I LOVE WINTER!!

I know that people think I'm crazy when I tell them my favorite season is winter...but it's true! I think that a blanket of fresh snow makes everything look so stunning. I love it when light hits the snow just right and it sparlkes. Snow feels quiet to me. It even dulls the sound of the bustle of traffic. It feels calming. As if it's saying, "Slow down." And it DOES make us slow down, literally. When we're driving in it and walking in it.
Winter feels cozy to me. It makes me want to snuggle in a blanket and drink hot chocolate. I like it when the skin on your face tightens up when you go outside. It's magical that you can see your breath as you exhale. I was talking to my former Chinese professor, Zhu Yong Min, just a few weeks ago and he says he really misses winter in Salt Lake now that he has moved to California. He talked about feeling your face tighten up when you go out.

When I say I love snow, someone inevitably asks me if I like to drive in it. And the answer is yes! I don't like driving in it with other people--stupid people, like the guy who rear ended me a few years ago because he was tailgating me one morning when it was VERY slippery. But when I can stay far away from other cars, I like the challenge of driving in the snow.

I don't have to do yardwork during the winter or "pretend" like I'm gardening. Even though I do have to shovel snow, it comes at random and unpredictable times. Not like mowing and watering the lawn that you have to do regularly...or pay the price of a ratty-looking yard if you don't keep up with it.

I love living in a place where there are 4 distinct seasons. When you're tired of a long, cold Winter, the Spring is all that much more welcome and delightful. How can you appreciate the delicious warming of Spring if you have never known the biting cold of winter? I think that those who pass through cold Winters have much more appreciation for the Spring when it comes.