Backyard in Winter

The lanterns seem to be losing the battle with darkness by 5:30pm, I see from a peek through the back french doors after work. And the playhouse, abandoned for weeks, shows no sign of habitation. Even the insulting dimpled relics of snowballs are gone now--somehow the emptiness is worse than its previous besieged appearance. And where is the surfeit of light and warmth absent in the "desert" sky? In the house, obviously, with my cranky, ill children who REFUSE to put on their gear, go out, and get some fresh air.