© 2013 the Jotter’s Joint

The cold is coming. I can tell because the trees have started to shed their leaves at a rapid rate.

Some are already bald while others are receding gradually. A little lighter and thinner on top; but full and bushy around the edges.

Winter is my least favorite season.

My corner of the world will be devoid of color soon. Grey. Pale. Like a water color portrait of steel.

I enjoy Winter only for the first snow, especially if I’m home watching bright white hot innocence spill to the ground. I smile at it. In that moment, I welcome winter. It’s pure and undisturbed.

Then it becomes the guest who’s overstayed his welcome. Glaring at me. Moving in and settling down without concern.

I wrote these words back at the end of October as the weather started changing. It was part practice for scene description and part emotional response to the pending weather.

I was granted a reprieve because we didn’t get the first significant snow until the day after Christmas.

While others were dreaming of a white Christmas, I was wishing for it to dawn dingy green and brown with bare branches pointing in all directions.

Growing up, two inches of snow meant “Snow Day” which meant no school. It takes a lot more than two inches to garner a “Snow Day” here.

And even if schools shut down, places of business rarely do. Which is my way of saying, I still have to go to work even when the dudes are given an unexpected break.

I’ve worked for the same company for 12 years now and only twice in all those years have they closed their doors due to inclement weather.

I don’t ski or sled. I don’t like to make snow-angels or snowmen. Ice-skating? Forget it. I don’t like to be cold – I wear long sleeves in the summertime.

Winter weather is best for curling up on the sofa with a good book and a hot beverage of choice.

Christmas was just the beginning of five or six months of living under a cold ashy blanket. Okay? So some will say, “Winter Wonderland”. But it gets really old very quickly.

My dudes love the opportunities to be outside throwing snowballs and rolling around in the winter white. Okay, my youngest dude loves it. My oldest, not so much, he’s like his Momma in this regard.

Usually, the snowy opportunities come at school or the sitter’s.

They won’t have any childhood memories where I am a part of the snowy play. So, I will have to suck it up this year for the sake of my dudes.

But I’m still not excited about welcoming winter.

How do you respond to onset of winter? What suggestions do you have for winter fun?