December never looked particularly terrible to be me for the East. Still think it's warm overall, but it's warm + snowy more than warm and boring. I've been looking hard at 1959 lately - that's a near La Nina with a very warm NE Pacific. There is definitely resemblance to early December 1959 in the current depictions by CPC. I'd say 12/1-12/10 overall looks a lot like 1988 too as currently depicted - both of those years still finish warm in the East but they're much better patterns for snow