Thursday was not a warm day.

Thursday was a dress-in-10-layers-to-go-outside day. The kind of day where you can watch liquid water freeze right in front of you — maybe even pour water and watch an icicle form.

Doesn’t bother me. That’s the kind of day that’s supposed to come with winter.

As a Colorado Springs native who lived in western Oregon in my mid-20s, I found it incredibly odd being able to walk outside in my bare feet and wiggle my toes in the rain-drenched, cultivated grass. I got used to it after a few years, but I’d always wished to see snow and cold on Christmas Day.

That was easy, kind of. A two-hour drive into the Cascades could get you to Diamond Lake, where waist-deep snow seems to always be around in December.

I don’t have to wish very hard to see snow and cold here — heck, I can see a snow-capped Pikes Peak from my front door.

Which brings me to my annual Christmas Wish List that the people who sign my paychecks are gracious enough to let me continue writing. I wrote it at the papers I worked for in Roseburg, Ore., Greeley and Glenwood Springs. And I’m not wishing for it to end anytime soon.

As follows:

I wish nothing but the best for those affected by the horrendous events of the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs this past month. It made me realize that I’ve had some part in helping cover mass shootings since I was in college, when Columbine High School alumni at what was then Mesa State College in Grand Junction grieved for their friends after hearing their friends had died.

That was in April of 1999. And here we are more than two decades later still talking about things like this. It’s not right, and every victim and survivor who was at Club Q that night didn’t deserve to be a part of that.

I wish more people would realize how far this city and community has come today as opposed to the hateful, closed-minded rhetoric that flowed freely toward the LGBTQ+ community when I was growing up in the 1980s and ’90s, even though that wasn’t the term used then. Some of those people who will never change, but the outreach and compassion people showed after the shootings at Club Q was a wonderful thing to see.

I wish for wisdom from the powers that be who are trying to accommodate the swaths of people who are moving to Colorado Springs from out of the area. No doubt, people want to live here. But water issues are in the way of some potential housing developments, which could keep the Springs from annexing some of the land needed for development.

If the city can’t move out further, the only place left to go is up — which wouldn’t sit well with all the people who love their mountain views.

I still wish people who drive on Academy Boulevard wouldn’t treat it like it’s the Autobahn. Note: For all of you emailed me last year within moments after the paper hit your doorstep, I’d like to point out I spelled Autobahn right this year.

I wish Denver had an NFL franchise. I never thought I’d say that.

I also wish Denver had a Major League Baseball franchise. Fun fact: Over the past six years since the Broncos won Super Bowl 50, the Rockies have had a winning percentage equal to or greater than the Broncos each season.

To quote the rapper Skee-Lo: I wish I was a little bit taller …

I wish I could meet Dennis, which might as well be the city’s community emu. He and his owner, Billie-Sue Mitchell (no relation) often walk through Garden of the Gods or through downtown Colorado Springs greeting people as they notice how a giant bird happens to be walking by. Because that’s totally normal.

I wish nothing but the best for the family of Ardith Bruce, a world champion barrel racer who died this past summer right before her induction into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. I never got to meet her even though the home I bought in Fountain is just a clover-leaf pattern away from where she lived for more than 60 years. But if her family is any indication, the world lost a wonderful human being when she died.

And most importantly, to everyone out there … I wish you all warm wishes, a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a wonderful holiday season. Season’s greetings!

Jon Mitchell is the lead editor and content manager of The Gazette’s e-edition. Phone: 719-636-0108. Twitter: @byJonMitchell.

Jon MitchellChristian Murdock/The Gazette