A story in this issue’s holiday guide touched on Christmas films that have been shot in Atlanta, but not necessarily during winter, or even set here. Such productions often have to use movie magic to simulate a winter wonderland. It’s a larger scale example of a paradox that can face magazines like this one.
At the moment, I’m trying to get into the holiday spirit while writing during early October, which has seen temperatures in the high 80s: summer doesn’t want to let go. It can be hard to get in the Yuletide frame of mind when the neighbors are wearing short sleeves and putting fake tombstones and skeletons in their yards.
Apart from the once-in-a-century anomaly on Dec. 25 of 2010, Atlantans can only dream of a white Christmas, although the man-made snowfall at Stone Mountain offers a chance for winter fun. Maybe it’s the lingering humidity talking, but I find myself strangely nostalgic for the big blizzards that seem to strike the city every 20 years or so.
I was very young in January of 1973, but I vividly remember the ice storm that knocked out power all over the city, including my parents’ house at Chastain Park. With no heat for days, my parents, sister, dog and I shared a mattress by the fireplace: It was kind of like the old song “Grandma’s Feather Bed.” On the plus side, we lived in walking distance of Chastain Park Golf Course, where the snow-covered fairways made perfect sledding.
Reportedly eight inches fell during “Snow Jam” of 1993, when my (future) wife and I lived in Collier Hills. We experienced a similar power failure but had no fireplace, so we essentially camped out by the kitchen oven. At one point we ate part of a brie, set it outside to cool and forgot about it. A few hours later we heard a commotion outside and discovered that a neighborhood dog had found and ate the cheese, as well as the aluminum foil wrapping it up. We were literally fighting animals for our food.
I personally fared fine during 2014’s “Snowmageddon,” but my wife had left the house to get our daughter from elementary school right when the combination of ice, snow and traffic created gridlock of legendary proportions. She realized that they’d never make it back home, but thanks to four-wheeling over sidewalks, she made it to her sister’s house. They ended up stranded there for two days while I got cabin fever at our house with just the pets.
Hmmm, maybe I’m not looking forward to the return of cold weather after all.
But I do want to wish a happy holiday to all the readers of Living Intown and especially my colleagues at the magazine: all the writers, designers, photographers, advertising executives and fellow editors, with a special shout-out to Elizabeth Landt for the image at the bottom of this page. So Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night — and here's hoping for fair weather.
Curt Holman
livingintowneditor@gmail.com
