Saturday, December 19, 2009

Let it Shine, Let it Shine, Let it Shine

Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum, it's the holiday season! Lots of presents went out today (check the post below for awards) and apparently this Monday there's a big Merry Kissfest brewing in the writing blogosphere. I'll be under the mistletoe blowing you all kisses and hoping you'll do the same. If you're playing, this Monday (the first day of winter) post a kissing scene from your wip or an old manuscript you like. Woo hoo! Let's get our jingle on!

AND...
This Monday also starts Unplug Week, (if you have no idea what that is, go HERE). I will be taking shameless advantage of unplugging to catch up with life and spend some quality time with the family... and maybe my wip!

Life is at the expected level of Holiday Crazy over here, but I'm loving the warm weather. Coldness makes me whiny and insufferable, so it's good that I live in a place where I can see the snow and drive to the snow but do not have to actually live in the snow. I'll admit it though, yesterday when it reached eighty degrees I felt bizarre walking around in a tank top the week before Christmas. My part of California means I happen to live in a place where ear muffs are something my daughter wears to school on "crazy" day, and people dazzle up their cliched palm trees with twinkling lights. I like it. I'm not saying I hate snow. If I find a pot of gold, after buying my glam O.C. residence and a beach house in Hawaii, I am so getting a fabulous cabin in the mountains. To visit. And to have a place to warm up and sip white mochas before driving back to the warm, sunny valley where my kind, the coldblooded, freezing-toed, honey-I-need-your-jacket kind, belong. Maybe some of you who live in winter snow, as in, every day for weeks (months? I don't know... you tell me, snow-people. How does it work?), can enlighten me, but here's what goes through my mind at the end of a day in Wrightwood:

Ohhhh no, this is so not for me. Teeth chattering? And sitting in cold cars? And the kind of bone-deep freezingness that makes you feel like some super-villain blew his ice breath on you and you had to battle through the blast with the sheer force of your will? No-no-no children, it would not be fun to live in the snow, but it'll be fun again next Saturday. Let's go home!

That kind of thing on a daily basis would make me extremely whiny. No one would be my friend anymore. I'm annoying enough in my fake L.A. coldness, complaining about being freezing when the temperature dips anywhere below sixty, begging my husband to get me Starbucks, frustrating him with all the extra blankets ("Really, Diana? A fleece pullover and a wool cap? I feel like I'm sleeping next to the grandpa on Transformers. Seriously, take off the hat. Fine, I'll turn on the heater."). 

Anyway, I admire people who love living in the snow, all red-cheeked and cheerful in their fluffy clothes and adorably frosting-topped houses all winter. I may not want to live in the snow, but I am extremely grateful that I live close to it. If I were still in Miami and had no prospects of snow days at all, I would feel like something was missing... maybe. :)

So what's your take? Should snow stay up on the mountains where it belongs? Or are you all sparkly-eyed-excited when the city is a blanket of white? Let it snow or let it shine?

Before I go I want to say, you blogger friends amaze me. It seems like the holidays haven't made a dent in your blogging, meanwhile I can barely keep up with all the holiday craziness of shopping (which I hate) and wrapping (which I hate) and the kids' Christmas shows and practices (which I love) and preparing for family get-togethers (also love)-- the list is beyond endless. If I don't comment back, a thousand hugs and sorries, but I will be back on Monday to post my kissing scene and officially unplug for Unplug Week (I don't count Stephanie's party as plugging back in. It's a party!). Have a great weekend everyone!!

12 comments:

  1. Okay, Diana, I have to ask. How did you get stuff on both sidebars. My blog is getting so cluttered. I need both sides. I know this is completely unrelated to anything you just wrote above, but I'm a Phoenician...snow me no likey...unless I can drive back to my sunny all the time home within mere hours of arriving.

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  2. I hate snow. I hate being cold. I hate actual Christmas shopping (online can be fun.) I hate wrapping gifts--hoping to con Mother-in-law into doing it. I hate post office trips. I hate rushing around on Christmas day to visit everyone we've ever been related to at some point in our lives (slight exaggeration--but only slight.) I'm like the biggest grinch of Christmas. I like looking at Christmas lights. I like eating Christmas treats. I love all things religion-centered like the nativities. I like the day after Christmas when the tree is still up, the craziness is over, and the kids are playing with all their new stuff. Being together as a family is fun--I just need four official Christmas days to spread it across so that Christmas itself isn't a migraine on a stick. We have so much family and they all want a piece of us on Christmas day. My kids will be holiday fried by the end of the day. Usually B is wandering around listless and spun out. T is throwing punching and kicks and screeching. It doesn't break my heart that Christmas comes but once a year.

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  3. I love snow, but I need all four seasons. I could never live somewhere that was cold all year long. :)

    Enjoy your weekend!

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  4. I live in a place that hasn't seen snow is about eight years. I would have to drive about five or six hours to the mountains to see it. But I'm like you. I'm a whiny individual when I get too cold. It's been in the mid 50's here all week, and I've had the heater cranked up when the husband isn't around:)

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  5. I'm a summer gal - I really am. But I DO love a white Christmas :-) I love having all four seasons, but I would absolutely never say no to living in a warmer climate all year round!!

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  6. I love snow in the winter. I manage by wearing fifty layers (that might be an exaggeration): long underwear, long-sleeved tee, sweater/sweatshirt, jacket, ear muffs, hat, scarf, glove liners, gloves and a wool coat. But I HATE ice--it scares me.

    I hadn't heard about the unplug but that's a good idea through the holidays. Thanks for spreading the news.

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  7. Snow. We've got a ton. And where I live, the temperature will stay sub-zero for months at a time. Two winters ago, we did not get above ZERO for two months!!! This winter hasn't been as bad. We had two weeks where I'd send my sweet little second grader to the bus stop in -14 degrees and the high on those days would be about 2. Today we got warm. A whopping 15 (which really does feel sort of warm after -14!). Because it stays so cold here, even a light snow lasts until March. It can't melt! I like the snow as long as I don't have to go out in it for extended periods of time!

    Can't wait to read the kissing scene!

    --Bethany

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  8. Unplug week?? What a great idea! Lord how can I achieve it though...I work mostly online - that doesn't count though, right?

    And uh...YEAH it was cold last week in SoCal wasn't it? Thank the high heavens it went back into the 70's where it belongs today! Hmph.

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  9. You're so funny Diana - glad you must be feeling better. Guess what - You Won! You won my teaser book giveaway come check out my blog.
    I love fall and spring. I endure summer and winter. I'm hot all the time so I actually prefer winter to summer, but I hate frosted windows on cars. I love snow on the day that it's acutally snowing. I love the beauty of snowflakes gently drifting to the ground. Hate snow when it freezes. I love the beauty of snow covered mountains.
    Can't wait to read your kissing scene.

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  10. To clarify, Friday it reached eighty degrees, and yesterday it got into the seventies. I hope it stays in the seventies all the way through to spring!!

    Hi Tina! Yes, the double-sidebars rock. I went to Cutest Blog on the Block and clicked on Free Stuff, I'm almost positive... it's in there somewhere, and you just follow the directions and voila! Double sidebars!

    Hi Wendy :) Bah humbug, right? I would love Christmas if I had a personal assistant and loads of cash.

    Hi Shannon O., four seasons sounds like fun. I think palm trees only have one season...

    Hi Melissa, ha ha!! I'm the same way, sneaking on the heater when the husband is away. Mid fifties is too cold for comfort! Snow is about an hour away for us if we go to Wrightwood, and about 5-6 hours away if we do Big Bear (I don't see the point. Snow is snow, so we haven't done that in years!).

    Hi Sara :) You sound like me! I love summer too, but I don't mind the four seasons being an hour away, heh heh ;)

    Hi Catherine! I may not love the snow, but I do love visiting it :) Unplug week is great! I snuck a post every now and then but I definitely got a LOT more done than usual :)

    Bethany- OH MY! That is seriously cold. If it were the olden days and I lived somewhere that cold, I would probably die. I can just see me in some Victorian mansion, sniffling in a canopy bed, with doctors telling everyone that nothing could be done. Poor, cold Diana.

    Hi 52! You can definitely achieve unplug week. That's the beauty of it... you get to decide how unplugged you want to be! And you're in California too! Woo hoo, shout out to the left coast! YES, low sixties was TOO low!! I liked Friday's spike into eighty-ville. Like I keep saying, if I want the snow I'll drive to it, hee hee.

    Hi Mary :) I like being in the snow when it's snowing too. Once this enormous snowflake landed right on my daughter's hat, it looked just like they show in cartoons. I have fun in snow for about three hours, but I am solidly a summer girl. Give me warmth, the hotter the better. I can always go to the beach! I do love seeing the mountains all covered in snow... from a distance. So beautiful.

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  11. I'm a Michigander and I love the snow until Christmas. After that, it can go away until next year!!!

    Unplugging? Awesome idea. Luckily for me, this holiday season's not too crazy (well my Xmas day does sound like Wendy's, but that's only 24 hours). I'm even managing a vaca to Savannah & Tampa over New Year's. It should be fun, and I'll need the Internet to keep me entertained for all the long hours in the car!

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  12. Hi Steph, I'm glad your Christmas isn't too hectic. Mine is normal-hectic for Christmastime. We just got home from a family party and I'm exhausted! Unplug week is as intense or relaxed as you need it to be-- that's why I like it so much :) You live in Michigan, wow! It must be crazy-cold. I'm happy you get a white Christmas. We went in with some family one year for a cabin rental in Big Bear to do a white Christmas. It was a few years ago and it was beautiful; the weekend was so fun. I agree with you though, after Christmas it was nice driving back home, so I imagine being in it for a lot longer would stop being fun-- quick. Keep cozy :)

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