My Inner 9 Year Old Has Taken Over This Winter

I blame my backwards relationship with Old Man Winter on the missed experience of snow as a kid born & raised in Florida. Most Christmases I dreamed that one day I’d wake up to find the white, fluffy stuff coating the palm trees outside my bedroom window. Instead I’d Taylor Swift — shake off — the far-fetched fantasy with weather-appropriate shorts and t-shirt a tank top. If I was lucky, there would be a chill in the air that meant we could turn off the a/c and open the windows. Since leaving my birthplace, I have intimately come to know the two faces of winter: the bitter bite (I’m looking at you, Chicago) and [insert something here that equates to the fun/happy things snow and winter means].

Now calling Boston home, I’m reporting on this record breaking season from the front lines. So far, 2015 is #2 in snowfall, with a current total of 101.8″ and quickly catching up to 1996’s 107.8″. Looks like I better start planning the We Hit A New Record winter snowfall party now (i.e., hard cider, cookies, and slow-cooker meal to keep us fat and happy the next time we’re stuck in). Back to the point… The winter has coaxed out the kid in me, and I’m not fighting it. Sorry, adult self, you’re just going to have to park it until spring. Signs my inner 9 year old has taken over my life:

I want to sleep in really late. Ok, so maybe this qualifies more as a tween-aged trait, but all I want to do is stay in bed in the morning. No school today, thanks! When I feel the cold seeping through microscopic cracks in my dated apartment windows, and it still appears to be nighttime, it’s really, really hard to fight the urge to pull the covers a little tighter.

I could (almost) live on hot chocolate. Were it not for gobs of whipped cream, my sole dietary intake would consist of cocoa powder and sugar. Thanks to spoonfuls of hand-mixed white stuff, I get dose of vitamin D. Cows are the best!

I learned to snowboard. It’s what all the kids are doing these days. I tried skiing once before and the results were not pleasant [enter snowmobile rescue scenario]. My tin man knees knees did much better stabilized on a single plank, aaaand I only fell about 12 times. One million points go to me!

I will challenge anyone to a snowball fight. People on my street, be grateful the snow has not been wet and packable. That hasn’t stopped me from jumping, rolling, kicking, and twirling in it; activities well suited for the light and airy flakes.

Snow days are a thing! No work for my Michael means we get togetherness time during the week, which is AWESOME, because he has a ‘real job’ that requires he go to work, while I’m here, blogging away in my designer (pronounced tar-jay) leisure wear. Translation: he is the designated Sumo walker.

Fresh snow is my shot of adrenaline. It’s snowing? IT’S SNOWIIIIING! My instant perk-up: it’s beautiful, makes everything not-so-beautiful look awfully pretty, and brings a big ol’ smile to my face. Like a pretty-pretty princess, I prance about with sparkles in my eyes because THIS is what it feels like to be inside a snow globe.

Kid food? Me wants it. I didn’t really do junk food as a kid, but these sub zero temps have my taste buds yearning for some spare tire makin’ grub. I have no shame in eating dessert for breakfast. If it is warm or gooey, or warm and gooey, I will enjoy it. Hells-yeah to some mac & cheese, cinnamon buns, and bacon [anything]. My good side taming the ferocious lion, I attempt to healthify the naughty recipes now and again. Sometimes.

What does winter do to you? Are you a kid at heart, like me? Or an old grouch?