It's the least wonderful time of the year....

I'm not a big fan of this time of year.

Not so much for the whole Christmas/Holiday thing. I'm not one of those people who gets unusually depressed at Christmas, at least not any more than I am the rest of the year. No, it's the weather that I can't stand this time of year. I don't like cold weather. The last few weeks have gotten cold - bitterly cold. The kind of cold, windy, gray days that bite through you. The kind of days where you walk outside, feel the chill shake your body, and makes you want to go back inside and curl up under the blankets again.

It's not just the cold, if that's not enough. I have the kind of skin that gets dried out in the cold and starts to crack and bleed. I hate scraping ice off my truck. I hate that 5 minute period between when I get in my truck and when there is finally enough residual engine heat to turn the heater on. I hate having to lug sweatpants and hoodie with me every time I go to the gym. I hate opening my sizeable heating bills every month.

As far as Christmas, meh. I think I've kind of grown numb to the holiday. Part of it is because it's been around for so long - stores were putting out Christmas stuff in September, and I got used to ignoring it. I think I still am ignoring it.

The other thing is that this is the first year in a while that I'm not a student. For my undergrad and more recent grad days, Christmas isn't just Christmas. It's also finals time, time to prepare for exams and finish projects. Classes usually ended a few days before Christmas, and I always kind of had to ignore the impending Christmas until I could get the papers written and the books read. I think I'm still kind of used to not having time to care about Christmas. And I am still pretty busy - I worked until 9:30pm last nigh (finals coverage), I've been working until 10 on Tuesdays, and I've been trying to prepare for the Apple Support Essentials test, which I need to take in the next couple weeks.

Even though I haven't been thinking about Christmas much, I have gotten most of my shopping done. I have a few more packages I'm waiting for from eBay and Amazon, and I need to pick up one more thing tomorrow, but other than that I'm mostly done.

There are a few things I like about this time of year - Trader Joe's has their seasonal Winter Blend out, which I love - it's got cinnamon, cloves, and pepper in it, and tastes amazing. I also have a thing for Starbucks Peppermint Mocha. There is always the possibility of a snow day, one of the perks of working for a college. And as annoyed as I get by holiday crowds and hype, it is nice to have some time off and spend some time with the family, eating good food.

But I'm still looking forward to March, when the gray cold starts to be replaced by blue skies, when the cold chill turns into a warm breeze, when I can turn off the heater in the truck and crack open a window, when I can trade the heavy wool coat for a sweatshirt.