My favorite thing about the beginning of Winter is the days will start to get longer. I like seeing the sunrise and sunset times posted on the Weather Channel.
Speaking of weather-I watched the first half of the Vikings-Bears game Monday night. It reminded me of going to FB games at the old Met Stadium where the Mall of America now lies. We used to fly back to Minnesota over Christmas vacation. My father-in-law Tom always managed to get a couple of tickets from his nephew Roger and we would all go up to the Twin Cities for a playoff game (it was a 14 game season then and the playoffs started around Christmas). After tailgating and a little "grandma's tea" and dressed in our warmest clothing we would take our sleeping bags into the stadium for the game. Bundled in our bags, it wasn't too bad. I was at one game when the Vikings coach wouldn't let his players wear gloves or have sideline heaters. His receivers dropped passes all afternoon while the 49'ers huddled around heaters and wore gloves and made several critical catches. The 49'ers won. A second game was against the Dallas Cowboys. With Minnesota leading in the last minute or so, Drew Pearson of the Cowboys pushed off the Viking defensive back and caught a pass from Roger Staubach for the winning score. No penalty was called. As they went to commercial break, a liquor bottle came flying out of the stands and coldcocked a referee. Fans starting to leave or warming up in the restrooms came running back to the stadium. How could the Vikes lose? Well they did.
Great memories of Vikings outdoor football in December.