my christmas candles are still locked up tight

And so winter has arrived, with much to do. Six inches of it! Paisley was absolutely thrilled, a little more thrilled than myself, but that's usually what being a toddler is all about. Being thrilled about things that create work for your parents. And while the plus side of our new place is that there is about 60% less snow for us to shovel than our last place (or should I say, for the hubs to shovel), the downside is that we only have a small, old, one car garage with no garage door opener and a tiny driveway on a horrible slope that makes it hard to dig our two cars out of and get them out of the driveway without a good push.

And despite it all, despite the slippery roads and the necessity to give yourself twice as much travel time to your snowy destination, despite the mitten-less fingers that freeze as you scrape windows and buckle seat buckles, I'm not feeling quite as put out about it as I usually am. Instead I'm feeling a little bit...cozy? Dare I say...even a little bit Christmas-y? I am typically one to give an absolute strong "NO" to any type of Christmas ANYTHING before Thanksgiving is over, but this year I'm having a hard time not turning on the Christmas music. I'm trying to find the strength to turn on my chai tea Scentsy instead of pulling out my Christmas tree candles. After playing out in the snow yesterday we came in and started our fireplace and made hot chocolate and cuddled in blankets on the couch, and I was wishing that we had our stockings hung from the mantel with care. Christmas cookies, I want to eat all of you. What's happening to me? What is this place?

Here's Paisley's expression when the snow first started falling on Monday. Maybe it's the pure joy and glee of my child that makes me a little less of a snow grinch this year?

Well all I can say is that hopefully these cozy feelings last, because I'll bet my bottom dollar that we won't be seeing anything but white on the ground until April.