Winter in Milwaukee

I know I complain about the winter here in Milwaukee, but there are some nice things about it:

• If I don’t feel like bringing in the groceries from the car, it is cold enough to just leave them in the trunk until Michael gets home from work to help me.

• My children’s constant runny noses that last all winter long here make me look forward to visiting my family in San Diego where the noses clear up almost immediately.

• We don’t have to wait for the water from our kitchen sink faucet to cool down – it is always nice and cold right away.

• Every once in a while the schools and businesses close for a snow day.

• It’s nice to stay inside sometimes and light some candles, wear fuzzy slippers, and wrap up in a blanket to get cozy – as long as you don’t have anywhere to go.

• The snow provides an opportunity for service – there is always someone in need of shoveling their car out or giving their car a push.

• The few times that there is a big snowstorm, it is really fun to bundle up the kids and go out to play for a few minutes, as long as it isn’t too cold and windy.

• Hot chocolate.

• Sometimes it’s fun to change up your wardrobe twice a year when the sweaters come out and then when they go back away again.

• The snow is really quite pretty after it falls (and before the cars drive by and make it all grey by the sides of the roads).

Actually, we had a beautiful big storm yesterday and then went out to play in the snow with the boys last night and it was very nice. As long as there is enough snow that Michael doesn’t have to go to work and all of the kids’ classes and appointments get cancelled so we don’t have to go out in it with all the kids, it is really nice to have a big storm every once in a while. But I have to say, visiting San Diego in December and being able to walk outside with the kids to play in the yard barefoot sure is a pleasant contrast to the lengthy bundling and un-bundling event that takes place every time I have to take the kids out of the house in the winter here.