'Tis the season

Today is December 21st, 2004. It is the third week of December. It is the official start of winter. When I think of winter, I think of snow. Then I look around and wonder where it is. True, yesterday there was actually some snow and today it was cold enough that it stayed around; unlike past winters when it was more green than spring. I remember when I was a kid we had -20 to -30 degree temperatures and at least one foot of snow on the ground at all times. I was able to make giant-ass snowballs bigger than I was and snowball fights were wars where you had to balance your ammunition/building materials ratio or else you were screwed.

I now digress about a comic I read in the Globe and Mail when I was 15 or 16. There was this kid walking by an old man sitting on his porch. The old man was yelling at the kid saying, "You kids don't know how lucky you are. In my day we had to walk uphill both ways through three feet of snow in the middle of summer to get drugs!" Ha ha. Still makes me smile.

Ofcourse talk about winter inevitably leads to talk about Christmas. Last year I was a real Scrooge. Not literally. I bought presents for everybody, but I didn't feel the spirit of Christmas.
I kept thinking it was too commercialized. Even though I was taking part in making it even more commercialized. If you came by my house on any given day up 'till Christmas, you would've thought we didn't celebrate it. No one put up lights or the tree. The lack of a tree and anything Christmas-related only added to my holiday depression.

This year, however, is different. I'm suddenly full of holiday cheer. I think the biggest difference this year is the weather. It only seems like Christmas to me if there's snow during the holiday. It just doesn't seem the same if there isn't. I hope there will be enough to make a snowman this year.

I'll have pics of what I got my family and what I received this year after Christmas. I should've taken the pics before I wrapped them, but I guess that's a lesson for next year.