Yes, I already decorated for Valentine's Day. And I know some people hate Valentine's Day. They say it's a dumb Hallmark holiday, one that excludes people who aren't in the throes of some red-hot, passionate relationship. Or they say that it shouldn't take a holiday for somebody to acknowledge his or her significant other.
Well, first of all, some people (coughmencough) need a little bit of a reminder to acknowledge their significant others. Oh, and I know, not your husband. Your husband is a hopeless romantic. Your husband is perfect. Your husband brings you flowers once a week, washes all the dishes without having to be asked, and cares for the children every waking minute that he's not at work. Your husband wishes he could grow breasts and lactate so he could just be that much more helpful around the house.
Oh but anyway, it isn't the forced exchanging of romantic tokens that I like about Valentine's Day. I like Valentine's Day because it brings color into an otherwise bleak season.
I like when you drive through a dark, gray snowstorm to get to Target, and once you get in the store it's all hearts and flowers and pink and red. And chocolate.
So I like Valentine's Day because it brings color back into our lives. And that is why I already decorated my windows.
Also, Nathan loves to put up gel decorations up on the window for every holiday, and Leia loves to pull them down. So, you know, that's cute.
I wish a bunch of cheap gel clings were all it took to make us all feel better about winter, but it's bleak out there:
Photo credit: My husbandThe color green is conspicuously missing:
Also taken by husband
Also taken by husbandThe sun shines sometimes, but a few days in a row without sunshine kind of does you in. It's so damn cold and dark.
Today is January 15, which means we have two weeks in January behind us, which means today is the official start of the third week of January. Some years ago I determined that it was the third week of January when people started to get the "Winter Madness" (to borrow a term from 30 Rock).
See, winter is kind of fun and festive during the December holiday season. You know, we have terms like white Christmas and winter wonderland. For those of us living in colder climates, a warm December would be weird.
And then when New Year's hits, it just feels so good to have all the pressure of the holiday season over, and you're just so overcome with the spirit of newness and discipline. This spirit carries you through January for like a week or two. For me personally, my birthday in the second week of January is always good for a little additional January boost.
But by the third week of January, it's like noooooooooo moooooooorrrrrre. We have spent so many days trapped in the house, where I swear to God there are little invisible gnomes who scatter clutter around when we aren't looking. It's just all laundrycleaningexercisedishescookingerrandsfrustrationrepeat.
Plus there's the stir-crazy child. I'm pretty sure there was a time when Saturdays in winter were really nice and warm and cozy, where I just sat around all day and read a book under the covers. But then you add a child to the mix, and there is no sitting or reading or covers. There is holy shit, we have to get this kid out of the house to burn off some energy. Again.
And yes, there are a lot of indoor entertainment options. But they are far away, and also many of them are what I call "big ticket outings." A big ticket outing is like a museum or zoo, the kind of thing where you have to pack a bunch of stuff in advance, drive a long way, possibly pay a lot of money, deal with irritating parking and/or public transit, and then walk around all day until you're exhausted. It's a far cry from the ease of the park and pool in the warmer months.
We have two indoor playground options that are relatively easy: McDonald's and the mall. And how many days in a row can we go to those?
Plus, what winter really makes me want to do is stay home and ... get mad at the clutter. Because it's a pain to find everybody's coats and boots and gloves, and it's a pain to drive anywhere, and, and, and ...
So, I try little remedies. I buy myself lotions that smell pretty. I arrange grocery store flowers in vases. And I put hearts and cupcakes on my windows.
Today is January 15, which means we have two weeks in January behind us, which means today is the official start of the third week of January. Some years ago I determined that it was the third week of January when people started to get the "Winter Madness" (to borrow a term from 30 Rock).
See, winter is kind of fun and festive during the December holiday season. You know, we have terms like white Christmas and winter wonderland. For those of us living in colder climates, a warm December would be weird.
And then when New Year's hits, it just feels so good to have all the pressure of the holiday season over, and you're just so overcome with the spirit of newness and discipline. This spirit carries you through January for like a week or two. For me personally, my birthday in the second week of January is always good for a little additional January boost.
But by the third week of January, it's like noooooooooo moooooooorrrrrre. We have spent so many days trapped in the house, where I swear to God there are little invisible gnomes who scatter clutter around when we aren't looking. It's just all laundrycleaningexercisedishescookingerrandsfrustrationrepeat.
Plus there's the stir-crazy child. I'm pretty sure there was a time when Saturdays in winter were really nice and warm and cozy, where I just sat around all day and read a book under the covers. But then you add a child to the mix, and there is no sitting or reading or covers. There is holy shit, we have to get this kid out of the house to burn off some energy. Again.
And yes, there are a lot of indoor entertainment options. But they are far away, and also many of them are what I call "big ticket outings." A big ticket outing is like a museum or zoo, the kind of thing where you have to pack a bunch of stuff in advance, drive a long way, possibly pay a lot of money, deal with irritating parking and/or public transit, and then walk around all day until you're exhausted. It's a far cry from the ease of the park and pool in the warmer months.
We have two indoor playground options that are relatively easy: McDonald's and the mall. And how many days in a row can we go to those?
Plus, what winter really makes me want to do is stay home and ... get mad at the clutter. Because it's a pain to find everybody's coats and boots and gloves, and it's a pain to drive anywhere, and, and, and ...
So, I try little remedies. I buy myself lotions that smell pretty. I arrange grocery store flowers in vases. And I put hearts and cupcakes on my windows.
1 comment:
You're a brave woman for agreeing to live in a cold climate! We just got back from a vacation to Utah and I kept thinking about you when I was there, thinking "I have no idea how Shannon does this!"
Post a Comment