Happy mid-way through Winter! Although, I FIRMLY believe spring starts on March 1st but I guess I also don't really think about winter as a separately season until Christmas is over so...this is still about half way through winter.
This is my 5th year reflecting on what is saving my winter and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy. I firmly believe in finding the positive, a large part of why I do weekly "happy lists" every Friday on Instagram. Even in the hardest times, there is always, always, something to be happy for/grateful for/saving your life.
I am writing this on a nearly 50° day with a severe winter storm headed our way. Feelings like spring but winter is coming HARD for us very soon. So feels weird to think about winter even though by the time this posts (the next day...) we might be covered in snow again. Who knows!
Here's a few things saving my winter this year:
1) Puzzles
There have been years I've done a lot of puzzles and many years, with kids just the right age to climb and get into them, when I haven't. This is still my puzzle-iest year ever. On Christmas Day, I had Matt set-up a table in my office JUST for my puzzles and now I'm working on my 7th one since then. I think after this one I still have 4 I haven't done yet this year and I know I'm getting another for Valentine's Day. There is just something so soothing and perfect for winter about puzzles. The satisfaction of finding a piece and just how calming it is. I work on them during family movie nights and when watching shows with Matt and by myself when I can listen to podcasts. Or when Luke has elearning and is working on my computer and it's helpful if I'm nearby but not hovering too close. I ONLY do puzzles in the winter and they have been a special delight this year.
2) Disney+
We had Disney+ for a free year thanks to our cell phone plan I think right when it started. Then we took off for 8ish months before we starting paying for it ourselves. Especially with kids, they have the best content. We've done 3 family movie nights off there recently (Luca, Encanto, and Raya and the Last Dragon) and the boys have other shows and things they'll watch. Also, 44% of the DVDs we own are ones that are now on Disney+ (largely Star Wars, Marvel, and lots of animated) so clearly we were fans of what they were putting out already (I'm not getting rid of our DVDs though...great for traveling and who knows when things could come off streaming or we could stop subscribing! We aren't buying any right now that are on there but I don't see reason to get rid of what we already have!).
3) Marvel Phase 4
Speaking of Disney+, this is what Matt & I have been watching since right after Christmas - catching up on all the Marvel tv shows and movies on there that we haven't seen yet. One of my least favorite little things in life is the endless scrolling of streaming platforms, trying to find something we both want to watch. I HATE it. So just always clicking play on whichever one of those is next? Yes, amazing. I love it already being decided and it's kept us going for over a month!
4) Heated Seats
When we bought our Pilot at the end of 2020 we experienced the wonder of heated seats. We really try to drive Matt's car when we can (when we are all together and we don't need the hitch or the trunk space) since it gets such better gas mileage...but I will DEFINITELY pick the Pilot over the car in the winter just because I want heated seats. Our round trip to school drop-off is pretty quick yet I still get a warm bum by the time we get to school and it's amazing. I never want to experience winter without them again.
5) Purging Items
In December I got used to constantly buying things and constantly receiving packages in the mail. We had a lot of gifts to buy (and I kept sneaking bottle brush trees into the order) and it felt like a steady stream of shopping. Then it all stopped a week or two before Christmas and it honestly took me a bit to get used to not getting things delivered all the time. Then I put away Christmas and had a realization. Do you know what is even more exciting than buying things? Getting rid of things. Having new space in a cupboard or a drawer. It is SO exciting. So I've been working on going through a lot of spaces in our home to get rid of excess. I definitely get lax on this if I'm not actively considering it so it always feels so good in January, especially after receiving wonderful gifts, to figure out what we don't need. And what we don't need to buy anymore in the first place. It has definitely scratched that buying things itch.
I've really become daily tea drinker this school year, even when it's warm I like starting the day with a cuppa tea. I have to drink 24 ounces of water first in the day but then next is usually my tea. This felt especially cozy last fall because I only got my tea once I had done my run for the day, on the mornings I ran right from pickup, and getting to my tea time felt like a deep breath, like "now I get to relax and settle into home a bit". I've kept it up since then. Often mixing a caffeinated black tea with my herbal peach tea on weekdays and just my peach tea on weekends (when I usually am getting more sleep). There is just something so cozy about my tea.
Just a few things making my winter a little bit brighter and easier to take! Four weeks until spring, whether or not the weather agrees with me!
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