What to wear - or not

Living in a climate with the same temperature every day of the year, is not as easy as you first might think when it comes to clothing.

Of course, it really has it's advantages, since you never have to consider "will it be chilly later? Will I be too hot in jeans? Do I need a fleece today? Will it rain? Am I alright in my sandals?" etc. You just throw on a t-shirt and a skirt or a pair of bermudas, every day. Same goes for the kids of course, and with the kids, it's really practical - because they really get good wear out of their clothes here. Back home, the summer was over before they had used their summer clothes even twice, and the next summer, they couldn't fit them anymore!

The downside is, for me, that I get a bit sick of my clothes and of wearing the same things all the time. At least back home, you had the seasons to help you shift things around in your wardrobe, here - it's same, same every day. No reason to buy anything new really, at least not any real reason, other than the need to renew yourself every now and then.
For the kids, the major downside is when you go back home in the winter. All of a sudden, they need long trousers and warm tops - and winter jackets, hats and mittens etc! It doesn't seem worth it buying all these things just for two weeks. I'm considering waiting to go back home until the weather is slightly warmer this year actually.

Our kids have very different approaches to clothes. When they come home from school, it never takes long until Linnea has stripped off all her clothes, she is most comfortable just hanging out in her undies. (When we went to Sweden in January, we had so many fights over the hat and mittens - and even the socks and the trousers... She thought clothes were totally overrated and didn't want to have any of it!)
Lucas on the other hand, loves his clothes! We have discussions every day about what he can wear when he gets home from school. If it was up to him, he would be in jeans, socks (!) and long sleeved t-shirts all the time... I have now hidden all those clothes, because I got tired of arguing with him.
He is allowed long trousers on two occasions - if we go to the movies (where they crank up the AC so much you need blankets!) or if we go on the plane, in fact, we call these clothes "airplane-clothes".
For this reason alone, he can't wait until were off to NZ on Monday!