By Bobby Cherry

Published: Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 8:56 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, January 9, 2013

For as much as I love winter, January always seems to be a big blah for me.

All of the excitement and hullabaloo from the holidays come to an almost abrupt stop once we ring in the new year.

Gifts from Christmas no longer carry the excitement they did just a few weeks earlier.

Delicious foods and friendly get-togethers have all but ended, too.

And — maybe the worst of all — holiday decorations that for a time illuminated houses, sidewalks and front yards now are packed away for another 10 or 11 months.

Compounding this year's January blah is a lack of Steelers games and the oft-delayed — though finally near — Penguins season.

During the holiday season, I made sure to visit many Christmas- and winter-themed activities: Kennywood Park's Holiday Lights event, Phipps Conservatory's Winter Light Garden and Pittsburgh Light Up Night, to name a few.

But with the end of the holidays comes the end to winter fun, it seems. If January stays relatively cold, many folks will remain bundled up inside, leaving their home only for work and groceries (and that occasional grocery store run for milk, bread and toilet paper for one inch of snow).

Meanwhile, I'll want to go snow tubing or to Erie for a winter hike at Presque Isle State Park and an Erie Otters hockey game.

But the mention of nearly anything outside sends shivers down the spines of friends, many of whom want nothing to do with the outside world until the first sign of spring.

Rather than fight their stubborn ways, I'll likely succumb to their wintry whining and await spring with its muddiness from rain and ample allergy attacks from budding flowers and trees.

While I'll have to trek through 2013 awaiting the most wonderful time of year, I'd like to find a way to enjoy winter without needing jingle bells and Santa.

Bobby Cherry is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-324-1408 or rcherry@tribweb.com.

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