Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas Greenthumb..Stay safe and warm.

Thanks, GT! And Happy Christmas to you and yours :)

Very happy and warm Christmas to you too GT!
Hope you have a magical time!

Thanks, Greenthumb ...

Magical Christmas,
and all the best for 2012. :o)

Merry Christmas Greenthumb !

Have a great Christmas !!

Merry Christmas :)))))))))))))))))))

Greetings to you from afar. Stay safe and warm and have fun this Christmas. Love your photo. All the best.

Christmas wishes to you, Gt ... have a lovely day ... :o)

Happy holidays Gt, hope you're well snugged up in your cabin, we are having mild Xmas days here, 12degs today, feels almost like Spring.....:))). X

Thanks, GT & a happy Christmas & New Year 2012 to you too. Looking forward to more pictures from your part of the world. What's the temp like where you are this week? We are having a exceptionally mild week here in the UK that is forecast to continue another couple of days yet!

Hope you are having a good xmas and all the best for the new year.I am looking forward to seeing more Alaskan flora and fauna next year.

-25C right now, Balcony. It has been up and down so much this year, lots of snow accumulated. Mild for me so far, although it has also felt especially dark.

Great and peaceful holidays so far here snugged away in the cabin.

Happy New Years everyone. :-)

how many layers of coats and gloves do you have to wear in -25??

Mittens are best, poofy down coats or parkas with pants, bunny boots, a military issue insulated boot that stands up to -60. And a head gator covering all but eyes. (I never do it, all that stuff is in the car but I'm in a wool jacket and slacks with the heat on.......much more common).

It's like another world really, although I have several layers on when it gets really cold here - about minus 9 being coldest???

Can't imagine how you can be so calm about living in such terrible conditions! The coldest temp I've experienced was probably one year in Cuenca, Spain. Some friends came down from Barcelona in a motor caravan. The night they arrived we had -14ºC! I went to their caravan about 8am the next day but they couldn't get the door open! They were trapped inside! The condensation had frozen around the door sealing & stopped the door from opening for an hour or so.

The windows in our flat had ice on the inside even though the central heating had been on all night!

Both of those conditions are far warmer and I think feel much colder. Once it gets to a certain coldness, the water in the air disappears and we become arctic desert, no drafts or chills although the ice will still form on the windows. I don't feel nearly as cold as I do when it is just below freezing and the icy air is thick with damp ice crystals.

We don't get that here in the UK, at least not in this region of the UK. This region is the driest in the country. In Cuenca the air is very dry most of the year so temps in winter like -10ºC are very common, but as you say, it doesn't feel that cold. The same in the summer with temps of 35ºC it doesn't feel that bad but here in the UK, even in this dry region, the humidity makes 10ºC more/less feel worse than in Spain.

I was very surprised when I returned to the UK in June 2001 to be able to feel, literally, waves of humidity rising from the ground! After nearly 20 years in the very dry air of Cuenca, Spain I felt it very keenly!

You can almost see humidity when you have been away from it for a long period. I come from desert desert desert, so humidity is always very apparent to me. It comes and goes here, but arctic dry is like no other. It actively sucks things dry, like when you go out, it is not just the cold on your face, but you feel all the surface moisture of your skin lift away.

I agree with Greenthumb. Despite the very cold temperatures we experienced in Montreal, Quebec (for 35 years), I never felt as bone-chillingly cold as I did in the dampness of the UK winters. Give me blue sky and minus temperatures every time! It's damper and milder down here by the coast in Nova Scotia but it's not gloomy - we still get the sun/blue skies with the cold. Certainly makes the winter easier to bear.

sounds more than agreeable to me elke, how lovely to see the blue skies all the time.

Blue skies in abundance, although this far north the days are very short. I've escaped south to the desert for a week right as we dropped to -50. I hope I miss the whole thing. :-)