the year we are now set to enter will be one of real change and improvement, maybe that is the magic message.

I must admit that I grew up as a total stranger to snow. Kids in Southern California can go their entire lives without seeing it once unless their parents take them to see it in Big Bear or the Sierra Nevada Mountains or some other location.

My first memory of seeing snow at a distance in the mountains seems as clear as the day it happened, and it is one of the nicest childhood memories I have. I feel blessed to recall it as I lost both of my parents last summer. Memories like this seem especially vivid right now.

I was probably about ten years old that morning when my dad took me to my Uncle's house in Ontario, California for part of the day, and then to a hobby shop. I was elated when he decided to buy a gas powered airplane for me, the kind you fly on a string, controlling the plane's up and down movement.

I can still see that plane today, it was a biplane in bright yellow and blue. We walked out of the hobby shop and that is when I saw hail for the first time. The ground was totally blanketed as were the parked cars and hedges, etc. To me it and it looked like a winter scene from a movie.

So now in a single day, I had seen snow at a distance and real white stuff up close, and I was going to fly my first model airplane, not a bad day for a little kid who was just happy to be spending a day with his dad.

My dad was patient, he let me take the first flight, but in retrospect I'm afraid it wasn't such a great plan. I remember the plane flying straight up, and then straight down into the ground where it was instantly destroyed. I couldn't believe it.

After that my dad and I went home and he removed the gas motor and glued it together. That way I was still able to enjoy it, at least as an item in the toy box. I remember seeing that glued together biplane for many years at their house after I had moved away when I would go home to visit.

Over the years my wife Bonnie and I have had many wonderful Christmas holidays with my parents and we are especially glad that our own children were able to know their grandparents and vice verse.

The family unit in this country is all too often fragmented and I personally regret not living in a closer proximity to my parents, Charles and Nellie King, but we certainly appreciate the good times we have had.

Snow rarely visits other places where Bonnie and I have lived, places like Yuma, Arizona. That desert is a place that will go many years without anything close to snow. Instead residents have to tolerate winter days in the high 70's along with sunshine, the nerve of some people!

We did have one magnificent Christmas day during our five years in Las Vegas. It was the winter of '98, and the neon strip was white, along with the surrounding communities of Henderson and Boulder City. That was a nice addition to a Christmas that was a scheduled work day.

Now that I don't work in TV news, I actually can take it a little easier on Christmas. It seems I always managed to pull that shift in the different newsrooms I worked in over the years.

Snow is a wonderful thing from a visual point of view. Western Oregon was given just enough to make it an official Christmas snow. I also received a great gift from my family that seems significant, what else but a flying model airplane would be appropriate?

Here's to a magical year.