Greeting Seasons

It's December, Imaginary Readers, and it has been for a couple of days now, much to my confusion, because in my head it was just Halloween. And, as always, with the start of December, winter decided to rear its head. Actually, winter was a little late in coming this year, with only one meager snow fall in November, and it actually being temperate on Thanksgiving. Usually, it's solidly winter about half way through November, but not so this year, as it didn't really get cold (below 25 F (or -4 C)) until this week.

It's rarely actually this pretty. Snow in the city is mostly just gross (via)

I have mixed feelings about the winter. It is infinitely better than the summer, which is mostly due to my intolerance of heat and humidity which make me feel claustrophobic and irritable. I like the cold weather and I love it when it snows, because walking during a snow fall is just plain magical, but winter does get a bit long for me. December is great, and it should be snowy and cold on Christmas, because there do need to be some benefits to living in Minnesota. January is fine too, despite the inevitable spate of -10 F with -20 F windchill (that's approximately -23 C with -29 C windchill for those of you who understand the inherent superiority of Celsius over Fahrenheit because why the fuck would water freeze at 32 degrees and boil at 212?), because it's January, and that's how it's supposed to be.

But then, somewhere around the middle of February, I get tired of it. I get sick of the bitter cold that makes it impossible to warm up and requires 12 layers of clothing to not freeze to death; I get sick of everything being so covered in ice that it takes me twice as long to get anywhere on foot; I get sick of having to sleep with my socks on to keep my feet from freezing, because I don't really like wearing socks to being with, so wearing them to bed is one of my least favorite things to do (it just feels weird and unnatural). I just feel like it should be spring, or at least be somewhat warmer, by late February. Unfortunately, this is not generally the case in Minnesota, where it doesn't usually feel like spring until midway through April.

I love the seasons (expect for summer which can go die in a hole somewhere) and I don't think I could live somewhere that didn't have snow on Christmas for any length of time, but the winter here gets long. And while I don't hate the winter, I am always sad to see it start, because it means the end of autumn, which is by far my favorite time of year. It's cold enough to sleep without being life threatening, and I can break out my wonderful collection of striped long sleeve shirts. I just love the way that fall feels, and so it's always bittersweet to see the autumn turn into winter.

(via)

The good things about December are snow and Christmas, my absolute favorite holiday, second only to Arbor Day (just kidding, not one care about Arbor Day), but December also means non-stop work leading up to finals. My professors like to take our normal work load (which is soul crushing at best) and add onto that another midterm exam, a bunch more homework to prepare for the final, and then a final project/paper/exam. And I have to do all of this immediately after Thanksgiving break has sucked all of my motivation away. That's the problem with the end of the semester for me: I have lots of work to do in preparation for finals, but I don't care in the slightest about any of it. I always manage to get through it with my GPA intact, but, for such a magical time of year, it is really damn annoying.