Winter joy in three very small things

So maybe I complain about winter. Have you caught that? But let me defend myself! It's cold, windy, wet and dark. I don't really mind the winter as much as spring, which is my least favorite season. I wouldn't like to skip spring, because there is certainly beauty in the season. Winter brings some fun that only comes in cold weather. Winter brings challenges all its own. And winter makes me slow down, which is something I really need once football season and the holidays end. January and February have usually been pretty unpleasant - long, dark, dreary. Then March and April pretend they care about warmer weather, but they really do not.

First thing about winter is I get a lot done in the house. Just this weekend alone, I washed things I have rarely or possibly never washed: oven mitts, a stuffed animal from high school, my collection of slippers. I washed pillows and comforters and of course, clothes. I put away and organized all my wrapping paper and supplies, both regular and Christmas all in their own little containers. I wrapped upcoming birthday presents. I cooked. I made a big project in the kitchen. I baked and froze cookies (I always think this will make them last, but I freeze them and then end up eating frozen cookies for a week).

So there's that. I get all organized and clean and I send things to Goodwill and so on. A few other things:

At work I put pickling spice and clementine rinds (when I have them) into a cup of hot water and let it warm all day long right by my keyboard. It might sound like an odd combination, but I really enjoy it and it isn't so strong that the people outside my office can smell it.

On my desk where visitors to my office can see it, I use snowmen to brighten things up a little since it's cold outside and we don't often get enough snow for good snowmen anyway. When I walk in and out of my office, it makes me smile.

Lastly, I leave this wreath on my door. I leave it all winter even though I have about seven wreaths I can put up throughout the house for the holiday. I paid $1 or $2 for this from the grocery store years ago and it's a great bargain for all the smiles it has given me. Our house faces the east and so in the morning, I get in my car and I can't tell you the number of mornings I sit and look at it before I back out of the driveway. I took this photo this past weekend and it hit me hard that although I've been looking for it all winter, I have not seen it sparkle and twinkle for most of the winter this year. I have never been able to capture the joyful, happy, shimmery winking and glittery sparkle of the morning sunlight hitting that wreath in the winter mornings. It makes me happy every sunny day.