Springtime for Christmas

So the above map may not be totally accurate but we had spring for Christmas. Yesterday was even nicer. I think we have a few more days of seriously warmer than normal temperatures before it gets back to something more seasonal.

I really shouldn’t be complaining about winter taking a break but there are at least two problems with an extended thaw like this. For me, winter is a mental thing. You just grind through the days looking for the little signs that nature provides to indicate that spring is approaching. It is far too easy to get into a premature spring mindset. I’ll start dreaming about spring and warmer temperatures and the reality is that we are entering the coldest period of the year and there is still far too much of winter left to start dreaming of spring.

The other thing, which probably isn’t true but it is something we all say, is that when nature slaps back, it slaps back HARD. Meaning that we will pay for this warm snap at some point in the future. I’m only hoping it doesn’t mean we get a week in April where temperatures are 20 degrees colder than they are supposed to be. That would suck.

We had a very nice and quiet Christmas. Because the spring like temperatures, we took Rocco for a walk. He’s had several walks this week because of the mild weather.

There was a little family drama because there can still be long distance drama. I’m beginning to wonder how much Mom served as a filter for Dad keeping him from just popping off whenever he feels slighted. I wasn’t the target but I guess I’ve somehow become the middleman so he calls me to complain about someone else and/or to give me messages to tell them.

I won’t go into all the details. Long story short is that my Dad has a real fear of losing control of things so he holds on to what he can. My younger brother will often do things that he things are good things but he doesn’t tell my Dad so it becomes a problem. The rest of us have sort of learned to just deal with his insecurities and give him control over what he can control. But the drama was limited to a couple of calls on Christmas Eve and a request to send a text to my brother and then another call on Christmas night to see how my brother responded.

And now that Christmas is over, the next question is when to take things down. We do leave things up until after New Years Day. I mean this last week of the year is a little weird. It is hard to keep track of what day it is. There are football games on every day and at weird times which makes every day feel like Saturday. So it still feels like things should be up. When you brush the tree and a whole bunch of needles fall off, then it is probably time for the tree to go.

I had to book our vacation today. Well I didn’t have to but I also don’t want to wait until it is too late and you make a decision by whatever options are still left. I hate planning. For me, it is nice to go someplace that you know and where you know you’ll have a good time. Nothing worse than trolling through websites looking at other places to try and get a feel for what’s there and then looking for flights and hotels and all the stuff that goes with a vacation. It is entirely too much work.

My wife is all about “we should go somewhere new” and then leaving all the details to me. Then I start giving her options and she hates all of them. (Not really but sometimes it feels that way). Anyway, for a bunch of reasons, we are going back to the same place we went last year. But that is not until February so I have to get through almost all of winter before we get a break.

When I was working, I would typically save vacation days to take at the end of the year. Not because we were going anywhere but because I just wanted an extended period of time to relax and decompress (and watch bits and pieces of all the various football games). So my mind still kind of sees this as vacation even though I’m not working anymore.

Obviously, being downsized was the biggest thing that happened this year. Once the weather turned colder, it has been a little different than it was in the summer. While I still have these “you’re too young to be retired” moments, I’m getting more and more used to this new lifestyle.

And, as we end the year, I know many people will do resolutions. I’ve ranted before about that practice since I don’t do it. I have no problem with looking at your life and trying to be a better version of yourself. I just think that too often it ends up making people feel worse about themselves because they set unrealistic goals and/or don’t give themselves enough time to really meet them. Plus, why do you need to wait for some random day when the calendar flips. So I found this quote which kind of sums up how I feel about the whole thing.

And, with that, I’ll end my random series of topics.