>> invigorating weather (cold, but not brutally so), etc.
>
>Cold? C'mon, you're just 100 miles more north than I am. Can't possibly be cold. Slightly chilly, I'd agree, or just chilly if there's wind.
>

This is only my second winter in CA and I just don't relate to it yet. I lived in NYC and Upstate NY until I was 35 so my memories of what Christmas weather should be like are kind of ingrained.