This is our seventh winter in Wisconsin, and each one has set a record in something or another. One was the grayest, one was the coldest, one was the snowiest, one was the snowiest December, one was the snowiest April, one was the longest stretch of subzero temps, and so I think that we have earned this winter: the warmest. No snow, and lots of sunny days where the sun actually feels WARM. It is surprising to me that when the temperature is 10 below, the sun does nothing except make the frozen air sparkle. The air actually starts to solidify a little and yes, it is hard to breathe and does suck your very will to live.

But not this year! It also means that my house isn't full of the black sludge that gets tramped in from the floor of the garage because the snow in the streets never melts until it falls off my tires in the garage. It means that the girls don't have to wear full snow gear just to run from the car into school, where they remove said gear and don't put it back on until they go outside after school, a mad dash from school to car. In fact, today Anna didn't even wear a hat, an action that would usually result in a call from school or a note home about a missed recess because of insufficient gear.

The only thing that reminds me that I'm still in Wisconsin is the sun. It is so far south that the shadows are always long, the north side of buildings is always in the dark, and sunset is around 4:00 every afternoon. Similar to some Scandinavian countries, this means that in the summer, we only have about 6 hours of darkness.

February may be miserable, but it will be worth it for such a lovely December and January.