Winter Happy Thoughts

A few days ago, I wrote this big long thing about winter. It was mostly about how much I dislike different aspects of the season, such as how I don’t like being concerned with the conditions of the roads and planning my life accordingly and how much I dislike things such as coats, shoes, socks, etc. Instead of posting all of my winter grievances, I’ve decided to stick that one in my journal and not subject my (limited) internet audience to my hatred of beef with winter.
Instead, I will skip to the positive parts of that never to be published post. The whole point of it, before it turned into a vent-fest, was to share my winter plan. I have decided that it might be beneficial to note down anything that I think I like about winter. Any time I think “I love that…” or “It’s so nice that..”, and it has to do with snow or cold, I am going to take note and share it. At the end of the winter, I am going to compile it so that I can pull it out next winter and remind myself about all the happy things about winter.

As a side note, I believe in setting realistic goals. It is unrealistic for me to say that I will try to not have a negative thought about winter. Complaining is just going to happen. My realistic goal, for this year, is to take note of and appreciate the positive aspects of winter.

So my #1, favorite thing about winter is:

You get to LEAVE YOUR GROCERIES IN THE CAR!!! You can leave them there for hours! You can go to Costco, buy a bag of chicken, and then decide you aren’t quite ready to go home yet and that you should take advantage of being out of the house and the already spent gas and go to the mall. Not that you need to, you just want to walk around for a while and look at all the pretty things. Also you can buy your groceries, remember you were supposed to buy the dog his special, hypo-allergenic food at some other store besides the grocery store, and go (even take your time) because nothing’s going bad in a trunk that’s colder than your refrigerator at home. Honestly, this is the only thing I miss about winter when it’s over. Summer requires a little more planning in the sequence and timing of city outings.

Well, there’s my #1 FAVORITE THING about winter. Honestly, at this moment I am having a hard time even imagining that my list is going to be very long, but we’ll see. I am sure I will still snarl at the snow. I’ll curse having to drive anywhere with snow on the roads. I’ll swear about every time I have to gather all of the accessories necessary to keep a toddler (and myself) warm and healthy/alive in a trip out of the house. I’ll want to leave the state and realize we’re pretty much snowed in this (thankfully large) valley. By March I will feel completely distant from any sort of civilization that cannot see a giant rock wall (mountains) just to the east. By April or May, when it starts warming up just enough to guarantee that all of the moisture that comes through here will undoubtedly turn into a snowy mess, I will want to move someplace warm and sunny even if it costs me my right arm. But summer will come again (spring is just snow with the occasional teaser day of “warmth”). I’ll almost cry out of happiness when the tree outside starts to turn green. (Okay, Utah has more than one tree, but not by many. I will count them next time I have a good vantage point and let you know an exact number. Just kidding.) I’ll break out my slippers and enjoy another 4 or 5 months before it starts snowing again. Happy day!!



P.S. I don’t hate living here. There are a lot of pros. I just get a little grumpy when I think about winter, so I’m going to stop now and get back to what I should be doing.

P.P.S. Yes, this is shorter than the original post on the subject.