What's (not) to love about winter?

What's (not) to love about winter?  

Ask that question on a cold January day in the northeastern US when yet another winter storm is forecast for the coming days, and who knows what you'll hear:  sleet, scraping the windshield, static electricity in my hair/clothes, cold feet, wintry mix, wet gloves...the list is endless because  it is the winter of our discontent...the weather of our discontent. 

So, I'm setting out to discover what IS to love about winter, and I'm hoping to post my observations here regularly, maybe even daily.  In a way, I'm simply continuing a project I worked on in October on facebook (which you can look at here) based on this quote from R.W Emerson:   

"To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same fields, it beholds every hour a picture which was never seen before and shall never be seen again." 

Which is all well and good in October, a month filled with leaf glory and late harvest.  But it's January now and I'm wondering what there is to see, even to the attentive eye. Beauty in bleak midwinter, with Christmas a fading memory and temperatures dropping to single digits in the coming days?  I wonder, am I up to the challenge, or will the novelty will fade like a weak sun in late afternoon cloud cover?  Still, I am intrigued by the possibility of seeking moments of beauty,  glimpses of  glory every single day.  

It's not just about what I see with my eye, it's a matter of the heart.  It's about contentment, it's about thankfulness.  I don't want to just grit my teeth and hang on by a thread until spring,    I want to live a life of gratitude now, to find reasons for joy every single day.  

Please join me in discovering what's to love about winter?!

January 1 What's to love about winter?  warm stuff to wear...

Ahh, the joys of warm flannel shirts.  Most of the main  men in my life are flannel shirt guys.  I still have one of my dad's favorite red flannels hanging in my closet, although it's worn thin and not warm.  I save it for gardening projects when I need my arms protected from bean itch or rose scratch. 

But these two shirts were flung across the back of the couch in the living room today, cast offs from Max and Eldest as the oven warmed the house and roasted the sauerkraut.  I felt grateful for holidays that draw the family to home, and for flannel shirt habits that show we belong together. 

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Warm stuff to wear...Youngest love, love, loves the insulated coveralls he got for Christmas.  He doesn't sleep in them, but every time he heads out the door for chores or shop work, he's wearing them.  And his new reversible hat and camouflage gloves.  


If we didn't have cold cold days, I wouldn't know the joy of sharing his delight.  

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Warm stuff to wear...Sweet grandson's puppy hat,  blue-as-his-eyes coat, and warm soft mittens.  If we didn't have cold and winter and snow, this photo wouldn't exist. And that would be a shame indeed. 


 And I could extend my list of warm stuff to wear to include - my own beloved scarves,  favorite fuzzy socks, soft-on-the-inside sweatshirts...all of these made intensely enjoyable because of the chill of winter.  


What's to love about winter?  
Warm stuff to wear!                                                                                                                             Hummin'B

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