Snow is a staple for the holiday season. Snow is a big part of the visual appeal and aesthetic. It’s featured in decorations, pictures, postcards and advertisements around the holidays. It’s part of the idealized holiday season. In almost every holiday movie you watch, there’s snow on the ground and there’s always that one scene where the snow is needed. Like in “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, the Grinch and Max are fighting their way up the hill in a snowstorm. Whether it’s getting snowed in like in “The Shining” , snowing heavily like in parts of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, an incident happening in the snow like when Flick gets his tongue stuck to a pole in “A Christmas Story”, or just the sight of it like in almost every scene in “The Holdovers,”  it’s in movies everywhere.

Even in holiday music, it’s common to hear snow mentioned. In “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin, it’s the singers saying to just let it snow since they don’t have anywhere to go. Then in “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby, he says he’s “dreaming of a white Christmas”, showing how important the snow is for him during this time of the year.

Seeing the snow in the air is nostalgic and it feels like it’s part of a Minnesota tradition. The feeling of it gives me a happy and positive feeling. It can be an emotional and personal connection for people, especially the first snow of the year. Some of the biggest activities during this time are snow and winter-related. As a kid, I would snowball fight, attempt to ice skate and build snowmen with my sister. It now has created memories for us to share and look back on.