It's Not Just Me

So it's Christmas time again. We've been decking some halls and checking lists twice and whatnot. And, man, is it ever sweater weather. Here in the middle of California we're having what I would have determined a cold snap, had it merely just snapped the once and got on with it. After two weeks of freezing temperatures its just simply cold now.

If anyone out there just got in from shoveling snow off your driveway in some part of the world that is legitimately cold, you're going to roll your eyes at me right now. I can take it. But here in the Sacramento Valley, lows in the 20s qualify as the kind of cold that makes normal people hop up and down and spew profanities. So you can imagine how I feel. I pull on mittens and coccoon myself in wool at about 64°F.

In a sense it's been nice. I spend most my life bundled up in a sweater commenting on how cold it is while people in shirt sleeves turn to look at me like I'm a new breed of crazy. Now regular folks are stomping around yelling, "Gorrammit it's fracking cold outside!" and I can respond with a cheerful, "Yes, isn't it just?" It's not that I'm happy about this turn of events, but it's nice to feel like I'm occupying the same planet as my fellow earthlings for a bit.

And maybe it's appropriate. I bet it's cold at the north pole too.

I hate to tempt fate or anything [swingbug pauses to knock on wood] but I feel like I've got this Christmas business pretty well in hand this year. I mean, I'm crafting on a deadline of course, and I'm not done with shopping yet, but generally speaking it's in the festive-and-fun range, rather than the harried-and-way-stressed-out range. At less than two weeks until C-day, that's a good place to be. There's lights on the house and nog in the fridge. The tree comes tomorrow. Christmas cookies on Saturday. No grinches in sight. The whos down in whoville are in pretty good shape.

And the cold? Well, it's nothing some hand-knits can handle.

Hope you've got it handled too.