What winter?

It is common knowlegde that I hate winter. It's dark and depressing and f'ing freezing and trudging through the snow just plain bites. But not this year! The days are getting longer and it's no longer pitch black outside when I leave the office at 5:00. Our New Year's deepfreeze didn't hit us, and January is more than half over and we still have not seen out typical week of -40C temperatures. I have been basking in the warmth of our non-traditional Alberta winter, with daytime temperatures a few degrees below (or even above) freezing! Last night was the coldest in weeks, dipping down to -13C. Tonight is going to be the same and I have dug out the long johns. How sad is that? Right now it is -9C outside and I am whimpering like a baby that it is too cold. Either 2006 will be the best year of my life, or it will be the worst and it will snow all summer long.