Ten Reasons I Don't Like Winter (and five reasons I do)

I think I've said this before, but I am just not a winter person! I have a friend who is allergic to cold. As in, she breaks out in hives when it's cold and has to take medication to keep that from happening. Ok, so I can't claim to be truly allergic to cold, but my body completely rebels against winter. (See #1, 3, and 4 below.)

Here's a list of 10 reasons why I don't like winter:

1. I get cold very easily. I don't like being cold!
2. My kids are stuck inside a lot because it's "too cold". (Although if you add some of that white stuff, they miraculously forget how cold it is and can't wait to get outside.)
3. My lips get chapped.
4. My hands get horribly chapped, as in cracked and bleeding. The more I wash them, the worse they get. (And with a child in diapers and a new puppy in the house, you can imagine how many times a day I wash my hands!)
5. I have to either freeze or lug a big heavy coat around everywhere I go.
6. It takes so much longer to get everybody out the door, because we have to put on coats, hats, and gloves.
7. When it snows, my floors get wet and muddy.
8. When it doesn't snow, everything is bare and ugly.
9. Old snow is brown and unsightly.
10. Ice and snow are dangerous and nerve racking to drive in.

But just to be fair, here are a couple of things I do like about winter:

1. I have a nice river view from my back windows.
2. I see a lot of beautiful cardinals hanging out in the trees behind our house.
3. If we get a bad enough storm, I don't have to go anywhere, because everything gets cancelled.
4. Hot chocolate
5. Christmas is in winter!

Just to end on an even more positive note, here's something I'm grateful for in the winter:

My warming mattress cover! I just turn it on about a half hour before I crawl into bed at night, and voila! Warm sheets! Ahhh....bliss!

(Frank's side stopped working this year. I feel guilty about it, but I have no intention of switching sides with him!)

My cardinal S&P set. I would have posted a picture of the real cardinals in the trees, but they are too far away to get a good photo. I don't know why they made both of these males! A male and a female would have been cuter (and easier to tell the salt from the pepper). I still like them, though.