Wednesday, December 9, 2009

5 For 5

There are goods and bads to the winter/Christmas season.  Things I absolutely drool and wait for, and things I dread and sulk about.  Because I'm feeling less than creative I decided I'd...wait for it,  wait for it....


 (This new sweater dress is an 18m dress!  She's growing up so fast!)
Write a list!

Here are the 5 things I love and the 5 things I hate about this time of year.

1. Love: Christmas carols at home, Mariah, Celine, Elmo & Rosie (I couldn't get Elmo without Rosie, trust me I tried), Good Ol' Frank, can be heard crooning away here almost all day.  And I can be heard belting it out with the best of them
   Hate: Christmas Carols on the radio.  While I love the christmas tunes (see above) there is no reason to play the same stinkin' songs on repeat.  While I know there are far less Christmasy tunes than there are regular tunes, you don't need to play 8 versions of Silent Night in the span of 25 minutes!  At least at home, when the annoying songs come on (ahem Rosie) you can hit "skip".  On the radio I'm stuck flicking through the stations searching for something other than foreign language talk radio.

2. Love: Freshly fallen/falling snow.  It's so serene, all fluffy and white, leaving the world blanketed in pure, white bliss.  And if you can go walking in said snow (alone) it's very peacefully silent.  It's also fantastico to watch your kids out playing in the snow, laughing and freezing and completely content.
   Hate: 3 Day old snow.  It's muckie and gross, usually resembling something similar to a newborn diaper.  Leaving puddles and mud everywhere you go, it's lost it's magic but still has enough density to require shovelling, it's just 400 times heavier.  And if you live in this here Valley you're stuck with more rain/freezing rain than snow, which is just a whole 'nother ball of winter percipitation frustration.

3. Love: Christmas shopping.  I ♥ the malls at Christmas time.  The music, the people, the fact that festivity is in the air.  There are people collecting food, money, toys...doing something for someone else (a thing that should happen more than just at Christmas).  Santa's around and the faces of kids who are in awe of his presence.  Oh and the pretty lights and special Christmasy themed bags, sigh.
    Hate: Christmas shopping.  The mall air is also filled with copious amounts of Starbucks special coffee - breath, 1 day only sale induced madness, and the BO that can only come with warm stores, winter coats and a mad dash for the last Elmo Live Encore.  And don't even get me started on the Crazed, abusive shoppers.

4. Love: Winter clothes.  Much like my fall list I thoroughly enjoy being able to dress in jeans and sweaters, warm cozy socks and fuzzy warm slippers.  Any season that facilitates the covering of the arms and thighs is a season that's a friend of mine!
    Hate: That it's so cold, that not only do you need to wear the afore mentioned clothes, but you also have to add winter boots (which just aren't sexy), a huge winter jacket that makes the 30+ lbs you've lost look like they've mysteriously come back, overnight (I resisted the purchase of said jacket, but thanks to Corey's insistance I am warm at winter, my vanity hit the freeze) and if it's really cold you have to wear gloves and toque.  To which I say, gloves ok, and toques HECK NO!  I'd rather freeze! 

5. Love: Again, mimicing my fall list, that in the winter it isn't manditory to shave your legs.  And now, because it's well below freezing you can explain that it's the same as a guy growing a winter beard to keep his face warm, I grow winter leggings to lock in warmth.  Hawt?  Probably not.  Smart?  Not so much.  Plain lazy, riding on a feble excuse? Exactly!
    Hate:  When Christmas parties come up and your husband begs and pleads that you put your pride away and wear a skirt already suggests kindly that a skirt might be an option.  And so you, feeling pressured like a highschool girl playing spin the bottle, shave said legs and go through 3 razors trying to remove the growth.  Subsequently cutting your legs, leaving you bleeding, grumbling and swearing that next winter, I'm gonna shave my legs! All the while knowing that you're doomed to repete the cycle.

And while there are so many more things that I do truly love about this season and a couple that I don't, that's where it stops.  There's only so much time in the day and your attention span can only take so much!


(I love this photo of Bethany)

Have a fabulously frozen Wednesday!  And tell me, what do you love/hate about winter?

4 comments:

The Smith's said...

I like how you hate the aftermath of snow... move to Northern Alberta and it lasts until March/April even May (it snowed May long weekend this year) and it doesn't get swampy until April or May. It's all at once not after every snow fall that happens. Warm winter clothes are also mandatory from about November until March at the earliest of which I am quite content to wear... boots are never warm enough as it's usually quite cold. This weekend we're expecting -32 as the high for Saturday. Yeah. Gotta love it here. Cold in Vancouver is definitely different though.. about the shaving... it's a year round affair to do that... if you let it grow for the winter season you risk having to use multiple razors, getting some serious razor burn and it is no fun when prickly legs get cold because they rub up against jeans and make it quite uncomfortable. Shaving is a must... or waxing.
That is my input.

Anonymous said...

I would say my favourite things include putting up the Christmas tree and the lights, also receiving Christmas cards in the mail (because I check my mail religiously!) Things I don't appreciate so much would be snow covering up ice, which results in walking on eggshells for the winter months in an effort not to fall, and cars that are so cold you bundle up more than outside to brave the leather seats :)
Cindy

Anonymous said...

Such gorgeous little ones!!! Awwww.
Like
The crunch of snow under my feet on a cold quiet moonlite night.
Hate
That I can't do that any more
Like
Hot Chocolate and marshmallows on a cold night.
Hate
That it has calories
Like
Silhouette of the mountains against a moonlite clear night sky
Hate
Bad icy roads on nights like that.

Love
Mom

StephLove said...

If you wear opaque tights with the skirt, you don't need to shave your legs.