Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday season and enjoying a warm drink snuggled up next to a fireplace when it's cold outside as much as the next person, but I will never like winter as a whole. I'm an extrovert and thrive on being outside or around other people, so the possibility of being confined to my home because of bad weather is a nightmare.
Just because there are fun winter-based activities to still go and do, you still have to make it there, and the risk isn't always worth the fun in the end.
1. The hustle and bustle
I get it. The holidays are busy, everyone is in a hurry to get everywhere, but is that really worth blowing stoplights and risking someone else's life? The store will still be there if it takes you a few extra minutes to get there. Sure, sometimes amazing deals get sold out quickly, but if you are that concerned about saving a few dollars, stay home and order online. I can promise you, those few extra dollars are not worth risking the well-being of others.
2. Everyone has suddenly forgotten how to drive
It happens every year when the snow starts. Suddenly, no one has ever driven in snow before (I'm not looking at you first time drivers, I'm looking at you middle-aged adults that have definitely been doing this for years) and can't stay in one lane on the road.
If they can manage to stay in their lane, they're definitely only driving 15 mph because that dusting of snow is going to put up a fight on the traction of their wheels. If there's a snowstorm, and you can clearly not see, there's a valid reason for the hold up, but you should also not be driving in that circumstance.
3. Parking lots suddenly don't have designated spots.
We've all seen it. It snows, and suddenly, it's a free for all in the parking lot of every store. People are parallel parked through the diagonal lines, taking up four parking spaces instead of one and the inevitable person parked in the middle lane like there are no rules anymore. The lines didn't disappear from last week when you did your grocery shopping. Get it together, people.
4. The amount of layers you have to wear
Coats and hats and scarves and gloves, oh my! Sure, the accessories are cute while you're outside, but what about when you go into a store? Or someone's house that you're unfamiliar with? Personally, I would rather wear a light jacket or sweatshirt and be cold on the walk from my car into a building than be uncomfortable while shopping or embarrassed to ask where to put all of my stuff in someone's home. I won't even get in to the coats for kids while they're in car seats and how terrible that can be. If you know, you know.
5. Dry skin
Unless you have the perfect skin combination, in which case everyone probably hates you, then you can relate to this one. Between the chapped lips, itchy/dry cheeks or the cracked skin on your hands from the wind and cold it can leave your skin feeling miserable. You end up spending a small fortune on Chapstick and an extra strength moisturizer for your entire body for those few months that you wouldn't regularly need, and they expire before the next winter, so it ends up being wasteful.
6. The bottoms of your pants are getting wet
Skinny jeans and boots are great, but is that really what you want your entire wardrobe to consist of? Flare jeans are coming back into style, and unless you're a teenager, you can remember the woes of the bottoms of your jeans getting wet or covered in snow and ice. Then, when you take off your shoes, you might as well take your pants off too unless you want to step on the cold, damp hems and get your socks and floors wet.
7. Sunshine can be deceiving
Picture this: It's the age before smartphones and you wake up and the sun is shining warm through your curtains, there is no snow on the ground, and you get dressed without checking the weather channel. You step outside and might as well freeze instantly because you were deceived into thinking it was going to be warmer than it turned out to be.
Now, your perfectly put together outfit is ruined, and you have to go back inside to change so your mood instantly drops, threatening to ruin your entire day. You know this story all too well, don't you? I would call you a liar if you said this was something you had never experienced in your life.
8. Snow is not always pretty
The mountain scapes full of endless, perfectly white snow are not a casual reality. Here, in the Midwest, we don't have mountains and what we get for snow becomes a dull, grey, slushy mess almost instantly. Sometimes, if you are able to watch it come down, you can see the perfect white scenes as it falls, but you know it won't last. Even the mountains only look perfect from a distance, and once you're walking in them, they're trodden with footprints, fallen limbs and hidden animal droppings you're going to be cleaning off your boots for hours.
9. Ice
You can't do anything safely once the leftover slushy snow freezes. Going outside is an obstacle course where you need spiked shoes or a walking stick to make sure you don't fall down and get hurt. Sledding on a freshly snowed hill can end up being very treacherous if there is ice underneath, which is something you should always keep in the back of your mind on those steep hills. You absolutely cannot drive anywhere because no matter how good of a driver you are or you trust your car, ice will always win in a street fight.
