My (Over-Done) "It's Cold Outside" Post

Blog posts about the cold are probably getting a bit overdone, but here are my two cents on the matter... Number one, I am not one who will complain about it. Nor do I like commenting on how cold it is. I live in an area where I can expect bitter cold in the winter, and overly hot and muggy in the summer, so why act like someone has done me a wrong when I get what I know is *reasonably expected*? Really, the cold did not get to me. On the coldest day (yup, I get that we didn't get as cold as all you MN's, but it was still cold..I know for sure it hit fourteen below, and probably even lower) Hubby Chad and Cheerio bundled up and partially cleared the snow off our balcony with her little sand shovel. They couldn't have been out there more than ten minutes, but she was still very happy to have made it out to play in the "no"-one of her absolute favorite things to do (okay, she has a lot of absolute favorites). And the rest of the day, we enjoyed a fire and made dairy-free cookies, and sipped our "coffees" (aka hot cocoa) out of snowman cups. It was pleasant. It was restful. It was a change of pace from our normal day-to-day craziness.

found here

And number two, since I said there was two cents worth, is that I actually do enjoy winter. As much as I am a sun-worshiping, summer-loving, hot-weather-hog, there is a special thrill and excitement in winter that I think I would truly miss if I lived somewhere without cold. There is a beauty winter holds that nothing can beat. I mean, look at this: 

© Jenae Karvonen 2012

and this:

© Jenae Karvonen 2012

© Jenae Karvonen 2012, 2012, and 2010

and this, and this, and this:

I mean seriously, where would I be if I did not have the opportunity to enjoy all this beauty? I am sure you know that a photo just cannot capture what being there felt like, I am only giving you the slightest glimpse of one small detail. Without winter I would be missing out on so much mother nature has to offer me... And have you ever stepped outside on a cold, clear night (better yet, gone ice skating??) when the stars really do hang like diamonds in the sky, and the air....I cannot even begin to describe the air. It has a certain smell that will clear your mind and lift your spirits in a way that no summer ever can. You know that just-after-it-rains-and-everything-feels-new smell? A winter night is like that, only more inspiring. So really, every winter, I do discover there is a summer inside me, because winter brings those feelings out in a way that summer somehow lacks. Every summer I forget how wonderful winter makes me feel, and start thinking I could live without cold weather. Then winter comes along and *WHAM* I am hit with this internal summer, this internal joy springing up from somewhere deep with in me. Everything is clean, fresh, pure.....and cold.