It must be December in Hawaii, because my fingers are numb

You people think it's always a balmy 75 degrees around here?

Wroooooong. This morning it was a nippy 63. That's right. Practically 30 degrees above FREEZING.

My fingers are white with cold.

I can barely type.

My toes are numb too.

I have on jeans and a long sleeved shirt, and in a minute? I'm going to find some socks. Wool ones. That might take awhile, come to think of it. I might even get up and close a window or two.

I know what you are thinking, you who chooses to live in a colder climate, who spends the majority of your your days looking for warmth, taking showers to defrost your poor little toes, putting on layer after layer, and then taking them off again trying to find the perfect balance. I have been there, done that, and I made a conscious decision to never live that way again.

Ever.

I know that what I am dealing with now can be addressed with a lightweight fleece and  some sneakers, which makes it somehow easier to bear. And to be honest, I am glad that it's cooler these days, because it is making it so much easier to get into the holiday spirit, in a place where Christmas just doesn't really seem like.....Christmas. It's hard to get festive in a tank top and flip flops, while sipping a pina colada. I mean, don't get me wrong. I get festive with the best of them...it just takes more pina coladas, is all.

With a significant lack of pina coladas, I am heading up to Lucy's school to increase my festive-ness a hundred fold the natural way. I'm going to read Christmas stories to the preschoolers, and then show them a candy-free advent calendar from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art which is, by the way, pretty much one of the coolest places ever.

OK, so, off I go. My reading selection today is "Christmas Cookies"