Winter has been canceled

Today is Boxing Day. You know, the day after Christmas. A few days after the Winter Solstice. Late December. According to my calendar, it's supposed to be winter. And in case you forgot, I live in Flagstaff. 7000 feet elevation. Snow. Cold. One of the places in Arizona that's supposed to get actual winter. Note for Phoenicians and Southern Californians: 60F is not a winter temperature--or it isn't supposed to be. According to the National Weather Service, it's 58 today. I just came in from the garden, and I was comfortable in a short-sleeved t-shirt, so it's probably more like 60. On December 26. We got a whole half inch of snow a few days ago, and that's the closest we've come to anything resembling winter. I'm certainly not complaining - I'd much rather shovel manure than snow - but it's pretty weird. 

Here's a scene from my garden as of a little while ago: 

For contrast, here's the same area on Christmas Day last year: 

As a transplanted Californian, I prefer today's weather, but it's pretty bizarre. It feels like early October--or SoCal. Here are a few scenes from around the garden on this freakishly warm winter day: 

Side bed along the driveway: 

The pond:

Snapdragons and pansies in pots against the south wall of the house. I got these virtually free from my local big box garden center at the end of the season, and I'm experimenting to see if they'll winter over here. The area by the south wall of the house is at least a zone warmer than the rest of the yard, so I'm hopeful.  

This is the area I'm currently transforming from field of tumbleweeds and pokey things to a garden, preferably one that won't attack me when I walk through it (Question of the day: Why are half the wild plants in deserts armed with pokey things?) It isn't much to look at now, but I hope to use this picture as a "before" picture next summer to show how much it's improved. 

Tomorrow we're supposed to take a road trip in the desert. When we planned this, we thought it would be a nice escape from the snow and cold. I just checked the weather forecast for Yuma, our first stop, and it's only supposed to be about 15 degrees warmer than here. I'm so confused.