Welcome to winter.

The view from our porch. The snow makes the alley a bit let nasty-looking, no?

The weatherman called for snow last night. There was a "winter weather advisory" which, for those of you not privy to such weather forecasts, means it gon' snow. It gon' snow a lot. And it's going to be a bitch to get around. Well, either that, or there will be two thousand snow plows just parked and hovering near the highways, ready to salt the shit out of the roads and we get nothing more than a good chill. One of the two will surely happen.

However, as evidenced by the photograph about, the winter weather advisory was spot on last night. It did snow.

My position on snow? Glad you asked. I love it. Until February. Then I am ready for spring (well, what constitutes spring in Chicago, that is) and the ensuing summer that hopefully follows. So, today, December 4, 2010, I am saying, "I LOVE THIS SNOW." Granted, I have not attempted to back the above-photographed vehicle out of its parking spot. Odds are good there will need to be a shovel involved. Did I mention that they do not plow any sort of natural accumulation in the alleys? Oh boy.

So, another view of the alley and the snow on the mess of cables back there. (DON'T just my sans nature snow photographs. I refused to remove myself from my Christmas gnome PJ pants to leave the safety of my porch. I'm not sorry.)

What do I love about snow from today until February 1? Well, I love my boots. I did all of this research last year to find the perfectly cute and warm snow boots since we wear them for several months out of the year. My feet are currently staying dry and toasty in some cute and functional Patagonia Lugaro boots.

I am SO warm and keep feet SO dry. 

While I don't love them near as much as the Uggs I bought several years back (now THOSE were some seriously warm and lovely boots), they do function well. I also suspect that they make my feet smell. That could just be my feet. I prefer to blame it on the boots. They ARE made of recycled materials...who knows.

I love that when it snows like this, fashion becomes less a "who are you wearing" and more of a crazy mismatched scarf-hat-mitten combination accented by pink cheeks and little visible puffs of breath. Well, in my mind it does. I like the mismatched look. I like my pink cheeks.

Another thing? When it snows, that means it is not ridiculously cold. I remember back in the day having snow days, which were totally awesome. You didn't have to go to school and could don snow pants and play outside all day. I also remember those "COLD days." (Anyone remember those?) These were days when the temperature (and accompanying wind chill) rendered it TOO COLD to leave the house to go school. No fun in that, right? Of course, that bitter cold is not a part of the snow. It needs to be a certain temperature to actually have good, sticking snow. Bitter cold is not that. So if it's snowing, you know it's not QUITE so cold outside. Yay!

Mostly, I always dream of a white Christmas. ALWAYS. I can't get into the Christmas spirit without it. Now that the snow has fallen, I am going to dive into my massive Rubbermaid tub and decorate a bit. 'Tis the season, and all that jazz.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SNOW FALL, EVERYONE!!!!