The Warmth of Winter

It sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s really not. It’s contrast. When it’s cold and blustery outside, the warmth and light inside create a special sense of comfort unique to the darkest of the four seasons. The deeper the darkness, the brighter is the fire. The lower the mercury drops, so increase the pleasures of hearth and home. Scents are sharper, food is heartier, laughter is more resonant. Winter is a time of contrast in the extreme for, as Dickens wrote in A Christmas Carol, abundance rejoices and want is more keenly felt. The disparity between the haves and have-nots is more noticeable, perhaps because the haves are prompted to pay more attention during the coldest months. Charitable opportunities are everywhere, and many of us take advantage to share our wealth in whatever way we can. The point is that we do it and, for a few days at least, everyone benefits.

Time is limited as ever, but even then, we spend more of it with family and friends, enjoying tea and company in a cosy room while the elements rage beyond our windows; sitting ’round a table with co-workers, swapping silly gifts and stories long after the scheduled lunch hour is over; shopping like mad yet smiling more easily at strangers in the checkout lineup.

Snow is picturesque. Sleigh bells are the merriest sound in a crisp December twilight. Hot chocolate is better laced with rum or Bailey’s … or both. I dislike the cold, but I like to walk in it, probably because I’ll be warm when I get home. And Christmas music, no matter what jaded old tune is being played, remains a treasured constant through the holidays.

And after New Year, when the lights come down and the darkness closes in, when it’s a challenge to fight through ’til April, the memories of that winter warmth will sustain me.

With love,