Bone-chilling temperatures, frosty windows, ice-covered roads, biting winds and whirling snow flurries … it is mid-winter here in Southern Ontario.
For many of you in the warmer areas, you do not experience a harsh winter like ours. But if you visit Ontario in mid January, you will feel an immediate chill to your bones. This is a time of year that can be frigid and cold, not to mention dark as early as 4:45 p.m. … it is truly a season of hibernating.
However, winter in Ontario (or anywhere, for that matter) it does not have to be a dreary, dark time in one’s home or life.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite seasons, as it is just incredibly cozy, a perfect time for reading that book you have been wanting to read for some time, planning for the year to come, knitting, crocheting, doing home projects or just being still.
To make one’s home cozy and snug, warm and comfortable … we have some suggestions.
… Search your home library and find many good books for reading. Winter is the perfect season, I find, for catching up on all the reading I was hoping to do earlier in the year.
…. twinkle lights (my personal favorite, even if they are not old fashioned, as we try to maintain a vintage feel to our lifestyle and home) … they just add such charm and coziness to a darkened winter room ….
warm fires in the woodstove or fireplace …
lighting a homemade scented candle {the girls & I made cinnamon bun scented candles last week – they are making the house smell delicious} and drinking a cuppa tea …
Once darkness falls, we also use oil lanterns for that gentle glowing ambiance. There’s also always a basket of warm, snuggly blankets nearby a cozy chair … inviting a reader, knitter, thinker to sit and be still and cozy … preferably by a warm fire …
cozy movie nights with homemade popcorn {Here is a recent movie we watched – truly fascinating!} or games night with the children …
baking a selection of goods for a dessert bar on a special evening or for blessing a friend or neighbour …
reading many books by the fire …
… homemade soup simmering on the stove …
fresh cinnamon buns on a Sunday morning, just waiting to be eaten …
building snowmen with the packing snow … ice slides in the backyard and toboganning …
Those are just a few ideas as January approaches. I hope you enjoy this lovely season and find ways to make your home cozy.
by Gigi
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