ZIONSVILLE — If you're still hoping for a White Christmas in 2025, you'll be disappointed.
Instead, this year we'll have a warm Christmas, with highs climbing above the 50-degree mark.
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Is it more common to have a warm Christmas than one with snow on the ground?
Looking at data from the 132 Christmases spanning from 1893 - 2024, there have been 18 days with temperatures warmer than 50 degrees (or about 14% of our Christmases) in Indianapolis, while 35 Christmases (or about 27%) have had an inch (or more) of snow on the ground.
Don't let this lack of snow make you have a blue Christmas.
Mary Abernathy Rees and Judy Steckler are both residents of Independence Village in Zionsville, an assisted-living facility. Both women tell me that the weather only makes for a small part of their holiday memories.
"Evidently, the weather was not the main factor, because when I searched my memory back, that's not the things that come to mind first," said Judy Steckler.
Both women described what they remember most.
"The presents didn't matter as much then," said Mary Abernathy Rees. "It was being together, and we had as many friends as sometimes we did family there."
"I believe sometimes Dad was a better cook than Mother!" Mary laughed. "We always had plenty, because we raised big gardens, and she canned. Mother canned a lot, so we had plenty of food available."
"It was no problem to have extra people. We'd have to sit on the floor with our plates," Mary continued. "It was fun, so we didn't think of it as a hardship."
"The singing around the piano, just beautiful, beautiful memories of everybody taking part in that," Judy shared. "Nobody was bashful. Everybody sing to the top of their voices!"
"One of the most memorable Christmases for me and my kids and family too, was the year I decided to wrap all the presents in newspaper. Of course, back then, newspaper was plentiful," Mary said.
"I never put any names, just numbers, and then I kept track of the numbers, so I could tell what, you know, what present who belonged to," Mary continued. "And they all thought that was crazy, but a lot of fun!"
Judy told a story of her uncle, who showed up one Christmas Eve in his Model A car to take her and her siblings for a ride.
"We didn't own a car. We were in a small town; everything was nearby. It wasn't a big priority," Judy explained. "Seven in our family, the priority was just eating."
"We just simply took his little car down and drove around the park, slid around a little bit, which was a thrill," Judy said with a big grin.
Neither talked much about the weather around the holidays until Judy showed off a few photos.
"These are my children, after a big snow in 1970," Judy held up photos and a newspaper clipping of children building snow forts and standing next to a giant icicle.
"Snowball fights," Judy continued, "They got pretty brutal. I remember my brothers got in trouble because they had made snowballs around ice balls!"
Mary said she remembered snow most years around Christmas, and she would often play in it with her family.
"There was a pond close to us. We'd take them down there with their sleds, and pull them around on the pond, and that was fun for them, and then we'd always have hot chocolate and cookies afterwards," Mary shared.
Through the years, the weather and traditions have changed a bit, but Mary and Judy were still all smiles, thinking about Christmas past.
"Even with a large family and limited funds, there was always a Christmas tree. There was always festivity," Judy said.
"Traditions have changed, along with the weather, and everything else," Mary shared. "Everything has changed, but we have to go along with the change."
