Baby, it's cold outside!

This weekend marked the first official snowfall of the 2010 Holiday Season. It. Was. COLD! Of course that doesn't bother Forget me Knodt's fearless mascot, Maddie. She's got enough fluff to keep her up and running even in 12 degree weather! Yes, I said 12 degrees. And that's without the wind chill factored in!

Wind chill makes a big difference when you live literally 5 minutes by foot from Lake Michigan. This Saturday miss Mads demanded a romp in the snow, so I bundled up like mad and took her out along the harbor.


It's times like these, when my nose is running due to the cold, and my face is stinging from the harsh Chicago wind, and I can't even move my lips to tell Maddie to stop trying to pick up old Burger King wrappers and other such refuse, that I think to myself, "Why did you leave California, again?"


But then I stop and look around, and realize that there really is nothing like a White Christmas! The holidays feel decidedly more holiday-tastic when there's fluffy white snow all around. Twinkle lights on the street seem to twinkle a bit brighter.

And there's really something to showing up at a holiday party with a hostess gift like the one below, when it's absolutely freezing outside! You do a little "I'm so cold it's ridiculous!" jig while you wait for them to answer the door. Then you walk inside, hand your gift off to a smiling friend, who immediately offers to take your coat and scarf and... "please go ahead & leave your boots at the door, then come inside and get warm this INSTANT! There's hot mulled wine in the kitchen..."


Happy Holidays, all! I resolve to deal with the cold and even be upbeat about it...


Until the holidays are over, at least! Then all bets are off and I have free reign to complain until March comes, and 35 degrees feels tropical! :)