Later, January

January came and sat on my chest and wouldn't let me up. It's almost over now and not much happened and a lot happened. Every season has its own rhythm and winter's tends to be one of just gettting through for me. I dial down activity to the basics of ordinary life, rely heavily on routine, and struggle internally the whole way through. I'm an action kind of girl. I like to do things - big things, spur-of-the-moment things, a bunch of things at once - but when the weather is basically trying to kill you and every activity is bookended with putting massive amounts of clothing on yourself and all your progeny to keep warm, it sort of kills the whimsy. I suppose that eventually, if I continue to live in places that have real winters as I have all my life, I'm either going to have to learn how to be as active as I like in the cold weather or learn to enjoy being less ambitious and a little more sleepy. Or I can keep bitching about winter.

Because I want to go to a place that's a little more grateful and a little less surly, I'm going to try the strategy of focusing on the good sweet little things that the slower life has provided this month:

1. Most of my time out of the house has been spent at the YMCA and there's nothing like stretching out in the sauna after working out on a freezing cold day.
2. Brown ale tastes pretty good when it's cold and there's this great Chilean wine called Crucero that our favorite wine store only stocks this time of year.
3. Waiting for the school bus with Ellis is a little challenging, but on the days that it's milder, say in the 20's (which actually feels like a heat wave up here), Charlie and Ellis and I have a lot of fun trudging through the snow for a morning adventure. On the days it's too cold for Charlie (who probably hates cold more than I do), I get to stretch my mom worry muscles by letting Ellis wait by himself and show just how capable he is.
4. There's something about shearling slippers, down coats, cozy pajamas, and layers of sweaters that feel good. So does using a deep conditioner and slathering lotion on your body. So does not being so conscientious about shaving your legs.
5. There's a sweetness to spending a lot of time in a small space with the people that you love the best. We snuggle, we read, we marvel at all of Charlie's new words and Ellis's ability to have real conversations, we listen to music and sing along. We probably watch a little too much tv for those judgmental types who most likely live in places where December's snow isn't still on the ground in April, but I feel that if the Ingalls family had access to such things, PBS Kids would have been one of ma's best friends.
6. Waiting patiently for my seed catalog so I can dream about this year's garden...