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Living in Central Texas doesn't afford many winters, so I rejoice in the 30 and 40 degree temperatures that come instead. I love when the cold fronts come through, the clouds like a comforter, blanketing me as the thermometer drops.

Most people I know here look forward to summer, while I plan on the shortest route from the house to the car to my job. If I'm not a complete puddle of water by the time August comes around, my kids start back to school, and football games usher in fall. Just a few more weeks and the days begin to tumble into the cool low 90s and high 80s.

By the time Halloween rolls around, I actually begin to enjoy the nights, which begin to dip down into the 50s. I get a little worried right before Christmas when we're all wearing shorts, and everyone else is happy with the heat wave. If I'm lucky I may get to enjoy a few days in the 30s, and then realize our winter really begins in January, only to end in February.

There's the occasional winter where we get the ice, and maybe some snow, but when the true inches of snow miss Austin and go to Port Aransas near Corpus Christi (where snow actually stood on the beaches!), and it snows near Houston, but completely misses us; how truly maddening!

When the coldest air finally hits, my cloud cover usually arrives with it. I love when it gets so dark outside at noon that I have to turn on the lights in the house. I make myself hot chocolate or my favorite coffee, wrap a blanket around me and sit in my swing outside smelling the crisp, clean air, or watching a movie inside if it's raining. Taking my dogs outside dressed in my sweatpants and over-sized sweatshirt and house shoes so thick I can stand outside in the coldest temperatures and my toes are still toasty warm. Fireplaces burning and the smell of smoke in the air.

My favorite reason I love winter: the trees are bare, the grass is brown, the flowers are gone. It is a cleansing period, albeit a stark period, but clean nonetheless. And I know the mild temperatures, the new green grass, the flowers and the budding trees-the newness-is right around the corner.

Learn more about this author, Sherrie Mickan.
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