Wishful Thinking

I love snow. Really, I do. If it has to be winter, I'd rather the season be filled with fluffy white snow than day after endless day of gray bleakness. So I'm really okay that we had snow again here in Nashville last night.

However.

I'm not going to lie.

Today I'm really wishing for this:

Or this:

Or, really, I'm not picky. I'd settle for this:

I just need a little summer injected into my snow days.

Let it Snow!

Ah, snow. I know it is something most people down here in the South could do without. Even the hint of flurries is enough to keep kids home from school and send drivers into a panic. Still, being a daughter of the Midwest, I miss white drifts up to my knees and snowballs and sledding and cold red cheeks and the dangerous beauty of ice-encrusted trees.

So when wintery weather comes to us here in Middle Tennessee, even though it pales in comparison to the snows of my childhood, I'll take what I can get. And last night's storm definitely counts. It was blustery and sleeting and then the sky sent down those fat wet snowflakes that stick to everything. It snowed for a few hours, and then it got really cold and everything froze solid.

And when I awoke this morning, I peered out the window and God was there. He looked a lot like a winter wonderland all a-glow from a newly stretching sunrise, but I'm pretty sure it was Him, being all breathtaking and beautiful and making me love Him for waking me up.

It takes a lot to pry me from my warm bed in the wee hours of the morning. This sunrise had me leaping into Ben's coat and boots and dashing, pajama-clad, into the yard to take these pictures.

There was a clarity to the cold, and something invigorating about the smell of fresh snow. It was like awakening to a world undisturbed... It was, in a word, lovely.

O Tannenbaum!

I'm so excited it is Christmas tree time! The choosing and decorating and enjoying of the Christmas tree has always been an important family tradition for me, and it is something I'm happy to carry on in my own home. We've gotten three pretty cute trees over the years we've been married. Here they are in sequential order:

In the McMinn house, we always had a real Christmas tree. Sure they are messy and more trouble than an artifical one, but I just want the lovely imperfection and wonderful scent that comes with a real tree. I'm not knocking the alternative, but in my house I just can't imagine anything different.

My parents are notorious for going... large when it comes to their tree. They always say, "This year we're cutting back and not going to get such a big tree" and then I come home for the first time and an enormous Douglas fir has taken over a quarter of the living room. I'm talking twelve and thirteen footers. Including one that had to be anchored into the wall because it fell over twice. Here is a picture where you can see a portion of the tree from last year. The size of the fireplace in relation should tell you something about how huge the tree was.

The tree at home is always decorated with colored lights and plastic popcorn-&-cranberries garland that we have had, literally, for as long as I remember. Then it gets covered tip to trunk with a completely random and uncoordinated array of decorations. No fancy matching globes and beaded garland. Just old ornaments and craft projects from my sister's and my childhood, little pretties and gifts from across the years. And I love it all.

I especially love a little tradition passed down from my mother and her sisters to me. There is a special beauty of a lit Christmas tree that can only be appreciated by the nearly blind - to gaze upon its loveliness in a darkened room without the aid of your glasses or contacts. The glow of each individual bulb swells to enormous proportions, creating a fuzzy colored patchwork of overlapping light rings - pink and blue and gold and green and red. It is magnificant. I found this picture online, which is a pretty decent approximation of the actual experience:

Anyway, all this was stirring around in my mind because Ben & I are planning to pick out our tree tonight. I can't wait to bust out all my decorations and put on some Christmas music and usher in the season by putting up our own lovely tannenbaum. I'll be sure to post a pic of the finished project soon!

And One Thing I Forgot

This morning as I drove to work I realized I had neglected one very, very important item that I love very, very much on my list yesterday. So consider this the 101st thing I like...

101. My car has seat warmers

Car seat warmers are the types of things that I have always considered frivolous and rather stupid. But all those thoughts go flying out the window on frigid November mornings when the warmth radiating out of the leather and all through my backside is maybe the most blissful part of my day. Plus, those seat warmers nursed me through months of excruciating back pain, like a toasty little heating pad form-fitted to my lumbar region. Mmmmmm.

So thank you, Toyota, for putting seat warmers in the design of your 2003 Highlanders. My butt is eternally, cozily grateful.

A Little Friday Randomness

Song that makes me drive like an insane person

I love driving on the highway to tobyMac's "The Slam." Especially in Ben's little Honda Fit. I can't help going crazy fast and weaving in and out of traffic like I'm in a movie car chase scene when that song comes on. Man! So I try not to listen to it very often, because I have a perfect driving record to maintain.

Color I am digging right now

I have purchased about 5 purple shirts and sweaters in the past few months. Just yesterday at Target I got this super deep indigo sweater. Love it. Next I would like to get some crazy adorable purple accessories... like headbands and gloves and some shoes.

Funnest Ads of the Season

I got the recent issue of Vanity Fair and it had a huge spread of Gap's adorable winter ads featuring a super random assortment of celebrities all bundled up in Gap's traditionally colorful sweaters and scarves. They have done a similar campaign for the past couple years and I love it. The ads are cute and funny and happy and warm and very Gap. The one with the SNL guys? Perfection. And, PS, Jason Sudekis is pretty good lookin'. Oh, and the one with Jason Bateman and his precious daughter? Too cute. And, PS, Jason Bateman is very good lookin'.

And, let's face it, these ads are doing their job. Because I haven't been in a Gap in years but this totally makes me want to go buy a scarf. Maybe they have a purple one.