Many didn't warm to snowless holiday
For others, Christmas was a day at the park
Jeanine Browne knew something was amiss the moment she strolled into the Public Garden yesterday morning with her 5-month-old whippet, Cocoa . Birds were chirping, the grass was green, and families were playing football in sweatshirts, no hats or gloves needed.
The historic Boston park utterly lacked a key ingredient for classic yuletide cheer: snow.
"I want icicles dripping from the trees. I want 32 degrees. I want a white Christmas," Browne protested. "I might as well be in San Francisco if I wanted a Christmas like this."
Around the city yesterday, the unseasonably warm weather, barren tree limbs, and glimpses of sunshine sparked a Christmas lament that recalled a line by the 15th-century French poet François Villon : Where are the snows of yesteryear?
For many who like to wake to a mantle of white on Christmas morning, it was hard to feel jolly. Joggers were running in shorts, children sped merrily on scooters, and there was nary a snowflake to make it feel like a proper Christmas.
"It's hard to get in the mood," sighed Ashley Coplik , who was walking with her husband, Josh, in the Public Garden. "I feel like it should be snowing."
Temperatures in Boston yesterday hit 45 degrees, 6 degrees above the average high.
This year could be Boston's warmest on record, surpassing 1953 and 1949, when the average annual temperature was 53.6 degrees, said Charles Foley , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.
This month, 0.4 inches of snow has dusted the city, putting Boston on track for the fourth least-snowy December since 1872, when official record keeping began.
The last time snow fell on Boston on Christmas Day was in 1993.
For Christmas 1996, there were 11 inches of snow on the ground, the remnants of an earlier storm.
Tom Nolan , a grandfather who was strolling on Castle Island in South Boston with his cocker spaniel, Bailey , said he was worried about global warming. "They laugh and mimic Al Gore, but I believe him," Nolan said. "It's a major problem. Maybe not today, but years down the pike."
Dan Liebowitz , who was tossing a football with his son, Sam, 4, in the Public Garden, said he was grateful for the warmer weather.
"It's nice to be outside and play," Liebowitz said. "Winter will be here soon enough."
With the city sheathed in gray, several heaps of ice shavings were a hit in Boston Common yesterday.
The forlorn lumps, no more than 3 feet high and melting fast, had been carted off the Frog Pond ice skating rink.
Children romped and climbed on them, and more than a few parents climbed on top and posed for photographs.
"We were hoping for snow for Christmas. This is as close as we're going to get," said Della Greenslade , a Bermudan who stood on one of the mounds as a relative snapped a photo.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 