Not Quite Ready for Hiberation

On the past two weekends, I had friends visit me in Suburbia, making the most of the sunny weather that allows you to eat and chill in the garden. "Outside" lets you almost pretend you lived in the good old pre-Covid times and you don't need to worry too much about potential infections. The same holds true for restaurant visits. As long as tables are outside, sufficiently apart and wait staff don't get too close to you, I am not too concerned. I am not planning to invite more than 2 people at a time for dinner when "outdoor season" has officially ended and I am not too keen on dining inside restaurants to be honest. I have already decided that two winter traditions of mine (girls-only cookie party the weekend before Christmas and celebrating my birthday with a large group of friends at a bar or restaurant) won't happen. It's reasonable and in everybody's best interest, but I still wish that we could prolong those sunny days and balmy evenings a bit in order to be able to celebrate life IRL. I'm all for winter cosiness but there are only two options it seems: spending winter evenings and weekends exclusively with the members of your household (which in my case thankfully is someone I am still excited to spend time with) or expanding the circle and venturing outside of your home with a side dish of uncertainty and potentially ending up as someone's contact person. I still have not decided on my ultimate "strategy" for the coming months, but I am definitely not ready to go into full on hibernation yet.