December Blogmas for December 3: Winter Must Haves

 Hello Friends ~

I'm trying to add at least one extra post a week besides HHM. Hopefully closer to the holidays even a few extra posts. I'm going to share this week by popping in on my friend Tamy at the blog chasingmylife.com for her holiday Blogmas (blog posts related to Christmas). If you want a link to her post today click here. And if you'd like a full list of her blogmas prompts for the rest of the month you can click here and join the fun!

Today her blogmas is "winter must haves". I relate to winter must haves a lot related to where I live. I am in northern Wisconsin - pretty close to the border of Canada. We can get a lot of snow and lots of very cold weather. So practical must haves would include:

Safe vehicles. To me that means something bigger/heavier and with 4 wheel drive. Most people up here have something with 4 wheel drive or at least front wheel drive. Some even put snow tires on just for the winter. I drive a pretty big SUV - not only has good 4wheel drive but also great room for hauling Annie's (& sometimes her friend's) hockey stuff! 

You also need to know how to bundle up if you're from the north. Coats, hats, mittens, scarves, warm socks - all necessities. I almost always have an extra hat & mitts in my car. Just walking into a store from the parking lot can be a painful experience if you're not wearing warm outerwear. 

No, this is not a weapon. Lol It's a car scraper. You may run into a store for just 20 minutes and come out and your car is covered in snow. Or it can get icy on your windshield. So most folks keep one of these in their car. The one side scrapes the ice off the windows - the other is a big brush to get off the snow. 

Blankets are a must. I often have extra blankets in my car - they're for sitting in rinks at the hockey games....but good to have in case you have car trouble and stranded somewhere. Also, lots of extra blankets come out around the house and for the bed during the cold season. 

And of course, good warm practical boots. When I do my work at the hospice facility in winter I often bring my shoes with me and wear boots to get into the building (many people do this at their jobs around here). I leave my boots under the coat rack and wear my nice shoes while I work and then switch back into boots to go home in the snow. 

Next up - you must embrace winter: 

I think you can embrace winter in various ways. Our winters are very long and it would be a lot of isolation and hibernating if you don't find ways to enjoy all it offers. There's a big decorated festival of lights in my area that has music, fire pits, marshmallows to roast, meet santa, cookies, cocoa and it's called Bentleyville. It runs all through the holiday season and it's a fun way to get combat some of the long winter. 

Many people do winter sports...hockey, skiing, snowboarding, broomball, curling etc. This is Annie on skates for the first time 💕 💝 

Or even just go walking out in the snow, ice fishing, snow shoeing... We like to go walk down on the bay when it's all frozen over. 

And then of course there are the cozy must haves:

The cozy must haves to me are the things that feed the soul during the long winter. Hot drinks like tea and cocoa. Bubble baths. A good book by the fire. Lots of candles or things that light up everywhere. Even hobbies: crafting, sewing, knitting - are all things that can help get through the long winter.  Some people in the north even get S.A.D. (seasonal affect disorder) from having so little daylight and take meds or have sun lamps to mimic that light to help. Vitamin D supplements are a biggie, too, due to so little sun. 

Also, things to combat the dry air from being inside with the heat on a lot. So things like lotion, chapstick, humidifiers etc.

Speaking of all of this winter stuff - we have actual inches (4-8) of snow in our forecast for the weekend! I better go find my car scraper and make sure it's in my car. Lol 

Stay cozy ✨