Since moving back north, I find the short days and lack of sunshine disheartening at times. When I lived here before, I struggled with depression, occasionally. I had small children, plus, worked full time with other peoples’ children, so I chalked it up to exhaustion, and post partum depression, at the time. The entire 12 yrs. that I lived in the south I did not experience it, even during some brutally difficult times. Yesterday,I woke up, feeling not the greatest, went to the gym, to help quell the gloominess, and was truly surprised when it didn’t help. At all. I tried implementing every self care technique in my arsenal, throughout the day, down time, music, meditation, yoga, even smudging, but I just could not shake it completely. It lasted through the entire day, and was even hanging on a bit when I woke up this morning. The difference today is that it was much more manageable. It has been snowing here for a few days. Don’t get me wrong, I love the snow.
Usually. Yesterday I loathed it, but today I made a conscious decision to find the fun in it. So…we cancelled today and had a sledding party. Because we school year round, and have a large family, we can do this, on short notice, pretty much whenever. I realize though, that not everyone can, so you may have to save yours for a weekend. We made Banana Nut Pancakes for breakfast, and made a list of all the things we love about winter while we ate. Then we went out sledding on the hill beside our house.
This tobaggan is from L.L. Bean. My parents bought it for the boys. My father loved teaching them how to wax the bottom to protect it, and of course, make it go faster. It can hold all four of us at once, and it flies, once you get a good path carved out.
After our fingers and toes were numb we came back inside and made hot chocolate.
We used a quick microwave recipe, that comes together in five minutes and cleans up very easily. Because, today was really about self care, I took every shortcut available to me and focused on spending my time relaxing, and having fun with the boys.
Recipe:
- 3 1/2 cups of milk
- 1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding
- 3 heaping tbsps. of cocoa powder
- pinch of cinnamon
- 2 tbsps. maple syrup
Mix all ingredients in a microwavable bowl, and heat for 5 minutes, stopping to stir midway through. Ladle into mugs. Add marshmallows, peppermint, or other preferred toppings.
Next we made paper snowflakes, and tossed some easy sticky buns, made from crescent rolls, in the oven.
Here’s the Recipe:
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 maple syrup
- 1 tsp. molasses
- 4 tbsp. plant butter
- 2 pkg. crescent rolls
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 walnuts, crushed
Preheat oven to 350* Unroll crescent rolls into a full rectangle, pinch seams closed. Mix half the butter with cinnamon, spread onto open rectangles, roll up from short end and cut each roll into six slices. Mix remaining butter with brown sugar syrup, molasses and cinnamon and walnuts. Spoon 2 tsps. into cups of muffin pans, and set one slice in each slot. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until done. Let cool, before eating, syrup comes out very hot!
Finally, we settled in to watch a winter themed movie. The kids chose Cool Runnings, which we have watched so, so, many times, but still laugh at. John Candy is always funny. We stuffed ourselves with popcorn and sticky buns, and had a great time.
This was how we spent our day warding off the early winter blues. How do you cope with the bleak, sunless days of winter? Let us know in the comments, and share your sledding pictures with us on insta @canigetaramen. Happy Winter! Thanks for reading.
