There is nothing more fun than putting 10 layers of clothes on and heading outside in the winter for yard work. After 5 minutes you are down to 9 layers and by 30 minutes you have short sleeves on.

I always loved being out in the cold as a child, but as an adult, it is at the bottom of my list. I know there are good points to it:

• Increased circulation in your body
• Burning calories
• Wind blowing through your hair (or creating ice cycles)
• Clears your sinuses (or freezes your nose off)
• Good feeling like you are getting something accomplished
• Giving your neighbors entertainment
• Increasing your endorphins (feel good feelings)
• Increasing your resistance/building muscles
• Breathing in fresh air until it burns

I think you can see my sarcasm in there. We just get so busy in the fall with trying to decorate for the holidays and get some of the repairs done around the house. We try to keep up with the leaves and the branches that are falling. We mulch for a few weeks, but most of the leaves don’t fall until it is too cold to want to go out and rake. I remember when my kids were younger, I would offer them and their friends a day out to see the latest Harry Potter movie over Thanksgiving break in exchange for raking. They could handle the cold a lot better than I could. If I threw in some popcorn, drink, and candy they were all in. Did they completely finish – NEVER, but I was fine with it. It was a way to get them outside and keep me in. Yes, I might have been a little selfish, but I had to do it growing up, so I look at it as a learning experience. Shoveling on the other hand, I wasn’t as lucky with. Oh, I tried to get them to help us shovel. By that age they would still be sleeping in. It was extremely frustrating. Harry Potter offers were no longer an incentive. After a few blizzards I threw my hands up to shoveling. God makes the white stuff; we can wait for Him to melt it! Whatever your pleasure is in the winter, make the most of it. Whether it is snow angels between yard work or hanging Christmas light in September before the cold – you do you 🙂