Winter - where art thou?

Not that I'm complaining. It's almost the first of December (ok panic mode) and it feels like early October, but this just isn't normal.

We are ready for winter. The snowtires are on the car, shovel is waiting in the garage, bought new snow boots for everybody, but today it's bright, sunny and warm.

Usually by mid-November we are rushing to put the Christmas lights up so our fingers won't be frozen by waiting until December. This year, not so much. It doesn't even feel like Christmas is only 5 weeks away. Put the Christmas lights up, are you kidding, tonight the only thing that we are lighting up is the bbq.

Walked to Starbucks today and saw that my neighbor's rosemary plant is doing very well in her garden. Another neighbour has some hanging flowers that are blooming. We were chopping down the plants in our garden this weekend and I found that my rosebush actually has buds on it and it's too warm to wrap it up yet.

So weird. Not that I'm complaining.

I heart new furniture

Image from apartment therapy.

I've decided to change my downstairs office (or also affectionately known as the junk room) and make it more hospitable and a room to actually spend time in.

I would love to find this little sofa in grey.

I'd put it in the corner next to the glass doors with this big reading lamp.

I wanted to buy this house (it's the house at 4149 Beaconsfield with the BIG SOLD SIGN on it), fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, but it sold the next day before we could even go and look at it.

Instead of furniture the husband wants to buy a snowblower. Somehow I think that he'll win this battle and then we'll not have any snow this winter at all.

I heart fall

Boubou looking at snowflakes last year.

If it wasn't for the fact that winter follows fall, it would be my favorite time of year. I don't really like the cold, and the it seems that it takes spring forever to get here. But there are things about fall that I love:

I love the cooler temperatures, closing up the garden for the winter, getting ready for the first snowfall, buying new shovels, the softness of cashmere hats and scarves, planning Christmas and Hannukah parties, stacking firewood to be enjoyed when the weather turns crisp, the sense of expectation and appreciation, the sense of closure.

I also really enjoy fall cleaning. Some people are spring cleaners, but I'm a fall cleaner. If I'm going to be closed up in my house for the next 6 months, I want to get rid of all the junk that I've accumulated over the last year and I want to be able to see through my windows.

This year I'm a little behind in everything. I've been fighting colds and the flu all fall it seems. I usually always have my holiday shopping almost done by now and I have barely started. I told the husband to book time next weekend and to get a babysitter because we are going out to get as much done as possible.

I've made my lists and I'm checking them twice. Time to get organized before the first round of parties hits which is in a few short weeks. Need to make hostess gifts and gifts for teachers and crossing guards.

I guess what I also like is that this is the time of year to say thank you. To show those who make our lives easier that we don't know what we would do without them. So as busy as this season gets, I do enjoy every minute of it.