Season ender

Christmas -- as marked by lights hanging everywhere, cookies always on hand and a tree taking up a good portion of the living room -- is officially over in the Austin household.

We took down the tree and all the decorations in the house today. It is always a sad moment for me because I love all the lights and the festive feeling. It feels pretty good to reclaim the living room, though!

Unfortunately, these season-ending steps in no way single the end of winter. In fact, Jim and Carter had to shovel last night's snowfall this afternoon. Is there no end in sight?

To put ourselves in a "warmer" mood, we called my sister and brother-in-law in southern Texas. It was 81 glorious degrees down there! My parents will be excited to hear that. They're headed down there later this month for a four-week stint (this is how my brother-in-law Paul has earned the title Saint Paul!)

A few weeks after their return to the Arctic Tundra, it will be our turn! I realize it will be 2 months and 4 days until our flight leaves, but there's no harm in thinking sunny thoughts while scraping off ice or trying to store Christmas lights without getting them in a knot.

So long, Christmas. Hello, South Padre!