"Michigan must be beautiful this time of year......

......all that snow!"

Can anything beat the beauty of a late-afternoon in winter? It's absolutely my favourite time of day in the winter. The sky is gray and white with clouds that are very slowly clearing and showing bits of very light blue. It's about an hour before twilight, so the lighting is indescribably lovely, and I cannot do it justice here. And if it is snowing at this perfect time of day, it is only snowing lightly, like the kind of snow where you don't even have to have your windshield wipers on if you happen to be driving. But hopefully you are not driving. Hopefully you are outside enjoying the freezing (or below-freezing, as it is today) fresh air, or at least sitting inside, with a window open for a minute, to experience it a little, but then you can close the window, look out on the beauty, and sip your tea/cocoa/coffee, and enjoy.

Oh, and this gray sky, and this lighting, plus the bare trees everywhere...yeah, I forgot about the trees. That's half the beauty.

And yes, I realize it is not winter yet. Officially. But whatever. We get a much longer winter here. The snow starts in October, finally sticks in December (at the latest), starts to melt in February, completely ignores the whole "first day of spring" thing in March and is back with a vengeance, and finally melts completely by the end of May. Literally. Just in time for a couple weeks of snow-less spring before summer in June.

So when we get snow before Christmas--and usually we do!-- it's happy and exciting and beautiful, and it makes you feel all Christmassy inside. Well, it does for me. Everyone is listening to holiday music, and winter is just so pleasant. Magical. All that the Christmas movies say--- and more! I always have had this dream of being romanced in the winter time.....However, I am not saying I won't say no to falling in love in the summer.....or any other season for that matter. Look, all I am saying is that November and December are great months!

After Christmas, sometimes winter is lame. All that snow, and no Christmas magic anymore.

So I am going to go a bit crazy in the next month and a half, watching my favourite Christmas movies, and knitting, and drinking tea, and going outside for fresh air, but not really walking because it's dangerous to walk on my road in the winter, as there is no sidewalk and all. But I will shovel the porches for exercise! I also can't wait to start Christmas shopping and going to Starbucks for a Signature Hot Chocolate in a cute holiday cup so that I can sip it while I walk around the mall or wherever I decide to shop. And be all cool.

Yes, Starbucks is the definition of cool.

We've got 6 inches of snow today at least, and more to come tonight. I really need to get some winter boots!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

I also need to get a snow globe! Preferably a snowman one that plays a cheerful Christmas carol.