Baby, It's Cold Outside?

We hung Christmas lights this past weekend. Well, to be more accurate, the men of the house hung the Christmas lights. They also power-washed the dormers. Traditionally this job is done the day after Thanksgiving, but last weekend was that kind of damp cold that chills your bones for hours.

You can see that it was a gray day this weekend as well. However, what you cannot see is that the temperature was almost 80, and the air quality was actually humid, and a bit stifling! Who would have thought—certainly not I.

The two days since then have been beautiful, crisp, sunny, and freezing. Yet I accidentally sent Maren off to school in a t-shirt because it looked like a much more beautiful day than the one before!

As we joked about this phenomenon, we came to a few conclusions about weather in Texas. First, the weather in Texas is delightfully varied. We may not get snow as often, and we definitely won't have the months of deep-freeze that you get up North. But any given day can include temperatures of 40 to 80 degrees. In fact last night included below freezing temps, because we had a hard frost this morning.

The second conclusion is really the obvious one, but just feels funny because it is not true everywhere in the country. You can't tell the weather just by looking out the window. Today looks just like any other day. The only difference is that you need a coat to be out there! And Saturday and Sunday looked fierce, with blowing wind and gray skies; yet we all ended up in shorts as we played and worked outside the house. You just can't tell until you open the door and feel the air on your face.

My recommendation? Always have a coat handy, wear layers, and never forget that you may just have to use both the heater and the air conditioner in the same day. It's just part of the fun of Life in Texas!