The first day of winter is 10 days away, December 21st. This is the shortest day of the year, with approximately 30 minutes of daylight. The bears are warm in their caves, while humans are in full thrall of the whole holiday thing, crushing against each other in malls for last-minute gifts and possibly some nice frozen yogurt at the food court.
I generally don’t like winter because I am not a big fan of the cold and dark. But in the spirit of being positive, here are five things I do like about winter:
- If it’s officially winter, we’re less than one season away from spring and t-shirt weather
- A little snow looks pretty and gives the world a fleeting peaceful quality
- You can skate outdoors if it gets cold enough
- No need to run the air conditioner
- Risk of a sunburn drops dramatically
Hmm, that’s not really a great list. Let me try a few more:
- A warm mug of hot chocolate can hit the spot
- Running a base heater to warm your toes is far more satisfying than it ought to be
- Watching TV under a thick blanket is nice and relaxing
The obvious theme here seems to be, “Winter is cold, the fun is in finding ways to stay warm.” Some people will argue that it’s easier to get warm than to keep cool, that putting on a sweater will warm you up on a cold day, but taking it off on a hot day may not do much to cool you off on a hot day. This is perhaps true, but given how hot it generally gets here (note to historians reading this in the far future: in late 2019 the metro Vancouver area is not yet a tropical paradise), I don’t find it a big deal to keep from profusely sweating during the summer. And removing layers is somehow better than piling more on.
Anyway, that’s the best I can come up with. To stay positive, we are only 192 days away from summer. Yay!