It has been foggy in Salt Lake. The engineers are complaining, but I feel cozy and enclosed. The airport has had delays, which is the last thing they need during this busy season, but I am staying in the city with no flight plans for the holidays. Last weekend, Mike, Stacey, Dan and I went to a movie at Jordan Commons. When we came out, the clear evening had become foggy. The Christmas lights looked fuzzy and soft as if someone had put Vaseline on the lens of our lives.

It has been so cold that I fear that we will have no snow for Christmas this year. We had snow earlier in the year, so I’m not feeling Scroogy, but it looks like we will be graced with yellowing grasses and foggy air for the holiday instead of clean skies and a crisp white covering over our city. Thus is Christmas in Utah. Half the years, we are buried so deeply that we are stranded in our homes. The other years, we are roasting in fifty degree weather or freezing below the snowing temperatures.

The funny thing is that I like the fog. I like the snow. I like the sweltering fifty degree winters. I like the horrid temperatures below freezing. I like them all. I still complain when I am cold or hot, but on the whole, the weather is one of the things binding me to the city with steel bands. I like the passing of the seasons, even if they are unpleasant. I know that a new one is around the corner in a few months. I always have something to look forward to. I fear that if I moved to Hawaii, I would feel as if time stood still, waiting for a winter that never came.

I need this quiet, dark, cold time. There must be a hibernating creature deep in my DNA longing for the cold and fog, because this weather feels wonderful to me. Have a very foggy Christmas and a slushy New Year!