It's Cold!

We're about to have the coldest weekend of this fall. We've lucked out so far in having our cooler weather during the week with warmups on the weekends. Not this weekend. I see a pot of chili in our future!

We've had a pretty quiet day. We went to gas up hubby's vehicle a few minutes ago, just so we weren't vegetating in the house all day! I cleaned up and did laundry this morning, and I've worked on another Christmas ornament this afternoon.

I didn't used to be a wimp in cold weather. I grew up in an uninsulated house that was heated with one wood stove. We didn't have indoor plumbing, necessitating year-round trips outside on a daily basis. I was a tomboy who loved to be outside, who loved to help Dad with the barn chores. I loved tramping through the timber with my dog in the cold weather. I enjoyed playing in the snow.

Through junior high and high school, we had to go outside during the day because we had three different buildings. Even when it was freezing cold, we often made those runs without coats because it was unhandy to grab them. When I got to college, I went from building to building for classes. Even after college, I found myself in a situation where I walked to work on a daily basis. When I started working in downtown Wichita, I walked four blocks to catch the city bus, then another two blocks to the office where I worked. I've done a fair amount of snow shoveling in my day.

But let's just get it out there – the older I get, the less I like the cold! I don't mind an occasional brisk, sunny day. But if it's cloudy and damp, forget it. I don't even want to step outside to get the mail. Even in our house, which is very cozy, I end up looking looking like the Michelin man by the time I get my warm layers on! Heaven help me when we actually get to winter.

It's hard to realize that a week from today Thanksgiving will be over. And, if all goes as planned, our Christmas decorations will be up.....or at least in progress. I'm starting to feel excited about the idea of putting up the decorations.

I have quite a few decorations that were used during my childhood. I always enjoy the warm flood of memories I get when I put them on the tree. I love going back to my childhood in my mind, to remember what it was like to get up on Christmas morning and find the gifts under the tree. I still vividly remember the Christmas that I heard Santa playing with wind-up toys in our living room! I laid so still and so quiet. Ironically, we had a blizzard that Christmas Eve and the snow plow went down our road in the middle of the night.

I hope when my kids and grandkids are my age, they'll still have at least some of the Christmas ornaments I've made them over the years and have the same good memories as they put them on the tree.