My First Non-White Christmas

Ok, that's not entirely true. I did have one brown Christmas when I was living in Texas on my mission, but it doesn't really count because on a mission, your focus is different.

Otherwise, I've enjoyed a beautiful White Christmas every year. I don't require a lot of snow for a white Christmas; just an inch or two will do. This year though, we didn't even get a dusting to last more than an afternoon, so I found it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. I didn't realize how dependent I was on the snow to feel like Christmas is on its way.
We went and cut down our Christmas tree, as is tradition, but the only reason we wore gloves was to avoid the sharp pine needles. The sunlight streamed through the warm 50 degree air into our home while we decorated the tree, so I struggled to feel it even with Christmas music on.

But we cleverly put a quilt over the window, drew it to a close, and suddenly our home became a haven of yuletide cheer.

I love our Christmas tree. We stapled strips of red and white gingham to those cinnamon-smelling pine ones and used them as ornaments, draped the tree with a popcorn wreath, and used old lath-board to make a star. The final touch came from wild red berries on bushes on the trail near our home. We placed those on every bough, and we ended up with a stunning Christmas tree.
And as we decorated, I wondered if in the tree world, being selected as a Christmas tree is an honor. It is in honor of the birth of the creator, after all. 

We replaced all of the leafy pictures with snowy pictures, and replaced the summery woodprints with wintry ones.
That's our way of enjoying each season. As the seasons change, we change the decorations of our home. Then you feel at home with the weather outside.

When we moved back to NY, several people asked us how we'd deal with the long winters. My response was always the same. First of all, NY winters are really not so bad. It's the Alaskans I wonder about: dark all day? No way jose. Then secondly, when you decide to live in a place with a real winter, you just need to decide to enjoy it. I made that decision a long time ago.

So we decorate our home for winter; even after the Christmas decorations come down. You can't really see the prints in the picture above, but they are all rural winter pictures; usually of farms since we have a particular obsession with them.
We also picked an outdoor and indoor hobby for the winter so that we have something to do that we enjoy. We love snowshoeing perhaps more than hiking (and there hasn't been enough snow to use them yet, grrr), and we love enveloping ourselves in a good book. We also enjoy good wintery food. All of that together makes for a wonderful winter season. We look forward to winter now; we love it!