But, I don’t live someplace where the winters are fierce and long. I live someplace where winters are short and pretty mild. It never seems long enough, and I’m never really ready for spring when it hits. Okay, maybe it doesn’t hit. But it does jump in pretty quickly and intensely, and, two weeks later, summer arrives, and it does hit. Big.
I’m never ready for spring because I’m not ready to stop wearing my winter clothes. I wear the warm weather clothes for MONTHS! I am always weary of them by the time cool weather arrives, and cannot wait to wash them one last time and put them away for next year. Then, I have to get them out again, when the weather warms back up, wear them for a few more weeks, wash them, and put them away, again, for next year. Then, a couple of weeks later, I have to get them out again. I continue to let myself be fooled by that one morning when there’s a chill in the air that says fall is coming. I forget that the next day, the temperature will be in the 90’s again (or higher).
So, when winter really does settle in for good, in, say, November, I’m ready. And, truly, I’ve been shivering these past few January days, and drinking lots of hot tea, and making soup, and feeling pretty chilled most of the time. But it’s winter and it’s supposed to be that way! (And I completely understand that it’s easy for me to be happy with that wintery, bitter cold weather, because it lasted for about a week and a half, and yesterday, it was 72.)
But I like winter for other reasons.
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Christmas, for example. I’m very fond of Christmas, which happens in winter
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I like hot chocolate and soup and hot tea, which can be enjoyed in June, but they just seem better in January.
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I like that it’s less expensive to heat the house with gas than it is to cool the house with electricity. (Of course, part of that is because it doesn’t stay that cold for extended periods of time and it does stay that hot for l-e-n-g-t-h-y periods of time.) See-thermostat set at 70, but Wednesday afternoon, it was 73 in the house at 7:00 p.m.
And I really do enjoy what happens to the landscape.
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I like the red berries on the holly bushes.
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I like the pansies that bloom and thrive in the winter months.
I like that things don’t have to be watered nearly as much (and the water bill drops). And I like what happens to the trees.
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This upright tree is across the street from our house.
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I’m intrigued by this tree, that has completely lost its upper leaves, but is still hanging on to its lower leaves.
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These trees look like they are holding hands as they stroll around the neighborhood.
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In winter, it’s interesting to be able to see that some trees have a tangle of big branches and small branches and twigs, while others are simple and spare on the inside.
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I just like the rows of bare trees, up and down the streets.
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The older growth and the newer growth are different colors on this tree.
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With all the leaves gone, it’s easy to see where the electric company had to trim back some branches on this tree to curtail damage to the power lines.
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On this tree, you can see where the pecans grew and then fell from the tree, leaving the empty husks behind.
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I love being able to see the story of this tree’s growth, from its thick older branches all the way out to this past year’s slender new growth.
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This is the white oak in our yard–the first to turn in the fall and the first to lose its leaves. It will also be among the first to bud–in just a few weeks. And, it will be exciting to see.
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And I do really love to see the nests that last spring’s birds created.
God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
Mark seasons and days and years,
Genesis 1:14 (the Message)
And, I really do like the coziness of the early darkness in the winter months. I know it can be overwhelming and depressing and oppressive for folks who live in more northern latitudes than I. I might grow weary and stir-crazy if winter lasted longer than the comparative brief time it does here in Waco, Texas. But honestly, I’m never quite ready for it to end. I usually keep a couple of sweaters and heavy shirts in the closet longer than is reasonable, just in case.
