Getting in the Mood*

 *for Yule, that is…

It feels a bit strange to be making Yule preparations when there are flowers on the trees.

At the park last week I noticed fluffy white things on some of the trees. Closer inspection showed them to be flowers.  This was the only branch I could reach with my camera phone, but a good half dozen trees seemed to think it was March.   A few trees had actually started budding, and there are a few lingering hold outs that haven’t shed their leaves quite yet.  Nature seems a bit confused at the moment (and I’ll admit, so am I).

Today was the first day we broke out a coat, for the morning…but by noon it was t-shirt weather again.

I’ve wintered in Virginia before, but its never been this mild…and it makes it a bit difficult to get in the winter holiday mood, regardless of which winter holiday one might celebrate (I’ve heard quite a few “‘It just doesn’t feel like Christmas” comments about the weather).  I can officially say that I never want to live in Florida (Ring in the New Years in the Keys, yes…Merry Christmas in Disney World, no thank you), it would totally ruin my Yuletide spirit (no offense intended to any Floridians!).

Despite the weather, we have persevered in our holiday preparations thus far–DIY ornaments (the only purchases we made for the tree were ornament hangers and the jingle bells), an origami tree topper, digging out our sand candles from Midsummer (to bring a bit of the Longest Day to the Longest night, instead of the more traditional Yule log), an array of assorted craft projects for gifts from the kids and menu planning for our Festivus party (complete with aluminum pole, Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength), which I’ll be sharing over the weekend.