--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: December, in my memory, is white as…" description: "\"“December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeer. But there were cats. Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg" --- # December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there… ![“December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeer. But there were cats. Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered, spitting and snarling, they would slink and sidle over the white…” quote by Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg) > ““December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeer. But there were cats. Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered, spitting and snarling, they would slink and sidle over the white back-garden walls, and the lynx-eyed hunters, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurl our deadly snowballs at the green of their eyes.”” [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memory of childhood winter play, vivid and imaginative, blending harshness with playfulness. **In simple terms:** Winter memories are vivid and playful. Key Takeaway Embrace playful imagination. Themes nostalgia childhood imagination Mood reflective whimsical Type poetic descriptive When to use this quote - winter holidays - storytelling - creative writing - family gatherings Key Concepts memory sensory detail playfulness Questions to Reflect On - What winter memory feels both harsh and joyful? - How does imagination soften reality? A Different Perspective The vividness may romanticize harsh conditions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Deadly Snowballs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deadly-snowballs-4109736/) [December Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/december-memory-3009428/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Reindeer Cats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reindeer-cats-4109735/) [Snowball Cats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/snowball-cats-4109734/) [Snowballs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/snowballs/) ## Related quotes > [“It was snowing. It was always snowing at Christmas. December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/it-was-snowing-it-was-always-snowing-at-christmas-december-in-my/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-wall/down-that-path-lies-madness-on-the-other-hand-the-road-to-hell-is/) [Larry Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-wall/) > [“Freak-outs were a lot like snowballs. If something stuck, it was easy to keep gathering up more worries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-hamm/freak-outs-were-a-lot-like-snowballs-if-something-stuck-it-was-easy/) [Amanda Hamm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-hamm/) > [“I've named my cookies Snowballs, but not because that's what they look like. It's the way they make you feel. You know how it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-reichl/i-ve-named-my-cookies-snowballs-but-not-because-that-s-what-they-look/) [Ruth Reichl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-reichl/) > [“Can I do anything for you? Bake you cookies? Walk your dogs? Throw snowballs? Just generally be a distraction?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dee-henderson/can-i-do-anything-for-you-bake-you-cookies-walk-your-dogs-throw/) [Dee Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dee-henderson/) > [“It is not easy to hurl snowballs while holding on to a plastic bag of groceries, so my first few efforts were subpar, missing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-cohn-david-levithan-2/it-is-not-easy-to-hurl-snowballs-while-holding-on-to-a-plastic-bag-of/) [Rachel Cohn & David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-cohn-david-levithan-2/) > [I like throwing snowballs at small children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-mendes/i-like-throwing-snowballs-at-small-children/) [Sam Mendes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-mendes/) > [The light made the snowballs look yellow. Or at least I hoped that was the cause.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-d-schmidt/the-light-made-the-snowballs-look-yellow-or-at-least-i-hoped-that-was/) [Gary D. Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-d-schmidt/) > ['Promises and Friends are like snowballs. It's easy to make them but it's too difficult to keep them](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/promises-and-friends-are-like-snowballs-it-s-easy-to-make-them-but-it/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [As the plow pushes through a parking lot of light fluffy snow, the snow clumps together in bigger and bigger chunks. Out in space,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/as-the-plow-pushes-through-a-parking-lot-of-light-fluffy-snow-the/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“Maybe they're planning the next Project. They could mail snowballs to the weather-deprived children in Texas. They could knit goat-hair blankets for shorn sheep.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/maybe-they-re-planning-the-next-project-they-could-mail-snowballs-to/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) > [“He gave her one. “It is totally unfair,” he said in his most severe voice, “to engage in a snowball fight when only one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-bishop/he-gave-her-one-it-is-totally-unfair-he-said-in-his-most-severe-voice/) [Anne Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-bishop/) > [Yeah the paint's candy but it ain't sweet, AR-15's on the passenger seat, 17.454 all chrome goin' a wall, Igloo AC, blowin' snowballs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gorilla-zoe/yeah-the-paint-s-candy-but-it-ain-t-sweet-ar-15-s-on-the-passenger/) [Gorilla Zoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gorilla-zoe/) > [Some of the snowballs have a kind of animal energy. Not just because of the materials inside them, but in the way that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-goldsworthy/some-of-the-snowballs-have-a-kind-of-animal-energy-not-just-because/) [Andy Goldsworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-goldsworthy/) > [Sometimes, when something good happens, it snowballs, and you can't put a price on someone taking a chance on you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vick-hope/sometimes-when-something-good-happens-it-snowballs-and-you-can-t-put/) [Vick Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vick-hope/) ## More by Dylan Thomas > [I liked the taste of beer, its live, white lather, its brass-bright depths, the sudden world through the wet-brown walls of the glass, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/i-liked-the-taste-of-beer-its-live-white-lather-its-brass-bright/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/there-is-only-one-position-for-an-artist-anywhere-and-that-is-upright/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [“Thousands of miles,' I said. It's Rhosilli, USA. We're going to camp on a bit of rock that wobbles in the winds.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/thousands-of-miles-i-said-it-s-rhosilli-usa-we-re-going-to-camp-on-a/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/one-christmas-was-so-much-like-another-in-those-years-around-the-sea/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/i-hold-a-beast-an-angel-and-a-madman-in-me-and-my-enquiry-is-as-to/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [Youth calls to age across the tired years: 'What have you found,' he cries, 'what have you sought?" 'What have you found,' age answers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/youth-calls-to-age-across-the-tired-years-what-have-you-found-he/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [Do not go gentle into that goodnight, rage, rage against the dying of the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-goodnight-rage-rage-against-the-dying-of/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [To begin, at the beginning...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/to-begin-at-the-beginning/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [A born writer is born scrofulous; his career is an accident dictated by physical or circumstantial disabilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/a-born-writer-is-born-scrofulous-his-career-is-an-accident-dictated/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [Rhianon, he said, hold my hand, Rhianon. She did not hear him, but stood over his bed and fixed him with an unbroken sorrow.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/rhianon-he-said-hold-my-hand-rhianon-she-did-not-hear-him-but-stood/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [I know in London a Welsh hairdresser who has striven so vehemently to abolish his accent that he sounds like a man speaking with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/i-know-in-london-a-welsh-hairdresser-who-has-striven-so-vehemently-to/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [Dark is a way and light is a place, Heaven that never was Nor will be ever is always true "Poem on His Birthday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/dark-is-a-way-and-light-is-a-place-heaven-that-never-was-nor-will-be/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [And now, gentlemen, like your manners, I must leave you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/and-now-gentlemen-like-your-manners-i-must-leave-you/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [Now behind the eyes and secrets of the dreamers in the streets rocked to sleep by the sea, see the titbits and topsyturvies, bobs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/now-behind-the-eyes-and-secrets-of-the-dreamers-in-the-streets-rocked/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) > [I believe in New Yorkers. Whether they’ve ever questioned the dream in which they live, I wouldn’t know, because I won’t ever dare ask…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/i-believe-in-new-yorkers-whether-they-ve-ever-questioned-the-dream-in/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) [Explore all 201 Dylan Thomas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) ## More Flower quotes > [“It is not the force of the wind, but the depth of the roots.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/it-is-not-the-force-of-the-wind-but-the-depth-of-the-roots/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Set NOT your hearts on the flowers of this world. They shall fade and die. Prize the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/set-not-your-hearts-on-the-flowers-of-this-world-they-shall-fade-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Most girls get flowers or candy. I get a declaration of martial law.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-shearin/most-girls-get-flowers-or-candy-i-get-a-declaration-of-martial-law/) [Lisa Shearin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-shearin/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Spring training means flowers, people coming outdoors, sunshine, optimism and baseball. Spring training is a time to think about being young again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernie-banks/spring-training-means-flowers-people-coming-outdoors-sunshine/) [Ernie Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernie-banks/) > [Sometimes, sometimes it is really difficult to turn and walk away from someone you have loved and cherished for so long. You know deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-kreger/sometimes-sometimes-it-is-really-difficult-to-turn-and-walk-away-from/) [David Kreger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-kreger/) > [This, at last, was where things were as they ought to be. Everything was in its place -- the tree, the earth underneath, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-liedloff/this-at-last-was-where-things-were-as-they-ought-to-be-everything-was/) [Jean Liedloff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-liedloff/) > [A garden has a curious innocent way of consuming cash while all the time you are under the illusion that you are spending nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-meynell/a-garden-has-a-curious-innocent-way-of-consuming-cash-while-all-the/) [Esther Meynell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-meynell/) > [My days – the blossom of my youth and the flower of my manhood – have been darkened by the dreariness of servitude. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-o-connell/my-days-the-blossom-of-my-youth-and-the-flower-of-my-manhood-have/) [Daniel O'Connell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-o-connell/) > [My life is a crystal teardrop. There are snowflakes falling in the teardrop and little figures trudging in slow motion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-baez/my-life-is-a-crystal-teardrop-there-are-snowflakes-falling-in-the/) [Joan Baez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-baez/) > [“But any picture could deal with the problem of light. The problem with this picture is greater than that of reflective surfaces - it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-otto/but-any-picture-could-deal-with-the-problem-of-light-the-problem-with/) [Whitney Otto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-otto/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [Sometimes it's about less is more. It's about the seed. Thinking about this gigantic tree that you think is so beautiful but it started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-durst/sometimes-it-s-about-less-is-more-it-s-about-the-seed-thinking-about/) [Fred Durst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-durst/) > [There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-kuyper/there-are-two-kinds-of-beauty-there-is-a-beauty-which-god-gives-at/) [Abraham Kuyper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-kuyper/) [Browse all 12,347 Flower quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeer. But there were cats. Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered, spitting and snarling, they would slink and sidle over the white back-garden walls, and the lynx-eyed hunters, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurl our deadly snowballs at the green of their eyes.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dylan Thomas" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-lapland-though-there-were-no/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Flower" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-lapland-though-there-were-no/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d2/dylan-thomas-1889_quote_december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-laplan_477034.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeer. But there were cats. Patient…” — Dylan Thomas", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dylan Thomas", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“December, in my memory, is white...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-lapland-though-there-were-no/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/december-in-my-memory-is-white-as-lapland-though-there-were-no/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```