Column:

Tasty Starbucks drinks outweigh goose bumps, broken ice scrapers

By Andrea Fuhrer

Published Dec. 11, 2008

I hate winter. I hate the way it makes me feel so lazy that I don't want to do anything but lie, swaddled in blankets, on my bed and drink diet hot chocolate by the gallon — it's much more appealing than it sounds. I hate the way winter makes my freshly-shaven legs get goose bumps as large as watermelons. I hate the way it covers my car windows with inches of ice and how I always get so pissed that I break my damn ice scraper in a fruitless attempt to clean my windshield. I despise winter so much that I plan on moving away, to a place where the cold cannot follow me, as soon as I graduate.

There are only two things that make winter at all tolerable. One of them is my Ugg boots — I love them like a long-lost child. The other is Christmas.

I absolutely love Christmastime, especially the first signs that Christmas is approaching. For me, these signs come in the form of beverages. I frequent Sonic several times a week, and there is no trip more exciting for me than the first holiday-themed Sonic cup sighting. Every year I feel swelling in my heart when I see a carhop carrying a huge cup decorated with red and green, mittens and snowflakes toward me. Seriously.

And it gets even better. Every Christmas, Starbucks comes out with a variety of seasonal drinks: peppermint mochas, gingerbread lattes, eggnog whatevers, all kinds of delicious sounding beverages that conjure up thoughts of Christmases spent lounging by the fireplace as snow falls outside the window (which is peculiar, considering I've never done this).

Unfortunately, I do not like peppermint in my mochas, I prefer eating my gingerbread to drinking it and I think any form of eggnog is pretty gross. But year after year I order one anyway, because the concept is just so damned irresistible.

Weeks later, when the joys of festive beverages have begun to wear off, my next Christmas love swoops in to save the season: decorations. I love perusing the Christmas aisles at Target, looking at stockings, lights and ornaments. When it comes to Christmas decorations, I seem to have the mentality of an infant or a hyperactive puppy: if it's shiny, makes noise or smells good, I want it. And I truly love those huge shiny ball ornaments Wal-Mart adorns its trees with. Sadly my Christmas tree is only about two feet tall, so the effect of the giant balls would be lost on my baby tree. That hasn't deterred my spirit, though. I've got lights and garland and tinsel and glittery snowflakes that have deposited their sparkle on practically every surface of my apartment. It's my own winter wonderland.

But my absolute favorite aspect of Christmas, despite its ramifications on my budget, is buying and making Christmas gifts. It doesn't even matter whom I'm shopping for, I get incredibly excited to pick out just the right gift for him or her. I love all the glitz and glamour and I buy into all of the marketing strategies surrounding the holiday season. In the end I'm a real sucker for the gift of giving.

It's only a few short weeks until Christmas, when all the presents will be exchanged, carols will be sung and massive hams will be carved. And after it's all over, I won't have anything to look forward to except the start of another grueling semester and the promise of frigid weather and more broken ice scrapers. Thank God for Christmas, or I'd be forced to hibernate all winter long.