Today we were allowed to leave work early. Normally, we work until 5 p.m. every Wednesday, but today the weather was horrible. First, there were several centimeters of snow; then in the afternoon it suddenly started pouring. Hooray for black ice! When I left the school building at 3 p.m., I first had to clear my car from all the snow. The more often I do this, the faster I seem to become. A New England winter definitely teaches me how to properly deal with my car (even though this winter so far has been rather mild). I felt lucky today because I drove home about two hours before the rush hour. The roads were quite empty and I slowly made it home. There I used the time to take a nap together with Canavar before getting some more work done. Even though I often claim I don’t like winters (after Christmas has long passed), this isn’t totally true – and here are my reasons why:

1. Fresh snow is beautiful. It turns everything white and calm and simply pretty.
2. Walks through the snow are fun, esp. when you start a snowball fight or build a snowman.
3. There is always a great excuse to stay at home, like it’s too cold, too wet, too dark, etc.
4. At home you can do so many things to warm up like taking a bath, cuddle with a pet or human, or drink hot chocolate.
5. You can be social and save money because you see your friends at home for self-cooked dinners, after work drinks, and board game nights.
6. Nobody cares when you are tired in the morning because it is dark anyways and almost everybody feels the same way.
7. Winter is the perfect time to draw a breath and make new exciting plans.
8. You can sit in front of your computer for hours and either blog or edit photos or play games – and there isn’t any other real distraction.
9. Winter clothes are so warm and soft. At least mine are, e.g. fake fur jackets, wool dresses, gloves and boots lined with wool.
10. You are so happy about every little sign for spring, like the first exciting bird chirping in front of your window.
11. The best movies are now in the theater and on streaming TV. And since it is dark early, you can easily spend your evenings in front of a screen.
12. Your body is mostly hidden under several layers of clothes so who cares that you’ve just had that extra chocolate bar or a hot chocolate with marshmallows?
13. But winter is a great season to watch sports: ice hockey, basketball, football.
14. You could be really crazy though and exercise by ice skating, skiing, or ice hiking.
15. You can dream of the warmth and your next vacation. Or even go there during winter vacation.
16. Sometimes there are snow days or you have a late start or early release at work (granted, this usually happens to teachers only).
17. You don’t have to wash your car because it would immediately become dirty again anyway.
18. It is a good time for new tattoos because the skin isn’t exposed to sun so that the wound can heal more easily.
19. Winter sale is a great incentive to go shopping.
20. There are all kinds of fun days like carnival, Pancake Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, and International Women’s Day.

© janavar