I like the timeless feeling of the week between Christmas and New Years, and then because of orthodox Christmas in this part of the world, we get another week with an extra holiday between New Years and Christmas as well. And then it will be orthodox New Years, so we get another round of the holiday feeling, although without an extra day off. All over my internet, people are taking down their Christmas trees and enjoying the whisked-out look of January, but here, people are just putting up their lights and the Christmas fairs are still going strong.
After a warm fall and (the first December 25th) Christmas with no snow, the temperatures have plummeted and it's brutally cold, 1F/-17C, too cold for me to get up the courage to actually go to these fairs. So we spend the days making soup and wandering around the house wearing two sweaters each. I can't light enough candles or give the chickadees enough sunflower seeds.