To wonder if Jan and Feb have ANY redeeming features?

[meantosay]

Crap weather, ugly bare branches, no nice Christmassy feel in the air, everyone tired and coming down with something.

Can anyone tell me something positive about this time of year?

creme eggs appear in the shops

Up Helly Aa

Buds starting to appear here and there (my clematis and magnolia have started). Snowdrops and narcissi towards the end of Feb. Knowing the days are getting longer every day.

IMO November is far worse than Jan/Feb. It's still ages till Christmas, I've usually run out of annual leave by then, there aren't any bank holidays left and the party season hasn't started.

As per Baggedandtagged skiing is for me usually the redeeming feature. In Jan I am normally on a skiing holiday or planning a skiing holiday and am ridiculously excited. Except this year, as am 8.5 months pregnant, so am excited about something else but reeeeeeeeally missing ski anticipation!

D

I turn 30 in Feb, so no, no redeeming features there.

I like January. All these things happened in January:

• Got together with my now DH
• Got engaged to my now DH (not the same January
• Moved into our first house together
• Got married to my now DH
• Found out I was PG with my DS
• Gave birth to my DD

Loads of reasons to celebrate!

Jan and Feb are great! I was born in Jan so after all the Xmas decorations come down and you start to feel fed up...along come more presents!

Then in Feb the nights and mornings start to get noticably lighter....and no council tax for Feb / March as well.

You can get some lovely sunny days with clear skies, perfect for walking at the weekend and yet feel justified in snuggling under the duvet with a hot water bottle in the evenings as it's so cold. Or having lunch in a pub with a roaring fire!

Love this time of year!

I HATE January and February, for all the reasons that OP mentioned. It's DH's birthday in feb and my nephew and FIL have birthdays in Jan but it drives me mad that I never know what to get them as it's just been Christmas.

However, I'm looking forward to February this year as my second baby is due!

Lighter nights, feels like spring is on the way.
snowdrops, daffodil spikes and crocus leaves.
and a birthday!

Yabu - there it's lots to love at this time of year if you look hard enough for it.

Chinese new year - a great excuse to let of a Chinese lantern with the kids and eat scrummy chinese food without feeling guilty. Fortune cookies are rather nice as well!

Lots of choccies and drink still left over from xmas that really "need" using up

An excuse to have a good clearout to make way for all the new things at xmas - I always do my "spring cleaning" in January

Being able to make social arrangements easily again - try inviting people over for drinks in December and it is nigh on impossible to find a night when everyone is available. In Jan everyone is skint therefore everyone is available for drinks and nibbles.

Feb is a short month, so payday comes around more quickly (ok, so do monthly bills but this is a positive thread so we'll ignore that bit

It is a great time to visit the coast as it will be deserted. What beats a bracing walk along the seafront? Just make sure you dress up warm.

Valentimes day - ok it is very commercialised and DH and i don't buy each other stuff but it's nice to make pink peppermint creams with the kids and get them doing crafts for the people they love (we make the net wider and they make cards for friends and family as they're too young for gf's and bf's.

Finally......it's better than the alternative, ie not being alive to enjoy these months.

I am high on life today.....but in an hour I'll be doing the school run in the rain and will probably be hating on January as well by then!!

no council tax, no water rates, PANCAKE DAY, Valentines, daffodils.

Nuff said.

the weather is too unpleasant to countenance toddler outings up and down the street with tricycle/buggy to collect little bits of shit. i think of this as a positive.

otherwise, yanbu. i would sign a petition to have both months excised from the calendar were such a thing circulated.

now there's something to give purpose to the awesome power of mumsnet...

Pancake day - forgot about that! Yummy!

My snowdrops are out

pancake day is sometimes in march, though? surely it could be permanently moved...?

Snowdrops, crocuses, and it it's light for a couple of minutes longer everyday!

DC2 is due in Feb, so at least we'll have a yearly birthday party to looke forward to. Apart from that it's a rubbish month!

Shrove Tuesday - usually last week in Feb? I know Feb shrinks some years.

No council tax so might stay in the black. (We pay water for 12 months). Had a new addition to wider family last Feb so that's a birthday to celebrate. Other than that no redeeming features at all. The worst thing is bloody valentines day just to make me aware of my loveless life all the more.

My birthday! But I am 32...

The days are getting longer, by the time you get to February you start to see the first signs of spring. It doesn't seem to rain as much as it does in Autumn so the days are often lovely crisp sunny but cold winter ones which I just love.

I don't like January and Feb either but like Olessaty and Purpleandpink say, its what you make of it.

I like going round to see family and friends on weekends and stay in.
We do one dinner party.
We're hoping to see the dragons and celebrations for Chinese New Year.
Although we don't do gifts or go out for valentines day, we do a nice dinner and light candles.
If the weather isn't too bad, we go for walks and take flasks of hot choc and coffee.
We watch dvds all cosy with a duvet with the kids.
Booking holidays and planning special days out/trips for the rest of the year.

It's a double edged sword for me.

Blended family so 4 of our 6 DCs birthdays fall in first 6 weeks of the year

When they were younger it was ok as you could buy their gifts in the sales. Now it's just bloody expensive.
And there are less greetings cards to chose from as the shops are full of Valentines shite

But on the upside it gives an almost constant supply of cake

And of course there's hot cross buns in the shops for inbetween.

Plus I can hide the resulting extra flab under jumpers as it's still cold

Jan is my birthday too. Gets loads of pressies as everything is on sale -another reason to love the month.
Love wearing cosy knits and tights but know it's after Christmas we can go back to having them in nice colours.

Feb is great as it has half term - love a holiday.
Valentines is great as I can eat chocolate and send loads of cards out.

Can do some gardening. I'm a rubbish gardener and so everything I brought when I moved in comes up at this time of year -Camellias, Forsytha stuff and all the bulbs. Ran out of money to get any stuff for the summer months!

Agree Shaxx this Jan I have cleaned meticulously (love the post Christmas decoration bare-feeling the house has) - shopped and cooked from scratch a lot (for frugal reasons). Cosied up at home a lot with bottles of wine rather than going out to pubs (too cold). And booked a lovely summer holiday to save towards and dream about until the better weather.