It's Christmas!!!

     
Ok, maybe not.  Quite.  Yet.

But, it's cold outside.  Freezing even.  And for me, that's enough reason to celebrate Christmas.  No questions asked.


Because, you see, I used to be normal.  (no laughing, please.)  Seriously.  I thought that days like this

were cold,

and days like this...

were hot.

Then I moved South.  And things got interesting.

I still knew the difference between hot and cold.  It just seemed that no one else did.

My picture, on the front page
of the newspaper...
for going to school in the "snow"!

People would laugh because I wore sandals in the "winter."  You have to understand that this winter was spring-weather for a Michigander!  I made a deal with people that if it ever actually froze... you know, 32 degrees F... then I'd wear shoes.

I think it happened twice.

Later that winter, come spring time, my body seemed to rebel.  “It can’t be spring yet!  It hasn’t really gotten cold!”  My internal system kept waiting… and waiting… and bummer of bummers, no winter came.  Only heat, humidity, and lots of air conditioning galore.

Enter the Land of Tanz.  By my second year in Tanzania, a bunch of us were really starting to adjust to the temps.  (Think 80s and 90s with 95% humidity!)  One day, it started raining, the humidity levels dropped a bit, and we actually grabbed BLANKETS to wrap up in.  (Note: we usually don’t even use a top sheet to sleep with – it’s too hot.  And here we were grabbing blankets that we had only ever used when traveling to cold parts of the country.) 

We. were. FREEZING!!!  In honor of this moment, we decided to check just how cold it really was outside.   And as we glanced at the thermometers on our computers, our jaws dropped.  Here we were, perfectly reasonable individuals hailing from Michigan, Minnesota, and ALASKA… and we were freezing at …  83 degrees.  Yes, you read that right.  83.

Another time, when my housemate and I were traveling to a
colder part of the country.  We were FREEZING!  And yes,
the temp was about 55 degrees...

I have absolutely no doubt that God used NC to prep me for Tanzania.  I just think that He might have forgotten to prep me for coming back!

Because lately, we’ve been having a lot of rain.  Cold, blowing rain.  Rain that I really thought could turn into snow or ice at any moment.  We've even had a day of snow!

me enjoying the wonders of fleece (aka staying warm) as I write more papers... :)

So as it gets colder out, my body, which at one point thought that it wasn’t time for spring until it snowed… has been ready for Christmas since October.  And I'm SO excited that the official season of celebrating Christ's birth has arrived!!  Along with lights, cookies, Christmas movies, family and a very thankful heart!  :)

Happy Almost Christmas, all!!!