Cold nights and warm hearts

As Autumn begins to fade, its cold-hearted sister takes its place. My relationship with winter is one of conflicted feelings. As I grew up I lost the magic of Christmas along the way, but there is something about dark nights and rosy cheeks that draws me in. I do admit I hold a very romantic view upon the season.

Most people consider the beginning of winter to be the first day of December, but I live in Scotland so the weather is a bit different up here. Today is the 3rd of November and I awoke to discover frost coated grass which in my opinion means that winter is finally upon us. As I write this it is 4 degrees outside and I can hear the rain upon my window and that, I love. 

To me, winter is a season for nights in with cozy blankets and movies you have watched 10 times over, and lazy days where you switch of your mobile and immerse yourself in a good book whilst drinking tea. I enjoy winter because it is calm. In summer we are expected to be pro-active, to go out into the world and achieve wonderful things, but in winter we can just...be. It is our time to rest in preparation for a new year in which new and scary challenges await us.

Despite this however, in a few weeks time I will be cursing the cold wet weather and dreaming of sunny days full of adventure and discovery. I presume that's why my reading habits do a complete 180 this time of year as I forego the fluffy romance and instead reach for a bit of fantasy or a story of dark self-discovery.

 As soon as I have to step out into the snow and get my feet wet my whole attitude towards the winter changes. If you've ever experienced a Scottish winter you will know why. It snows from the middle of November up until the end of February (if we're lucky, it can often still be snowing right up until April) and let me tell you, while falling snow may be pretty at first, it gets old after 3 months straight. And don't even get me started on that ridiculous slushy stuff that stays around for about a week even once the snow stops for the year. 

Come summer however we will all be missing the relaxed days that winter provides us with, when exam season rolls around again we will dream of days like today where there is nothing to be done but finish off the book that has been consuming our brain for the past few days, or finish another season of whichever tv series we're on.