I don’t know why adding a part-time job has SO DEPLETED my available time, well beyond what I would have expected based on the number of hours, but also it’s The Holidays and that is certainly contributing. I credit Elizabeth with getting me over the hurdle of decorating this year: she was like “Girl. We need to get out the Christmas dishes,” and I find her very persuasive, and also she will HELP with the tasks she suggests, and also she is the kind of persistent where you might as well just give in because you won’t stop hearing her calm, gentle, repeated suggestions until you do, and so we DID get out the Christmas dishes, and then we got out the Christmas bird and the Christmas llama and the Christmas mugs and the Christmas everything else, and all of those things are very happy to see.
And the Christmas lights are up. Christmas Light Time is my favorite time of year. I am trying not to pre-dread the dark winter days ahead when the Christmas lights come down and their absence is deeply felt. (I extremely relate to this comic about the two stages of winter.) Maybe this year I will leave the lights up until there are daffodils.
I am trying to Think! More! Positively! even though I hate that whole concept so I am not sure why I am attempting it, except that I am hoping not to plummet as far this winter as I did last winter. The new job helps: doing something active and productive each day feels good, and also I am nice and warm for those few hours at least. When I get home from work I do Preventative Warmth: I put on my wool socks and my warm slippers and several layers of warm tops, and I bring another warm top or a throw blanket to wherever I am going to be, since when I get to a certain level of Chilly and Sad I find it difficult to make myself do anything about it, and instead sit in despair noticing how the tip of the nose really does get distinctly cold.
Anyway, one of my exercises in Thinking! Positive! was to find something good to say about winter, particularly the post-Christmas part of winter, and what I came up with is that all winter long I can think happily about how spring is coming next. (The downfall of spring is that all spring I am dreading summer. But the nice thing about summer is that I can look forward to fall! Unfortunately all fall I am dreading winter.)
Let’s see, more positive things about winter. I love a lot of my cold-weather clothes. (I hate a lot of my hot-weather clothes.) I like flannel sheets and heavy warm bedding. The snow looks pretty when it is falling. I can’t think of anything else. I hate winter.
I hate dealing with snow. I hate driving on icy/snowy roads. I hate worrying that snow/ice will ruin plans. I hate slushy parking lots. I hate how snow/ice build up so that parking lots and driveways get smaller and smaller. I hate how early it gets dark, and I hate the combination of cold/dark, which is SO MUCH COLDER than cold/light. I hate trying to bring in multiple loads of groceries without tracking snow/slush into the house. I hate all the boot/shoe/slipper changes.
Yes. Yes. A million times yes to all of those reasons to hate winter. I feel you. I also deeply relate to that comic. It always makes me smile and feel less alone.
Likewise!
You should move South for the winter, then return North in the summer. Be a snow bird!
Last winter was soooooooo baaaaaad. Do you have one of those light boxes/SAD lamps? Every winter I say I’m going to get one and then I never do.
My whole neighborhood leaves their lights up until the flowers bloom. The inflatable Santas and reindeer come down, but all the twinkle lights stay up until April. Perhaps you could start this trend where you live!
I hate winter. But! Winter means MALLOMARS. And hot chocolate. And making chocolate Dropkins (family recipe).
And sitting inside reading books under a blanket.
Winter is terrible. But also cozy and filled with chocolate.
Scented candles and heated blankets are 2 of my winter requirements! And wool socks or moccasins (preferably both).
I feel you on all of this. Winter is pretty annoying.
I’ll say that I’ve started leaving my (in house) Christmas stuff up until the middle of January. I find I enjoy the Christmas decorations a lot more after Christmas (and I believe technically the 12 days of Christmas are after Christmas). And I leave my winter decorations out until March ;) So the cute little snowmen and the green garland, and the clear twinkly lights all stay up until almost spring.
You are correct. The 12 days of Christmas are from Christmas to Epiphany. Except, people who practice this tradition (Catholic, in my experience) usually don’t put up their tree until Christmas Eve as a result.
I’m one of those Catholics and we put our tree up on St Nicholas Day! So do quite a few other Epiphany-celebrating Catholics we know. Totally allowed. ;)
You need a heated mattress pad and a box of see’s candy.
(I responded on twitter but forgot some stuff!)
I put white lights on our house in order to keep them on all through the winter. I will also buy some on sale after the holiday, the smaller strings of LEDs. Multi-colored screams specifically Christmas to me, but our local stores had some that were all purple, or all red. I will look for some of those, and the all whites, and I am going to decorate inside all winter with them. Maybe purple and white in January, White and Red for Valentine’s…
Also, my birthday is in January, and I can usually keep the celebration/happiness going through that day. Although last year was harder to muster up the enthusiasm.
FInally, I have purchased 4 bottles of the Smirnoff peppermint vodka, and I am planning on creating some winter cocktails so that eggnog isn’t my only fancy winter drink. (Although I can only come up with hot chocolate with peppermint vodka so far. When I discussed this with the cashier at the liquor store, she said she just drank it very very cold, straight.)
I am also requesting an electric heated lap blanket.
I hope the library job keeps things more fresh than usual–it always feels to me like schools and librarys start the year with a nice fresh glow and energy.
I hate winter too…it’s so long and cold. I’m always surprised when people say that winter is their favourite season. I feel like I’m missing something. Here, we can get snow literally any month of the year, and sometimes we have snow straight through October to May. THAT IS A LONG TIME. So far it hasn’t been too painfully cold but we have months to get through yet. The long winter is possibly why I get so into Christmas, starting November 1. When I’m old, I am going to be one of those snowbirds, going south for the winter.
Also – Christmas llama? I want to know more.
We all need an Elizabeth in our lives.
We got 2 feet of snow the Saturday after Thanksgiving, after getting 8-10” the Tuesday night before it. When the kids asked “How long until it doesn’t snow any more?” I counted…5 months at a minimum, possibly going into the 6th month. And the days are still getting darker right now…usually the big snow dumps come in February or March (January is too cold) when we are on the downhill side. This is going to be a very. Lonf. Winter.
That being said, the kids can be outside building snow forts for hours! And I love sitting by our fire reading, and our local bookstore introduced me to the Icelandic tradition of a book flood, where everyone gets a book and chocolate on Christmas eve and spends time reading, and I might adapt that and do it once a month all winter for our family. Also, I feel more like baking and cooking in winter, so try to do that.
But yeah…cold, no sidewalks, can’t go anywhere without a coat and boots and hat and mittens…I don’t love it.
Becky’s comment reminds me that I asked for The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets for Happy Living for my birthday. I’m currently reading it in the hopes that it will provide some tips to get me through the winter.
A couple of years ago, I learned that greatly upping my vitamin D dose during the winter months (under a doctor’s supervision) helps me a lot.
Hygge-I would recommend investigating that concept to anyone who has to deal with winter. It is about comfort and coziness, and instead of thinking “oh crap” you start to think “coming in from the cold, getting warm and cozy”-feels like a mind shift.
I live in a northern climate where right now we don’t have snow just ice-and I can say quite honestly, I am very worried about the lack of cold. Global warming around the Arctic is a very real thing, and the fact it is almost 30 degrees right now, it isn’t a good feeling. I moved here in 1991-and we used to joke about it being warmer, but it isn’t a joke now. It is warmer here than most places in the lower 48. That is NOT good.
Highly recommend having decorative lights up in the dark of the year- I have a set of white curtain lights (Ikea Strala lights) that I put up in a window in November, when it starts to get dark early. They are on a timer to come on BEFORE it gets dark in the afternoon, and they are very cheering. Those suckers are staying up until spring.
1. Vitamin D. (This really helped me a lot.)
2. Hang twinkle LED lights indoors around the windows of your special room. Don’t take down until the days get longer (March/April).
3. Daily dose of chocolate.
4. Start planning a January 2021 vacation to Hawaii or Australia or New Zealand! Just looking at the pictures of the beaches and beautiful scenery and luxury resorts is happily distracting even if you never actually book the trip.
5. Take lots of naps.
That’s all I’ve got.
Here are my pathetic-but-true feelings this year: I’m RELIEVED by the cold, the grey, the drizzle (I live in the PNW) because it matches my MOOD so much better than the sunshine does. 2019 has been a complete shit show, and I am a little bitter when it is sunny and warm.
I put orange lights on our mantel for Halloween, and even my husband commented on how much they lit up and cheered the room … so I left them on for Thanksgiving. Now we have Christmas lights there, but after Christmas I’m leaving the mantel lit until spring arrives. Blue for Jan., red, pink or white for February, etc.
I’m hoping it will help with my feelings of “Oh, the house looks so dark and dreary without Christmas lights.”
I too hate winter and we live in Chicago. I get nervous having my teenagers drive in bad weather. We have many December/Jan bdays and I feel totally busy. The shopping alone is a killer. I dread decorating because I do not get much help and then I end up putting it all away myself. I enjoy chili and watching movies with the family under blankets. Mostly Iam excited to welcome spring! Glad your library job is keeping you busy and warm. Is your house super drafty?
North is my Elizabeth when it comes to holiday decorating, but for some reason they haven’t said anything about it this year, so we are completely undecorated.
Sometimes I think Christmas should come later in the winter, when we need it more.
I have a new(ish) part-time job added to my old part-time job, which still doesn’t come to full-time employment, and I wonder where all the time is going, too. What would happen if I ever did get a full-time job?
Hot tea! Hot cocoa! If you are still low-carb, check out Big Train Low Carb Spiced Chai, which is my favorite. I add cream as well. They also have Big Train Low Carb Hot Cocoa , which is good but not as good.
In our house between Thanksgiving and Christmas we do Candletime, which involves lighting candles and turning on the gas fireplace and having a favorite drink (hot drink or cocktail) during the VERY DARK hour before dinner. It’s very cheering! In the past, we haven’t done it through January and February, but I don’t see why we couldn’t.
I’m with team “leave the lights up.” Also, after Christmas, I start planning sprouts – whatever seedlings I can likely cram into the garden – and then plant the seeds in the little yogurt cups when the Christmas decorations (not the outdoor twinkle lights; those stay put) come down, and then I am watching for Happy Green Things and watching the growth of Happy Green Things until the outdoors is not grey and brown anymore. (note: do not plant zucchini or other fast-growing large plants or they will grow out of every available container before it’s safe to put them in the ground outside. Tomatoes: fine, herbs: fine (basil is particularly adorable and use-up-able!), perennials fine and lots of annual flowers are also fine, but not the squash.)
Also: space heaters. If you are normally perched in one room, heat that room and leave the rest of the house chillier. It is fine being briefly cold when you go to get another cup of tea/coffee to drink or go to the bathroom, but typing cold: nope. I got a cheapo electric space heater to solve the fingers-stiff-while-cold problem years ago in housing that was… well, less weather-tight than one might wish, and heated by exactly one (1) ancient heating unit, but they also have these under-rug heaters that sound like magic – warm feet! Warmth radiating up to you! – and that are sized either for rugs, large or small or that can be put under the whole room’s carpet/flooring.
Please send Elizabeth here. Not to light a fire under me but to do the decorating /baking /shopping – I have been far too sick this week and simply don’t have the energy; so our tree is up – thanks to The Husband; but bare except for the lights.
In order to combat the dreariness that comes after Christmas, I am planning to put white lights up on the mantle for the remainder of the winter. I’m also seriously considering leaving the candles in the windows until the batteries die; if I can find them that is – they seem to have disappeared – I’m hoping I didn’t accidentally give to them to Goodwill during the great purge of Christmas paraphernalia last year.
Last year, I bought some curtain twinkle lights on Amazon, put them up over a doorway, and tied them back like a curtain (duh). I can turn them on any time I like and feel festive and happy again, plus my kids enjoy them. They’re out of the way otherwise. It’s nice.
I told my husband tonight that we need to decorate for Christmas this weekend and he said he didn’t want to. I found myself saying back, “well, no one wants to’! Basically, there’s no one in the Elizabeth role over here.
As a warm climate dweller, I often find myself romanticizing a real winter. I’ve only been in snow maybe a dozen times in my life and mostly that was fun, day trips to the mountains. The difficulty of living with a real winter sounds like a whole other ball of wax. Parking lots get smaller! I had no idea. That is lousy.
I feel the same about winter. What helps me on an intellectual level is knowing that after dec 22 (winter solstice) the days are getting longer again. Yes itll still be cold for a while, but spring is for sure coming. (I repeat that to myself a lot)
Yes, DO leave your Christmas lights up until the daffodils arrive :). We live in the southern hemisphere, and I honest to goodness put up our lights twice a year. In December, in summer, I enjoy them well enough. But in winter, I need those lights badly. We have them up from June to mid-August. It has seriously improved my winter well-being!
Your comment about Fall being spoiled for the dread of impending Winter is why I can never understand why everyone loves Fall so much. Normally I hate winter but I recently moved to an area where it is warm year-round so I am feeling pangs of nostalgia for winter. Here is what I’m dreaming of in no particular order:
– cozy clothes. warm leggings with a soft sweater and fuzzy socks/slippers
– cute jackets
– Uggs
– Using a scarf to strategically hide my double chin in photos
– Cute scarves!
– my favorite scented candles (Cinnamon Apple and “Winter”)
-Soup!
– Coming home to a warm crock pot dinner
– twinkle lights
– Baileys
– turning on the fireplace
– sitting on the couch cuddled under a blanket with a glass of red wine and the fireplace burning
I’ll admit it’s much easier to romanticize these things when I’m not dealing with all the sucky aspects of winter.
White Christmas lights placed in your decor are apparently “fairy lights” and can be a permanent installation. I vote you keep/put some fairy lights up during the dark days of winter.
Here are some of my happy winter thoughts:
1) I’m not worrying about Lyme disease or EEE! The mosquitoes are DEAD. Short live the mosquitoes!
2) I’m not thinking about sunscreen/leg & pit shaving/pasty legs much.
3) I’m able to wear a shirt more than once because it doesn’t get that fresh sweat funk the moment one steps outside!
4) No spiders in the mailbox.
5) My room-temperature glass of water is always cold.
I do not enjoy winter (too grey and dark), but I LOVE snow, and so consider winter to be my favorite season. But we have had very little snow this year and I am realizing that it is really the only good thing about winter AT ALL. Well, I am with you on the winter clothing; sort of. I guess I prefer FALL clothing to actual sweaters and snow boots and puffy coats. Okay, I am REALLY with you on the flannel sheets. Those are a good thing about winter. I don’t know that I can drum up a whole season’s worth of enthusiasm based on flannel sheets alone, though.
Sorry to go all Oprah on you, and I don’t want to add to your list to do, but have you ever tried a “gratitude” type journal? I did this a few years ago and it actually helped. I didn’t do much. Bare minimum. But I tried, every night before bed, to write five positive things that happened. (And on tough days that might be things like “didn’t snow” or something.) But it actually helped to make me feel less negative about things. Some days can be hard to come up with five things but it actually did affect me. I keep thinking I should start again because omg I hate winter SO much. Sending Internet-appropriate fellow-winter-hater hugs. :)
Oh! A step up from flannel sheets, have you tried FLEECE SHEETS?!?! They’re amazing! Easily my favorite thing about winter. Surprisingly, instead of being too hot, they keep me toasty while while proving an extra layer of insulation against the foam mattress – they’re actually more of a comfortable temperature than regular sheets. And they’re not too expensive at Kohl’s.
Sorry to say, I am one of those winter loving people. We moved from the gray, drab PNW to Colorado 11 years ago, because of the winters. Snow and sunshine in the same day! (I, however, do not like the dry, hot summers). The dark days are a bit much though, (I will say it was worse in Seattle), but we are aiming for cozy this winter. Whatever we can do to make the days be cozy instead of dark and drear is our mantra. I love flannel shirts, sweaters, flannel throws, and reading or doing indoor “happy” activities. We did get our Christmas decorations and lights up over the weekend, even though we will be gone over Christmas. They will stay up for a while after Christmas. My husband’s birthday is January 14 and I try to keep things cheerful for him.
We moved a few years ago and every Christmas I think fondly of my Christmas plates and my adorable tiered cupcake rack lost somewhere in the mountain of unpacked boxes that are still crammed into the unfinished part of the basement. I wish for them, but not enough to actually unpack said boxes.
I too hate winter and all the things you named. It’s at that point in the year when it’s pitch dark when I get on the bus going to work, and pitch dark when I get off the bus coming home from work. I work an 8.5 hour day, and my commute is an hour and today there were only 8 hours and 51 minutes between the sun rising and setting. I checked. Bleagh.
This made me think of you: https://kottke.org/19/11/the-secret-to-enjoying-a-long-winter
I love this. It reminds me of a saying I heard once–something to the effect of, “A person who decides to hate the snow will have less joy in life, but the same amount of snow.” But it’s a little much to lay on someone who struggles through the winter. I’m glad Swistle has found some good coping mechanisms for dealing with the cold! I like winter (my favorite season seems to always be the one we are in) but even I could be down with twinkle lights all year round.
That’s a great saying. I really struggle in the winter, too, so I’m always looking around for ideas. I rarely manage to implement any of them, but you know, baby steps or something.
This comment thread is a gold mine.
I dislike being the dark short days of winter. I don’t like getting up in the dark and coming home from work in the dark, but even more than that, I loathe winter coats. I hate the whole coat process. I overheat the second I step indoors in a coat, so I spend the winter carting around a coat in malls and grocery stores and everywhere else, forcing one hand to be occupied wrangling the stupid coat. I spend the winter daydreaming about the day when I can leave the house without a coat. Perhaps the only redeeming thing about winter is the gorgeous blue sky on a cold sunny day, when the snow is all sparkly. And the Christmas lights in December.
It’s the coats! (and other things) I despise winter and cold and can’t wait to move away from it all. What finally makes me snap is around April when I’m just SO DAMN SICK of dealing with a winter coat!
HOT DRINKS, preferably with alcohol. This year we sacrificed counter space to a drinks station and I feel all Martha Stewart about it, and the kids are keeping it clean (because otherwise I’m taking it away). I plan to roll with it all winter long.
One of the few positives of winter is that I love the feeling of turning on the heating blanket on my bed about an hour before bedtime and then getting into a nice warm bed in my extremely cold bedroom (the insulation in the upper level of my house is . . . nonexistent). I have to turn off the blanket or else I wake up in a menopausal sweat at 3 am BUT the feeling of climbing into a toasty warm bed at the end of a long day is delightful