I find this hard to believe, but when I first moved to Ottawa twelve years ago, I actually didn’t mind the winter. Sure, it was freezing cold here and there was a ton of snow. But Toronto winters are so dull and grey and boring, whereas Ottawa winters are bright and sunny and filled with lots of fun outdoor activities.

When you have three kids who have to get into snowpants and boots and hats and mitts every time you leave the house, then have to squeeze into three car seats (OH MY GOD, do I ever HATE car seats)…winter kind of sucks. Not to mention days when it’s too cold to leave the house, so we’re all trapped inside, at each others throats all day. Ugh.

The other day I was whining about how much I hate winter and how long the next few months are going to be, and then Gal Smiley chirped up and said, “At least there aren’t any bugs!” Which is true. I hate bugs almost as much as car seats.

So I thought I’d challenge myself to come up with a list of things that I actually do like about winter. Well…things that are on the positive side of the line, at least.

Let’s see.

Still thinking.

Here’s one. It’s so cold out right now that there is ice forming and water pooling on the inside of all of my windows. The thickness of the ice is allowing me to see exactly which windows are troublemakers in terms of the insulation value of my house. I now know, thanks to an inch-thick layer of ice all around it, that my sliding door should be the first to be replaced. When we get around to replacing the windows. In 15 years or so.

Oh, and there’s the fact that the Frankenboots repel all winter cold and wet. They are like Superheroes of Winter. Every time I get them out of the closet, Sir Monkeypants says, “Man, those are SOME UGLY BOOTS.” Then the Frankenboots laugh in his face and kick winter in the ass. That’s nice.

Hot chocolate! That’s a good one. It’s yummy.

And, I don’t have to shave my legs as often. Except for the fact that I take Little Miss Sunshine swimming once a week. Damn, so close.

There’s crockpot soups. I love them. I still eat them in the summer, but somehow they are just have more soul in the wintertime. Of course, in the summer we have the BBQ to provide the soul food. And right now our BBQ is covered in three feet of snow. But this is a list of positives! We’re being positive about winter! Yes!

There’s the gas fireplace. Since we had it cleaned it’s been working perfectly — warm and cozy and non-smelly. I do love curling up on the couch at night with Sir Monkeypants in front of a bright fire. And speaking of being cozy with Sir Monkeypants, I love our flannel sheets. Snuggly!

And…um…oh! There’s no bugs.

What do you like about winter?

I realize that CapnPlanet and SmokingToaster are never, ever going to move back to Canada after they read this post, but HOLY SHIT, it is -26 degrees Celcius out there! My nose hairs froze the very second I stepped outside to take the kids to school. Our garage door made incredibly loud popping noises as each segment “cracked” when I was opening it. IT IS COLD.

Back in December, while playing outside with the kids one day, I realized that my five-year-old pair of boots had sprung a leak. I started to look for some new boots but selection had already thinned out. I wanted something that was definitely warm and waterproof, and not made of suede or any other impractical fabrics.

I was also hoping for something relatively fashionable but after looking for weeks, and then running into this cold snap, I said SCREW IT, I am getting myself some Frankenboots!

And so I did.

They are Sorel Snow Cat boots and they are butt ugly. But hell if they aren’t warm and waterproof. Here’s one.

Yummy.

In other news, those who know us personally know that Sir Monkeypants works at Nortel, and that yesterday, Nortel declared bankruptcy. They used to be one of the biggest companies in Canada, the closest we had to a blue chip stock. It’s scary times, that’s for sure.

We’ve been fielding lots of phone calls from concerned friends and family, so let me just assure you that we are okay for now, and that we don’t have any clear picture right now as to what is going to happen. There will be layoffs, and those who are laid off will not be receiving any kind of severance package (that’s the bad news), but for the immediate future, Sir Monkeypants is keeping his job and will apparently continue to be paid (that’s the good news). So we’ll just wait and see and hope for the best, and in the meantime, cut back on a few non-essentials and think about some long term changes.

I have my boots to see me through…don’t worry!