let it snow, let it snow, let it freaking snow

I gotta tell you, I'm getting really tired of these Wisconsin winters. Last winter we had over 100" of snow (beat the existing record by more than 30") and it was truly cold (tempos hovering around zero) a lot of the time. Summer was lovely and much, much too short. Fall was nice, and even shorter. Now we seem to have jumped straight into winter with very little warning. It was below zero when we got up this morning. It snowed last week, it snowed yesterday, it's snowing again today, and we might get another 12" by the middle of the week. Statistically, it's very improbable that we'll get another winter as cold and long and snowy as the last, but with global climate change screwing around with extreme weather all over the globe, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I should also improve my attitude. I should enjoy the beauty of everything covered in a thick white blanket and stop griping about the insane amount of money we spend every year on coats and boots and snowpants and snow shovels (we have at least 4 now). But right now, I'm afraid my attitude is not good. I can't take the kids out to play when it's this cold, no matter how many layers of wool they're wearing, it's a huge pain to go anywhere, and worst of all, I'm filled with dread anticipating the next three or four or five months of this.

Still, there are a few things to cheer me up. It's the holiday season, after all, which means feasting and cookies and seeing family. Last night some friends of ours hosted a St. Nicholas feast, something of an annual tradition for their family, and we were honored to be invited. I was griping about the cold and donning all the winter gear (takes 20 minutes sometimes with a baby and all) I wanted to sequester myself inside and watch PBS and drink tea and be gloomy. But we hadn't seen these friends in months and months, so we went and of course we all had a wonderful, wonderful time. Daniel played nicely with the other kids and had some candy (it's tradition for St. Nicholas to leave treats in your shoes if you leave them by the door) and Anya sat on my lap and blew raspberries. There was a fire. There was good food, and pie for dessert and eggnog after that. It was warm and cozy and re-assured me that the cold and snow aren't so bad when you have someone to share it with.