Its Christmas time once again. Every year when hanging the boughs of holly I think back to how this Christmas is so different from so many others. Some people are steeped in tradition and I have found myself in envy of them from time to time. However, I wouldn’t trade even one of my weird Christmases for all of the traditions depicted by Norman Rockwell. As the snow fell the other day my minds eye focused on Christmas 2017. This was a monumental Christmas because it was our first Holiday Season since we sold CrunchTime Popcorn and Kim’s Creamery at the end of October 2017. Soon after we purchased our gorgeous 40-foot motor home.
We had driven it straight from the sales lot through the Colorado Mountains (that is another story altogether) to San Diego to visit family and friends there and to check on the new owners to see if they had any questions. Mainly to check on our boat and pick up all our stuff out of storage.
Then we headed back east to check on our rental properties in Memphis. All our duties fulfilled we contemplated on where to spend Christmas. Being an exceptionally cold December, we decided to head south to Jackson. I sang my favorite song the whole way. “We got married in a fever” by Johnny Cash and June Carter. It of course references “I’m going to Jackson.” Mississippi was bound to be warmer than Tennessee after all it was south. Right?
So off we hummed down the I 55 to a LeFleur’s Bluff State Park Campground in the city of Jackson, Mississippi. Finding state parks in the middle of a city is very rare. This one was unique in that it was biking distance to everything in Jackson including the VA Health Clinic for David’s check up and a civilian clinic for mine. We didn’t as of yet have our tow car aka Charlotte the 1995 Jeep Wrangler that I loved and adored. We did get her for Christmas that year.
The surrounding area also included several museums and hiking trails along a river.
At first site, the camp ground was situated on a lovely lake forested with trees like I had never seen before. At second site it was in the middle of a swamp complete with Bald Cyprus trees (the trees I had never seen before) Ok, cool we are in a swamp for Christmas surely it was not be freezing cold.
Our first outing we hiked through the lovely Cyprus forest to a natural history museum. It wasn’t too far maybe a forty-five minute hike. The museum was fascinating. They have a live two headed rattle snake! They also had a huge tank that displayed live native fish that live in the river that we just hiked next to. Including in the tank were some small Alligators and lots of different colorful frogs.
We must have been inside the museum for quite a while and didn’t see the weather change outside. It had begun to pour. Remembering that our trail was mainly planks just above the ground we decided that we should get back before the trail became a creek. Fortunately, the rain wasn’t too cold. We did get completely soaked but it was a soothing cleansing rain. The most exciting thing about it was all the swamp creatures that camp out of the woodwork, literally. All kinds of colorful frogs and lizards and yes a snake or two. We marveled at the multicolored swamp creatures, jumped puddles and laughed and danced through the swamp back to the camp ground.
When we arrived back to civilization I spun around and danced through the rain all the way through the camp ground.
The next day we rode our bikes through the camp ground and into town. We had fabulous pizza and sweet potato fries. When we arrived back we passed the first camper that seem to have an entire menagerie including a chicken that followed the dogs and cats around like it was one of them. This is the one and only time I ever saw anyone camping with a chicken.
The lady of the camper ran out to greet us as we slowly rolled by eyeing her chicken with suspicion. “Hey, hi. I just wanted to meet you two.” She introduced herself and her husband as well as the dogs cats and chicken. “Yes this is a special chicken, she is a pigmy the last of her group. She is 17 years old.” That chicken ran around like a spring chick not a 17-year-old pigmy chicken. Obviously, she had been well loved. She had her own entrance to the camper and everything.
They lady said she had something for us and disappeared into the camper. She returned holding a throw pillow to her chest. “I saw you two dancing in the rain yesterday. And I decided that you should have this pillow.” It was beautifully embroidered with “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to Dance in the Rain.”
You never know who is witnessing your joy. Happiness is contagious. Later we found out that the campground was allowing them a lengthy stay because they were from a far away rural area and her husband was battling a health issue. The camp ground was close to his treatment center.
We were just dancing because we were free and happy but it brought someone else a moment of joy too. Then they payed it forward with a thoughtful gift they just happened to have at hand. Maybe before they saw it in action the saying was just words someone embroidered but then when they came to life before their eyes it meant so much more.
A couple of days after that on Dec 8, 2017 it snowed 4.9 inches on that swamp in Jackson Mississippi. This was one of the heaviest snow storms on record. So much for warm and south but we were on our way to a white Christmas. The camp ground began to fill up with other large RVs heading south and got caught in this unexpected snow storm.
I made a small snowman on the picnic table with fall leaves as arms. He was small but maybe my cutest snowman.
The funny thing is that after I built that snow man the ranger stopped to smile and chuckle at my little snow man. The lady at the end of the row came over on the edge of the lake right in front of our camper and built a giant snowman maybe 5 feet high. She was out there for hours working o him. He was as tall as she was. I always wondered why she built that snowman in front of my camper and not next to hers. I got all the pleasure of looking at him everyday. Back then I thought she was trying to show up my little snowman. Maybe she new I liked them and she made him for me. I will never know. I choose to think that the lady was offering a kind gesture to some travelers stuck in a snowy swamp over Christmas.
Some of the snow stayed on the ground all the way to Christmas. It was good enough for me. We met kind chicken parents and snowman makers and celebrated the birth of our Lord that year in a snowing Mississippi Swamp in 2017.
Why am I thinking about this today in 2025? Sometimes living in a rural area we come to feel isolated and that no one is watching and we are not doing anything or influencing anyone. But that is just the enemy who whispers lies into our heads tricking us. The truth is that each person that we meet brings our joyful vibe into their life and theirs into ours. Just by doing what we do when we don’t think anyone is around. Someone is watching, learning, and gaining joy and love from just a simple dance in the rain or building the smallest silliest snowman. Your actions inspire others. Don’t ever stop believing that you make a difference. Don’t ever stop dancing in the rain and building snowmen no matter how small. You never know who is watching you and to whom you are passing on your joy, fun, silliness, love and faith even in a snowy swamp in Mississippi or wherever you are right now!
