I'm happy getting snow in January, too. It's possible to have snow here on Christmas, but it is still cooling down that time of year. I'll keep my eyes peeled for your LED christmas lights in snow. Maybe I'll be able to dig out some photos of the decoration circuit here in Prescott. The paper sponsors a competition and publishes the entries. It's fun to go out and photo the decorated houses. Last year there was Cruella de Ville and 101 dalmations as a theme at one house. Most are more ... Christmasy.
For every other purpose, I'm happy that we have warm days and much cooler nights. But it does make winter hard on deciduous plants such as roses. So each descent into winter brings special garden worries that I've never had before. To get over them, I'm going to try planting broccoli and kale as cool season plants. May have missed the opportunity this year; but I got some over-wintering carrots planted. I have no idea whether it will work.
I kinda missed the change-of-seasons when I lived in Austin, TX. So I guess I'm going to be here even if all my roses die. And if that happens, I guess I'll have to move on to growing evergreens, alpine shrubs, alliums, and short prairie grasses. Maybe join a forum on that stuff. Hard to imagine a mahonia would generate as much excitement as a rose. But who knows.
