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I have lots of comfy cozy winter habits that I consider somewhat of a tradition. I am and was raised Jewish for my formative years, then my mom married my dad and he was raised Christian so I’ve got a mix of traditions from those faiths.
Comfy Cozy Traditions:
- Now that we’ve consistenly had a fireplace, I love to sit near the fire and read and snuggle. At least one fire per winter season.
- Gotta have hot chocolate on chilly nights.
- Purchasing a new blanket or sweater; ’tis the season to need to stay warm.
- Black Friday shopping; we used to go in person, but the deals just aren’t as good as they used to be plus more and more sales are extended and available online. He will look for upgrades at a good price, and I keep an eye on deals for uprades or new purchases. (I’ve been eyeballing a plant growing hydroponic tower to be able to grow fresh veggies indoors.)
- Reading more. Call it a need to have more books checked off, or just a season that makes me want to snuggle and read, I just read more in the winter.
- Make new book lists. Add to my full docket of books to read, update and make a new TBR and new On-Deck list.
- See how my goals for the past year went, make new goals. Goals work better than resolutions; resultions are “try to get *here*” then quit once you made it (Ex: run a marathon). Goals are able to built upon (Run more marathons. Run X# of marathons a year).
Holiday Traditions:
- My dad had a fake, realistic, green, ten-foot tree that we loved putting up and decorating. Now that I have my own home, I have a pink tinsel tree that we decorate. I have an ornament to represent each branch or memeber of my family, and I’ve started collecting memory ornaments. (Fam Ex: a metal cutout of a (likely) Camero for my father-in-law) (Memory Ex: my sister-in-law bought me 3 flamingos standing together that said “girls trip” for the bachelorette cruise)
- We exchange gifts on Xmas and, when possible, spend it with family or friends.
- For Channukah (which starts tonight- 12/7/23) we (I) light the candles every night and say the prayers.
- The tradition for Channukah is one gift each night after the candles are lit. Since we do gifts for both holidays, we tend to do less expensive gifts for Channukah and a little more pricey gift(s) for Xmas. (Ex: graphic t-shirts for him, one at a time if I get him multiple vs. a new fitness watch or multiple small gifts at once)
- I love the lighted trees and houses. I’d like to decorate the exterior of the house. I like those projection lights; our neighbors set one up and it catches our house too, but think we’ll get our own for next year. When we have more money I think I’ll buy lights and have a company that puts them up and takes them down hang lights.
- I think next year we’re going to try to build those charcuterie houses (instead of gingerbread houses) that we keep seeing on social media. If it goes well, it’ll be a new tradition for us.
Thanks for reading a little bit about how I do winter. What are your winter traditions? How do you feel about winter? What do you review or make plans about around this time of year?
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