Kentucky Will Get a Serious Reminder This Weekend That It Really Is Winter

Do you want to know how I spent more than a few days during my 10-day-long Christmas vacation? By pulling short-sleeved shirts out of the back of the closet or the dirty clothes hamper and spraying them with Febreze. That's how.

On Christmas morning, I was all prepared to get into the spirit of the season with a red shirt and a green sweater. But nope, I went with a lightweight polo shirt. I mean, the temperatures were in the mid-70s. We drove to my sister's place with the windows rolled down...on CHRISTMAS DAY.

What about yesterday--which, by the way, was December 27th? There were times it almost felt HOT outside. I'm used to a lot of things about the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, but wanting to take a dip in an OUTDOOR pool isn't one of them.

Not that I'm complaining. Although, the OCCASIONAL white Christmas wouldn't be bad. I even began wondering if plantlife would get confused and start sprouting.

It didn't, and that's a good thing because it would immediately die by this Sunday. That's because winter figures to ACTUALLY begin on January 2nd. Yeah, I know it's official on December 21st, but this past week hasn't felt anything like winter. And after a New Year's Day flirtation with some heavy rain and possibly thunderstorms, we're going to feel that cold front and likely make a mad dash for the thermostat in the process. Here's the outlook from the National Weather Service:

Do you see that? I mean temperatures between 28 and 38 degrees on January 2nd aren't the kind of news that will knock people out of their chairs, but I'm thinking more about the WIND. After all, the reason we're going from highs in the 60s on New Year's Day to highs in the low to mid-30s on Sunday is because of a cold front. And cold fronts are always accompanied by wind gusts. And I'm no genius, but I'm pretty sure that's a snowflake in the middle of the Sunday frame.

Long story short, it's finally time to get good use out of actual winter clothing...you know, the kind that's been ready to wear for a couple of weeks now and DOESN'T need a spritz of Febreze.