It's winter...live with it!

It occured to me last night that the winter blah's are setting in, and there's really no way around it. As he flipped through the pages of the calendar, my five-year-old son reminded me this morning, "Hey Mom, the first day of winter is still coming!" With 16 inches of snow covering the ground already, it feels like winter found its way to Wisconsin months ago!

I'm not a big fan of winter. Call me silly, but where's the fun in this?

• Melted snow in my front hallway after all the neighborhood kids decided to "stop in" for a few minutes. (Not to mention that I stepped in one big puddle just two minutes after putting on a pair of socks!)
• Mismatched mittens in every corner of the hallway, car, closets, but not one pair to be found anywhere!
• Slushy snow lining every parking lot, making it nearly impossible to move to and fro' without splashing some on the back of your pant leg...or into your shoes!
• Frozen car seats and steering wheels.
• A fading summer tan.
• Mean holiday shoppers pushing their way through the aisles, not even sparing the smallest of children.
• 20 degrees below zero...and a wind chill factor of -58!

"So move!" you say. "Quit whining and move South." Yes, you're not the first one to offer up that bit of advice. And while I seriously consider that option between the frigid months of November and March, I'm reminded of these things:

• Family. Everyone lives within an hour of my home, so I can avoid interstate traffic and FAA regulations when I want to spend time with loved ones during the holidays.
• Snowmen, snow angels and shovels. Nothing tops watching a five-year-old playing in the snow!
• Crackling fireplaces.
• Imagery. There's just something about a light snowfall that makes the season complete. It's a little hard to get that in a warm climate.
• Deer tracks in the snow across my front lawn.
• Big sweaters that conceal the extra holiday pounds!

So, whine I will...at least until the first signs of spring. I've been in denial, thinking that maybe this is the one year that winter will forget to rear its ugly head. I've been hoping that 80 degree weather, leaves and green grass will magically appear some day before the crack of dawn. It's not looking too good, though. It's almost winter...and I'm going to have to live with it!