Chalk It Up!

There are some very noticeable things missing from our December this year. Snow, for the most part. Also ice, frost, and freezing temperatures. There have been no snow balls, snow angels, snowmen, sleds, toboggans, or snow shovels for that matter. Thus there’s an obvious absence of fur-lined coats, gloves, mittens, boots, and thermal underwear. Our past five winters have been so consumed by this list of things that now, without them, I’m struggling to make heads-or-tails of the season.

It is currently 60 degrees in Chesapeake, Virginia and I’m not sure how to feel about that. This pleasant weather is causing me a measurable amount of inner- turmoil. I can guess that at this very minute most of you are thinking, “Jennifer, you’re crazy! You should be living it up!” Now I’m not denying the ‘crazy’ part- in fact, if anything I’m probably verifying it….but the matter doesn’t seem so simple to me.

On the one hand, there are many obvious advantages to warmer weather. I love being able to take the kids out to play at 8 o’clock in the morning wearing no more than a sweater! We spent the majority of this morning in the driveway with sidewalk chalk. My Josie and her imagination created a colorful world with different lands sprawled across the concrete and made us follow the trails to get from one to the other, being careful to avoid the rain clouds and cracks.

Jamie asked Josie to draw something for him and then proudly pointed me to “ma boa” (my boat!) with pride.

Johnny was a bit of a chalk hog and carried the pieces around in his hands, playing a sneaky little game of keep-away from everyone else.

Our chalk-filled morning was a small adventure, but a fun one.

In addition to driveway activities, we can also go for a walk, play at the park, or even go to the beach. I’ll admit that I enjoy not having to factor in extra time for adding that extra layer of clothing whenever we leave the house or for defrosting the car whenever we go out. And I certainly love not paying that mid-winter oil bill for running the furnace on high several months in a row. Admittedly, a mild December is rather nice.

But on the other hand, there are a few less-obvious disadvantages to this December’s lack of snow. We are missing all those loveable snow related activities that I treasure so much, like building snowmen and having snow ball fights and sledding down our backyard hill. And, I feel compelled to mention, the chronic winter warmth here is perverting my Gymboree addiction. The kids have so many cute snow themed outfits- sweaters that feature snowmen, shirts with polar bears, dresses covered in snowflakes, etc.- and no appropriate time to wear them. I refuse to abandon such cuteness though, so the kids will be wearing penguins even if the sun is shining and the grass is green!

More than that though, the reason I am struggling to embrace Virginia’s weather is guilt. It just doesn’t seem right to be loving our sidewalk chalk morning in beautiful 60 degree temps when many of my most favorite playmates are stuck inside avoiding their bone-chilling 20 degree temps. This morning while I was pulling my garbage to the curb barefoot and in a t-shirt I couldn’t help but think of my friend Kelly who has to trudge hundreds of feet across her back yard in knee-deep snow to feed her daughter’s pet bunny every day all winter. I’m sure that one or more of my New York friends is arriving somewhere 15 minutes late today because they had to scour the house from top to bottom, searching frantically for a lost mitten. Meanwhile, all my cold-weather gear is boxed up and collecting dust somewhere in the attic. It just doesn’t seem fair. For that, my dear New York friends, I apologize, in hopes of clearing my conscious so that I may better appreciate this new chapter of my life.

And so, having come to no firm conclusion, I end with this: I hope that we all can enjoy the blessings of our winter weather though they may be different. Those of you with beautiful white snow should bundle up and live it up! And those of us with gorgeous warm sun will get outside and chalk it up!