First is the Worst, but I'm not really sure second is the best

If you've ever been around children of a certain age or you ever were a child of a certain age, you've likely heard the expression that starts, "First is the worst, second is the best..." Well, in terms of the months of the year, I'd have to agree. I've decided that January is the worst month of the year. Sorry all you January lovers, but I can find few good things about January.
Now the month does start with a holiday so it's certainly nice to have a day off, but for me, that day off also means the end of a vacation since I have a few days before New Years off too (I know, I know, I should be thankful that I have time off, not depressed that vaca is over).

But then you have to take down Christmas decorations. I STRONGLY DISLIKE taking down Christmas decorations (you should have seen me trying to dismantle my tree this morning, I have several nice cuts to show from my efforts). I love Christmas and always put my decorations up Thanksgiving weekend, but taking them down, ugh, I dread it. It's not fun and then the place goes from festive to depressing. It's too early to put up Valentine's Day decorations (well, the retail world would probably disagree with that statement) so it's back to non-festive stuff, no more pretty lights to look at when you drive home, no nice tree to greet you after a long day. sigh

January also means cold and snow, two things I despise (I realize other months bring those things two, but since I don't dislike those months as much, we're just not going to talk about that right now). It's also when those post-Christmas shopping bills come in and let's not even talk about how high the heating bill is (for that price it should feel like the tropics in here 24/7). And there's the dreaded January paperwork I have to do at work every January. I'm getting stressed thinking about it so let's move on. One thing this January has going for it that 2010 didn't is I get MLK Day off. Yay! Last year, I got to drive to work in a snowstorm on MLK Day and you know how I feel about snow.

But in 23 days it'll be Feb, which is only slightly better than January if for no other reason than I get a week off and it's one month closer to nicer weather. Am I pathetic or what? (Don't answer that!). Wishing you all a happy January! Stay warm and be careful in the snow. :)