Let it snow! Let it snow!
True story: I never touched snow that stayed on the ground until I was 21. It was at Lake Tahoe, and technically it was on a beach, but I still had no idea what to do with this strange stuff. (Pictured on right.)
Growing up in Houston, where I’m visiting now, it gets plenty cold and often rains, but snow? Never. I think once when I was in elementary school some flakes fell from the sky and the city basically shut down in amazement. When I was younger (okay, maybe 16) whenever the sky was white with clouds my father would declare “Those are snow clouds.” Everyone would laugh, but I didn’t get the joke until a good 20 years of my life had passed without meaningful amounts of snow.
There was one exception. Christmas of ’04 I had just moved to San Francisco and started a job at CNET two months before. My rent was 6x what it had been in Houston and between that and some other travel I was completely broke by the time December came around. of course I couldn’t tell my parents, so I had some sort of logical reason why my first Christmas away from home I wasn’t going to be able to visit, and I didn’t. It wasn’t a total wash, I ended up writing bbPress and doing a lot of the work for what would become WordPress 1.5. But that one year I didn’t go back a nationwide snow storm brought Houston its very first White Christmas. My friends Sarah and Jess delighted in rubbing it in:
While these look like innocent pictures, they really stung. I vowed never to miss a Christmas in Houston again, knowing full well that there will probably never be another White Christmas in my lifetime
But now regardless of the weather conditions wherever you’re spending this holiday season, you can at least have snow on your blog! Go to your Dashboard, then Presentation, then click on Extras and you’ll see this:
Check the box, hit save, and you and your visitors will see small white flakes of snow coming down on your blog. (This works best if you don’t have a theme with a white background.) Much like snow in Houston, the flakes won’t stay long on the ground, I think because our servers tend to be a little hot. This feature will be available for a limited time only, on January 2nd it will disappear until next year, but just imagine it as our little present to you, an opportunity to spread a little cheer.
Merry Christmas! Here’s a latin jazz version of Let it Snow to listen to while activating the feature:
Update: As promised, the snow has melted away until next year.
woohoo!!!!
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I love it! THANKS!
And I love snow.
Our Wisconsin winter has been a real one this year as every weekend in December we have had a storm. Not puny ones….real ones. I took some pics and welcome you to see the world form my home on Lake Monona.
http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2007/12/01/snow-pictures-from-madison-wisconsin/
http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/awesome-winter-snow-in-madison-wisconsin/
http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/impressive-icicles-in-madison-wisconsin/
Or how about the way it was when I was a boy and it snowed back home.
http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2007/01/31/the-snow-drifts-of-my-childhood/
Merry Christmas!
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thanks for the snow gift…
me in a different continent will never experienced snow…
unless i plan to migrate to somewhere else.. heehee…
hey, thanks matt. the snow in blog is cool. ^_^
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Sweet! I love the snow!
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That’s so sweet, very adorable! I’m in Florida, so I remember “the snow” of 1989 quite well. Merry Xmas!
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Very Nice Matt
Cheers
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haha – lovely! I wish it was real though… get that sleigh!
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thank’s Matt, It makes my blog more beautifull but l hope this feature will be forever and more.
Kuningan-Indonesia
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Matt, liked the unusually emotional post.
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You rock, Matt! Merry Christmas. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
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beautiful matt, thanks.
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Even with different sizes, speed and direction!
Love it!
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Very nice with winter photos on a white theme: http://photokej.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/merry-christmas/
Thanks!
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Considering we are getting dumped on with snow in Denver right now, very timely for me.
And a couple years ago we were in Houston for Christmas and it snowed!
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Hahahaha, I like so much this extra. I’m going activate it right now!
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Thank you. I love it. Merry Christmas.
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Beautiful…Here I was bemoaning our lack of snow, when voila! WordPress presents SNOW!
Thank you and a very merry Christmas to you, and to all the wonderful people who read, write and manage here.
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Matt, Ive never touched snow in my life too not until Genting (the only casino place in Malaysia) decided to build a snow house right smack in the middle of the mountain ridge. Malaysians made a bee line to this place. Love the falling snow effect on my site, thanks. H
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Merry Christmas guys and Thank you !
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Nice Add and love the snow 😛
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Thank you so much Matt! I *love* that my blog is a shake-em-up snowy, if only for a few days!
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Beautiful! Thanks Matt! And Merry Xmas to you and the team!
When I was reading your post the little flakes started to fall and I thought “Oh how lovely is this, I wish I could have something like this for my Christmas blog…” And my wish came true! 🙂 This is the first time EVER that snows falls in the Caribbean, btw.
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I have photos of snow at my West University (circumscribed by Houston) house in 1977. It must be nice to be too young to remember! It’s snowing in Tacoma, WA right now but it won’t remain on the ground. Merry Christmas!
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Matt, we get snow here in Florence, Italy, once in a blue moon so when it does snow, people go around with umbrellas and drive around at 5 miles an hour! ….which is ridiculous to someone like me who grew up in Chicago where snow=winter.
So thanks for your heart-warming story and for the snow. Didn’t know Houston has Florentine-like weather!!
🙂 Susan
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Thank you, Matt! It is wonderfull! It’s like snowing in Austria.
Happy Holidays!
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Cool. Love it. Merry Christmas and thank you.
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It’s really cute. I’m not fond of snow, but I’m totally putting snow on my blog.
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Co-hoo-hoool! Yay! 😀
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I love the snow. Yayayayay!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
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let it snow!!
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Thanks Matt!
Lovely feature. Merry Christmas from Portugal 🙂
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Thanks Matt, nice and cooling under the hot Australian sun.
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thanks a lot for the extra feature Matt, it’s AWWWWWWWWWWWEEESOME! 🙂 Merry X’mas everyone!
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Thanx for the snowflakes! We don’t have snow here in Singapore. Its the rainy season here for now but thank god it was clear weather on christmas eve and on christmas. Its a good thing i turned on the vermillion theme, which with the snowflakes, looks and feels great!!! Thank you again!! 😉
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Well now…that looks pretty cool with all the snowy art on my blog lately. 🙂 Thank you!
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THIS IS SOOOO LATE!!! ARGH!
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PS your story is good though. It does not snow here in the Philippines, though the weather turns a little bit cooler because of the Siberian and Chinese wind that comes here every December. Happy Holidays!
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Ha! For a while I lived in (stranded is more likely?) a place where there’s snow around 6 months! Go figure. Now, it’s tropical time all year. Hoo hoo … (or should it be “ho ho ho”?).
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Awesome! Really cool feature to feel we’re on Holiday! 😀
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Oh, and of course, Merry Christmas!!! 😉
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genius….sheer genius! Love it Matt!
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thanks, RMcC
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Matt,
I’m one of those people with white background — so I didn’t think your snow would work. . . . and, indeed, it doesn’t . . . except for on my avatar which is an Ancient Greek boy from a red-figure vase with a black background . . . and now it’s snowing on him . . . totally incongruous and hilarious! Thanks for this. Really funny! . . . (I don’t think it will work in the avatar on this page, but look at tag/a-lonely-boy-was-reading-by-a-feeble-fire/ — after giving it a few seconds to descend that far down the page.)
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so cool!!
happy holidays! =)
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*Thanks,* Matt!
Love the snow seeing as we very rarely get the white stuff here in metro Atlanta either – 1973, ’82, and ’93 stand out in my memory. But none of them were at Christmas.
Thank you, WP, for a marvelous year in 2007 and I’m really looking forward to 2008!
Btw, would you please share who the audio is from? Lovely, lovely jazz.
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oyi….. people…. this is stunning……. i’m gonna put it on now….. lol… thank you and merry christmas…. hey!
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Hello Matt,
This is really funny that you post about this specific snow in Houston. My husband, a native Houstonian, moved to Tennessee in 2004 and he too, decided not to go home on that particular year. He and I were together instead, in Nashville where, on occasion it will snow. That year it did not. It did however snow ever so slightly the following year. We too, like you, now live in the bay area. We are a about 20 minutes south of you down the peninsula. My husband however, works at a startup in SOMA. Seems like our paths and stories are quite similar. We should all hang sometime. Do you miss Pappasito’s as much as we do?
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Another reason why I love WordPress. Thanks Matt….I love it!
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cool!!
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cool…
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I hate snow!
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Ha, fabulous! I don’t like snow actually but on my blog I don’t mind…
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this is awesome … 🙂 merry Christmas to wordpress team and all 🙂
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Only had a little snow on 25th – thanks. And the fantastic thing – I tried the theme preview (as I my usual theme has got a white background) and it worked as well.
Maybe you just add some other weather conditions (cloudy, sunny, rain, lightening etc.) for choosing during the year or randomly 🙂
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Thank
you Matt.
Merry Christmas
to you and the team
and wishing everyone in
the WordPress community
a safe, happy and healthy 2008
……..
[stolen from above http://www.linkedin.com/in/miroslodki%5D
It is also nice to see that you will never really grow up.
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Thank you Matt and Merry Christmas!
Please, let it work after the 2nd of February!!!
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yeah let it snow here …
🙂
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hey thanks for the new extras, I haven’t touch or feel snow and this is feels like a good substitute.
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That snow was made for this post
http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/
perfect.
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I love this feature!!
Thank you and merry christmas to the WP team 🙂
Keep up the great work in 2008 🙂
Greetings from Germany, Tina
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Cool!!!
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Excellent feature ! Thanks for sharing !
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Thanks Matt, nice extra. I moved from San Francisco and live in Houston now. It snowed here in 2005.
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someday… i’ll touch or feel the snow too! someday… 🙂
merry christmas!
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Enjoy the snow, Matt! If you want more of it, come to Maine. 🙂
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Thanks for the fun! Would enjoy more of this type of fun during the year. You guys do a great job!
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must be nice, its been snowing here every day since november
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It is a pity that I did not notice the function until Dec 26.
I feel the snow inspiring.
Thank you Matt.
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Hee! How entirely too cool! I live in Minnesota and there’s no shortage of snow here, but one can never have enough of it if you ask me, so I’m loving it coming down on my screen too :o) Thanks, Matt!!
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thanks, be blessed
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I like it. How about a rain storm to click on when I have a really angry post?! Cool addition.
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Hi Matt,
‘let it snow,let it snow, let it snow!!!’ meg runs off singing to put snow on her blog!
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The snow feature is so cute!
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Cool!
I hope these snowflakes don’t block my clicks away. (e.g., photomatt a day ago) 😉
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Neat.
Loved the story.
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Merry Christmas Matt 😉
Nice Story.
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Thanks Matt. We have fresh snow up on top of Mauna Kea now.
Happy Holidays!
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No wonder you guys are number 1
LOVE YOU WORDPRESS
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Thanks Matt, just the perfect touch!
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It is over 44 degrees C where I am in Perth Western Australia. Almost expect garden to catch fire. Last snow may have been during last ice age.
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Thanks Matt!! It looks great snowing on my site, it’s nice to see some since we don’t really get any here in Georgia either. Only a few times in my memory. Hope you enjoyed your Christmas!!
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In Tbilisi for the present there is no snow… And very much it would be desirable will wake up in the morning and to see the white world…
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Thanks! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
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