Winter is settling in. We had a couple of hours of snow this afternoon, and the forecast calls for more. It is December. It is time.

The snow this afternoon was one of those perfect December snows: enormous clumps of snowflakes falling straight down, almost like rain. A few degrees warmer, and it would have been rain. It was a Hollywood kind of snow.

My husband had just put some Christmas lights on the trees in front, and they looked pretty in the snow. (This is the first year we’ve had lights outside since moving here in 2007. Every year, either the snow or other circumstances have conspired against him.) And it was the perfect amount of snow: just enough to make the yards look pretty and magnify and soften the brilliance of the Christmas lights at our house and at the many other houses. Fortunately, we didn’t have enough snow to make the roads too slippery. Yet.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for our area, between tomorrow and Thursday. We have the potential for more than six inches of snow. It might be pretty, but it will cause many more headaches. I’m thinking about my schedule for the remainder of the week: work, son’s Lego robotics class, both children’s basketball practices, daughter’s basketball game, errands. Snow and icy roads adds another dimension of confusion and chaos to the list of things to accomplish each day. This is what I dislike most about winter.

I also dislike the clutter of boots and snow pants. I dislike searching for hats and gloves, reminding children to bundle up, wiping the dog’s paws when she comes inside, and vacuuming up the grit that seems to be tracked in from the streets, even when we remove our boots at the door. I dislike my nose running when I go outside, and I dislike driving in my warm winter coat (too bulky) and gloves (too slippery).

Those annoyances aside, I like spending the winter in Minnesota. I like the stillness on a weekend morning after a snowfall, before the snowmobiles and snow throwers begin their noisy drone. There is nothing like that peace. I like the sound of snow under my boots, and I like how I can tell the approximate temperature by listening to that sound: the colder the temperature, the squeakier the snow.

I like seeing chickadees and cardinals in the snow, and the flash of a squirrel’s tail on a sunny winter day, as it searches for nuts. I like to go cross country skiing or snowshoeing and come across a place where a herd of deer have bedded down, their shapes imprinted on the snow. I like to see the flamboyant flash of a cock pheasant in a snow-covered field. I like to see muskrat houses and beaver dams on the snow- and ice-covered lakes and wetlands. I like to see owls and eagles sitting in trees, no longer hidden by the dense summer covering of leaves. I like to see the brilliant blue sky on a cold January day, when I feel like there is nothing between me and heaven.

I like walking the dog on a windless day with the snow crunching under our feet. I like the feeling of accomplishment of shoveling the driveway after a snowfall. I like cups of hot tea, a comfortable chair, an afghan, and a good book. I like the excuse of having to stay inside because it’s “too cold,” and I like going outside when it “warms up” to above zero (Fahrenheit). I like watching the kids play in the snow and slide down the hill. (I don’t enjoy doing it so much anymore, because my feet get cold and going down the hill on a sled hurts much more as an adult than it does as a child.)

I’ve lived in warmer climes, and I can appreciate the convenience of not having to worry about snow and ice. For all that, I love the winters in Minnesota. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.