Can I just say this: I love winter, and I’m not ready for it to end. I’m not ready for spring and warmer weather and nice, cool breezes just yet. I love cold weather. I love fall and winter and being warm and cozy in a big, oversized sweater inside while the frigid air blows and dances outside. I love breathing in the fresh air and feeling a sense of renewal and peace.
Maybe it’s the homebody in me, but staying home and staying in this past year wasn’t as hard for me as I feel like it might have been for others, even during the cold, dark winter months. I enjoy being home with my family more than anywhere else in the world. It’s my safe place, my fortress, and as older brother calls it, our HQ. It’s where the crazy busy and the crazy mundane things happen; it’s where we cook and bake and watch movies and start books we’re never going to finish and run around and jump on the furniture and play with our animals and rearrange rooms. It’s where our family does life every day and I can’t imagine doing it anywhere else.
It was unseasonably warm last week (low 60’s!) and I did not like it. one. bit. The kids, however, loved it, because it meant they could play in the mountain runoff on our land that flows when it rains a lot. As a parent, though, it brought me joy to see them splash and run and have so much fun, especially since we’ve all been cooped up inside the last few months. For their sakes, I was grateful for the warm day on the land.
For me, there are feelings of warmth and security that winter brings, which is somewhat ironic considering it’s so dark and cold during these months. But I think that’s precisely the whole point: it’s unbearable outside, so it forces you to hibernate and hunker down inside (which sounds miserable for some, I know.) I know I’m probably in the minority with my love and admiration this season. It seems most people in Tennessee love hot weather and despise the winter months, but ever since I was little, I’ve always been so much more drawn to the cold.
Also, breaking news! I think I've officially converted PJ into a winter person. For the longest time, even up until last year, he has always wanted a house in Florida, a place close to the ocean to enjoy the summer months. But after spending more time on the land this past year, with no shade or water in sight, and temps regularly getting into the 100’s, he has decided he doesn’t want to live anywhere closer to the equator than where we are now. I love the beach, too, but I could absolutely 100% live in New England for the rest of our life and be in complete bliss. Give me alllll the snow!
Do you know what I mean when I describe how much I love this season? It’s like the overall feel of Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Evermore: cozy, comfortable, warm, peaceful. Do you like winter as much as I do? Or are you more of a warmer months kind of person?
Stay warm, friends! xoxo