Why I Loves Scarves.

So it's cold here in Virginia now, at least some of the time. With highs of 47 and lows of 27 but an occasional 'hot' and sunny 75 being snuck in there for the pure torture of it. Thing is, I don't mind the cold as much as the heat. Don't get me wrong I would rather not be hot or cold, but just right, like Baby Bear Porridge, but if need be I would take bundling up in the cold over sticky and hot.

We have a lot of holiday functions at our house, from Black Friday Celebratory dinners, to Christmas Mexican Movie Night and Christmas Day Festivities. But in an effort to feed and entertain our guests, we don't turn up the heat.

A few years ago when we were building this house we were still living in our ranch in the city. In an effort to save money I decided I wouldn't turn the heat on at all until I absolutely couldn't bear it any more. About mid-November, after Ward had a run in with my frosty feet, he ordered me to go and turn on the heat, at least to 65. When we moved here we set our heat at a bare minimum to off set the higher electric bill thanks to Southside Electric Co-op. My sister always jokingly tells me that she has to bundle up to come to our house and often leaves her coat on for the duration of her stay at our house during the winter months.

Yesterday, we took some cookies over to our neighbors house and the husband was complaining about how cold their house was at 72, so he raised the heat to 74. I wasn't cold at all, but overly comfortable, I could have taken off a few layers. Then this morning I was on the phone with my sister who said she had her heat at 73 after inching it up from 71 where it was this morning. She then asked me what my thermostat was set at, I checked, 66 both upstairs and downstairs. She laughed at me and said that she would bundle up on Christmas in a big warm sweater.

Maybe it's my cold heart that allows me to be so content with the cold. Maybe I've gotten used to the cold because Ward doesn't like it to be too warm so it's not too harsh a shock to his system when he goes out to work in the cold (which the WIND makes the COLD much worse I assure you, I hate WIND as much as I hate being very hot, I am so hard to please). Maybe it's staying with my grandparents when I was young in their very cold house and hearing my grandfather talk about saving money and not having heat when he was young (after walking home from school ten miles no doubt). But I just don't seem to mind the colder weather. It lets me know that the holidays are approaching. It helps me get good use out of all those bulky sweaters taking up too much room in my closet. And who doesn't love to be bundled up in bed under a cozy winter comforter (yes, we have both Summer and Winter bedding around here).

My only concern is for our children. I don't want them getting frost bite in bed. So I will turn the heat up, a little more, between now and January (when it gets REALLY cold), but their drawers are well stocked with fleece pjs and we may finally get use of the plethora of blankets given to us for the babies at the shower last November.

And there are acorns everywhere. You know what that means right? A terrible winter.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to move to Alaska. Ever. But I don't know if I could handle the desert either.

-june