January

As we were rolling into winter 2015 I gave myself a pep talk. 

I will embrace winter this year! No more complaining from this girl! Snow is good! Snow is my jam!

As the brunt of winter approached us I was doing a grand job of following through, if I do say so myself. But it should be noted that December is the easy part. December is when you are excited about the snow, and largely thanks to a jolly assist from the Holidays. December is also conveniently when the snow is fluffy and soft, when the sun is still making a regular appearance to shed some vitamin d on you while you sled down a hill or build a snowman. But January is not so nice. And in light of everything that has happened thus far, I have decided to give myself a break from fighting it. I am being kind to myself. It's exhausting. Life is exhausting and grief is terribly, terribly exhausting, and winter? Winter is only stirring that pot of salty, steaming hot exhaustion stew and then pouring it directly into my wounds.

I failed. I will try again next year.

Even so, we are getting through somehow. One of our favorite things to do in the winter time, when it's just too cold to take the boys out in the frozen muck, is to load up on treats and drinks from the gas station and to take a long scenic drive. There is so much beauty to be had in the snowy mountains, I'll give the snow that much!

There is the cutest outdoor ice rink here in town. Even when you can't hardly stand the winter time and the cold, the idea of an outdoor ice rink is terribly romantic, wouldn't you say? Have you seen Serendipity, you know the one with John Cusack? Yes? Then you know. We took Jace ice skating for his very first time this year and it was quite exciting. It turns out he has no fear on ice skates. A little too much of no fear, if you know what I mean. He took one good fall where he smacked his head (I got it on video!) and that's all it took for me to never let him skate without a helmet on again.

This week Dan and I will finally be hitting the slopes together on our snowboards, so that will be a nice coping method as well. We are planning to snag season passes to the slopes when they go on sale this spring, so next year is looking hopeful as far as my "embrace winter" plan goes!

But now, Spring! Doesn't that sound delightful?