Clinging to holiday spirit

It's so hard to be jolly when the roads are a mess and your car's under a foot of snow, isn't it? I started on my holiday spirit early this year, turning on the Xmas music a week before Thanksgiving, 'cause I just knew that as soon as the snow fell, I'd be feeling decidedly less merry.

This weekend gave me a nice lift, after the first snow of the year had me feeling glum, "oh great, here we go again, how long until May?" Sunday, we went to Empire State Plaza and walked around the chocolate festival a bit, then a craft festival in the concourse, and then made our way up and outside for the tree-lighting ceremony. I've never been to a tree-lighting before, but it was nice, a fun thing to do, especially with the fireworks show afterward set to holiday songs. It certainly gave my spirits a boost.

I made cookies Monday and Tuesday, four kinds, three of them edible (bad recipes do happen). One kind in particular keeps earning raves from everyone who eats them, so I think I'll have to keep those in the rotation from now on. Yay.

And then, there was today. There was a foot of snow in the driveway when I left, and despite a half-hour of shoveling, I still got stuck in the driveway, really badly stuck. If it wasn't for a neighbor guy just happening to drive by, then stopping and helping to get me out, I might still be there for all I know. It sucked pretty hard. But on the up side, it's over, and when I got to work, there was the annual holiday auction, and I won somebody a present. :D

I guess where we go from here depends on the weather. It's hard to stay upbeat when it snows. I sometimes wonder if it would be nicer to live somewhere warm, where the roads are always dry. Would I have more holiday spirit then? Or would my cheer still fade because there aren't white-draped branches all around me? It's hard to say.