I live in Michigan, and we’ve had a pretty cold winter this year. Entertaining my two small children indoors is starting to make me a little crazy. I just heard that we’re supposed to get a foot of snow in the next two days. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. So I’m putting together a little list of reasons I love winter to help me keep the ol’ chin up. That way by the time my kids have worn ruts in the floors from running laps around my house, I can look at this and remind myself again why winter in the Midwest is awesome.

my daughter Clementine playing outside in the snow

1. More reasons to buy clothes: When you have four real seasons rather than hot and sorta warm, you need more clothes. And the winter wardrobe is great, soft sweaters, peacoats, corduroy pants, jeans, and a whole category of scarves/hats/gloves with which to accessorize. I even find that since I pack away my summer and winter clothes when the seasons change, I get to surprise myself all over again the next year when I take it out. (Me: “Oh my goodness! I forgot I even OWNED a mustard yellow peacoat!”). OK, so that maybe that reason is a little flaky, but it counts. Onward.

2. Winter-only activities: This may seem obvious, but some of my fondest winter memories from childhood are of sledding down giant snow hills in our driveway, cross country skiing, building snowpeople, and ice skating. It seems like so much work now to get my own kids bundled up to play in the snow, but I have to remind myself that someday they’ll remember it fondly too.

3. Stronger constitution: I’m pretty sure winter makes me a tougher person. There’s definitely an attitude of superiority among Midwesterners when it comes to the weather; we believe (know, actually) that we’ve been given more sturdy composition and mental perseverance for a reason, and we intend to prove it by showing winter it can’t get the best of us. We laugh about how many days it’s been since we’ve seen the sun. Winter makes us stronger, and we like that.

4. The occasional warm day: Normally there are one or two days where winter briefly relaxes it’s icy grip and throws us a bone, a day which seems crazy warm by comparison to those immediately before and after it. And the exuberance with which Midwesterners fling themselves outside in their tank tops as soon as the thermometer clears 50 is really quite admirable. I love those days. The air smells like thawed worms and earth. Yum. (Dear Winter: We haven’t had one of these yet this year. Maybe you could lay off a little?)

yes those are produce rubber bands holding her mittens on

5. I’ll always have you beat: when a friend who lives in a warmer climate complains about cool weather, I just laugh. (Me: “Forty degrees? That’s NOTHING! It was 40 degrees BELOW zero here yesterday. And don’t even get me started on the windchill!” Translation: “You wimp.”) And everyone has some variation of the story about a kid in their elementary school who got their tongue stuck to the tetherball pole during recess. It’s fantastic.

6. Winter is pretty: We’ve had snow on the ground since way before Christmas and I barely notice it’s there anymore, but it’s really quite lovely when I take the time to look at it. Some mornings all the trees have an inch of snow on all of their branches and it looks like everything has been covered with a layer or marshmallow creme. And occasionally all of the trees get coated with a layer of glistening ice that takes your breath away when the sun shines through it.

So, Winter: It’s true I do like you alot. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I love summer alot more. Don’t take it personally.

Rae Hoekstra blogs over at Made By Rae. You can find a (free tutorial) for the Snowblossom Hat shown in the pictures above right here.

I’m popping in super quick to say there are a few spots open for February sponsors. If you are interested drop me a line at elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com and I’ll send you all the good stuff. Ok. back to the beach and to reading all the awesome guest posts!

The snow fell off our windows and into the air.

I almost remember the first time I witnessed snowflakes like this, witnessed for the first time the pointy hex-sided flakes that perfectly resembled the shapes we cut from white circles in school.  Up to that very moment, I had thought the real flakes were too small to see with my own eyes, had thought that only a microscope would reveal the magnificent crystalline forms. How wonderful to find I was wrong.

Today’s snow is just a dusting, a light cleansing snow to softly cover up the stale, dirty snow beneath and give a fresh start to the winter-in-progress.  It’s a whisper, and a lovely one at that, reminding us that we’re here in Wisconsin and not, in fact, in Hawaii.  I hadn’t forgotten.

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Five Green Acres is the homestead of Mary Jo, her family, and a revolving cast of chickens, sheep, and various other riffraff.  You’ll find her there reporting live on their adventures – crafty, agricultural, or otherwise.  Stop in for a visit: FiveGreenAcres.wordpress.com

We are headed to the beach tomorrow: the real beach, the ocean beach, the hawaiian beach. I was planning on making this rope bracelet for the trip, but then I spotted this broomstick lace cuff on pintrest and changed my plans.  Kirsty made a nice little tutorial for this beautiful cuff. Mine is pretty sloppy (late night crocheting) and made out of string, but hers looks lovely in a warm gray yarn.

The blog will go on while I’m gone!  I’ve got some stellar guest bloggers lined up for you and I can’t wait for you to meet them all. They will be writting little bits about winter, because I do love winter and will miss it. The wisconsin winter will still be here when I get back, but it probably won’t recognize me with a tan.