Today in Georgia, high temperatures will be in the sixties. But over the past two weeks, the South experienced a stretch of winter cold—and even snow—that surprised us all. But the recent winter storm in Georgia brought Salvation South editor Chuck Reece an unexpected gift. We’ll let him share that with you.

Headstone of Chuck's aunt, Arvilla "Smitty" Harbin

Headstone of Chuck's aunt, Arvilla "Smitty" Harbin

Credit: Provided by Chuck Reece

My oldest aunt on my mother’s side had a name I’ve never known anyone else to possess. 

Arvilla. 

Arvilla Smith Harbin. Everyone just called her Smitty. She was a nurse, and she lived in Holly Springs, Georgia. 

I loved visits to Aunt Smitty’s house. By the time I met her, her husband, John Hardin, had passed away, and she lived alone. But never lonely, I reckoned, surrounded as she was by books and art. I remember dark wood and a fireplace. Piles of books here and there. A cozy place to be in the wintertime. 

My most vivid recollection is the cornice above her kitchen window. When she was not carrying for patients, my Aunt Smitty was a painter and a reader. On this cornice, Smitty had painted a scene from winter. Snow, a horse-drawn sleigh with a lone passenger, and the final verse of Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,  

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

I have no memory of talking to Aunt Smitty about why she had painted that scene in her kitchen. I only remember staring at it and thinking about how I had never ridden and probably never would ride in a sleigh. My father and most of his eight brothers kept workhorses and owned a variety of horse-drawn conveyances. Wagons, buggies. But no sleighs. Snow was exceedingly rare and when it fell, rarely deep.

But sitting at Aunt Smitty’s kitchen table, I would stare at her painting. Thinking, I suppose, that I might enjoy snow like that at Christmas. And to this day, I’ve never experienced a white Christmas, at least not here in my home state of Georgia. 

But the big storm of January 2025 got me close. 

My birthday falls on January 10th. Although I am exceedingly glad to have been born, I never really liked that timing, only sixteen days after Christmas. But, on Friday, January 10th of 2025, I woke up early, walked onto my porch, and saw that I would get, at least, a white birthday. If a winter storm ever threatens the South in the second week of January again, I suppose I’ll be able to sing about dreaming of a white birthday, just like the ones I used to know. But I will be forever satisfied with what I got that day.

It was so quiet that morning. The snowflakes were so big. And it reminded me of my dear, departed Aunt Smitty’s kitchen. Whatever winter wishes she had, she must have passed them on to me.

Come to SalvationSouth.com for Southern stories of love and mercy, anytime you need one.

Snowman

Snowman

Credit: Adobe Stock

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece comments on Southern culture and values in a weekly segment that airs Fridays at 7:45 a.m. during Morning Edition and 4:44 p.m. during All Things Considered on GPB Radio. Salvation South Deluxe is a series of longer Salvation South episodes which tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it. You can also find them here at GPB.org/Salvation-South and wherever you get your podcasts.