It is unlikely that January would top many favorite-month lists. It’s cold, we’re inundated with post-holiday bills and we receive our annual letter from the IRS. Not to mention, in these parts, ice, sleet and snow. So what’s to like?
Plenty.
January and February are the quiet time of the year. Perfect for contemplation, catching up on reading or simply counting the stars on a crunchy, moonlit walk through the snow.
When our computers lock up here at the office, we refer to it as an “enforced rest period.” The post-holiday winter months fit this description. Gone are the manic days of shopping, shipping, gift wrapping and card signing. Gone are the office parties and holiday get-togethers that take precious hours away from the seasonal chores. Gone are the familial obligations, the holiday travel and the vacationing students.
It’s quiet time.
Being stuck indoors isn’t so bad, especially when the outdoors — at least your own half-acre of them — require such maintenance the rest of the year. Winter affords you a break: No lawn to mow. No leaves to rake. No flowers to plant. No gutters to clear.
Yes, now and then we’ll need to clear away some snow, but hopefully not too much and not too often. Besides, hot chocolate tastes better after a bout of snow shoveling.
Winter is nature’s way of telling you to catch your breath after the Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s sprint. Daylight is in short supply, the better to encourage you to wind down earlier and perhaps occasionally crawl under the covers at a bedtime you would have complained about as a kid.
It’s a good time of the year to sample warm, filling foods. Salads, so healthy and filling over the summer, seem sparse and cold during the winter months — much like the bare trees shivering in the breath-freezing breezes. Winter is time for soups and stews and casseroles and all things hearty and comforting.
It’s a quiet time; a time to catch up.
That half-finished book — so easy to overlook during spring cleaning, summer vacation and autumn activities — beckons to be completed. That puzzle challenges you to finally prove you can piece it together. That box of unmarked photos, that closet that needs organizing, that stack of correspondence you’ve been meaning to get to: winter Saturdays were made for tackling such tasks.
