Winter Loves

I always seem to gather and hoard during the winter months.  I go grocery shopping without a menu or list (holycow!), ending up with duplicates and unnecessaries.  I stack books by my bedside, towering and lovely.  I put post-it notes in all of my cookbooks, marking every single sweet treat with a desperate make THIS!  There is probably some psychological reason here: winter is bare and sparse, so I must desire to fill it up with plenty.

But this leads to good things!  Because I don't imagine YOU can LIVE another moment without knowing what I've hoarded so far this season!  Peruse, gather, and hoard some yourself if you can manage.

Burt's Bees Body Butter

This is always a bone of contention between me and winter.  "Winter," I cry, "Why must you dehydrate me so?"  And winter replies, "Because I've accepted a bribe from the lotion manufacturers of the midwest, you papery woman, you."  And I nod resignedly, and search for a new, better form of moisture with which to slather my dry skin.  Burt's Bees, while not my favorite in the way of delicious scents, makes this fabulous, thick body butter that makes my skin happy.  It's rich and luxurious, and I can both see and feel an immediate change in my skin after I've used it.  The scent is rather nutty and honey-ish, which is, I think, the point, but honey has a tendency to overwhelm my olfactories.  Thankfully, the smell is light and fades quickly into something more tolerable.  I like the body butter well enough to put up with the honey.  What do you put on your skin to preserve your wintertime sanity?




Coconut Oil Bath

In the same vein, I've been desperately quenching my skin with oil whenever I get a chance.  For over a year now, I've used coconut oil on my face as a moisturizer, and it works beautifully.  No breakouts,  no irritation, no itchy dryness after showers.  And this season, I've also taken my oil directly into the shower, covering myself in a thin layer of coconut oil to retain the shower's humidity.  Since that's felt so nice, I've started taking oil baths for the first time in my life.  I just hold a spoonful of solid coconut oil under the running bathwater, add a few drops of jojoba oil and sweet orange essential oil.  It's bliss.  Pure bliss.

The Winter Sea, by Susanna Kearsley

Let's be honest: I don't relegate my hoarding of books to winter alone.  I hoard fiction pretty much without bias across all seasons.  When Corinne posted a photo of her current stack of books, I zeroed in on a title, and made it my own.  The Winter Sea is a gorgeous, enchanting, compelling historical drama/romance that matched exactly what I needed in fiction this season.  I like a good literary romp as well as the next reader, but sometimes I just want to be swept away, you know?  Without the need to consider social issues or worldly repercussions.  Just fiction, just for fun, but it does have to be well-written.  All of that equals The Winter Sea, and if you're looking for fabulosity, you must read it.  It will leave you wanting more of the characters and wishing you could rent a cottage on the wintry Scottish coast.  Where you will curl up in woolen sweaters and cradle cups of tea and discover something about both your past and your future.  So go: be immersed in The Winter Sea. 

Old Navy Baby Socks

Because this life isn't all about me.  (Weird, right?)  Baby boy could successfully escape from his socks if he were locked in a barrel and tossed over Niagara Falls and do so with enough time to then eat said socks before turning up unscathed on the opposite shore.  Baby socks completely suck.  If they're snug enough to stay put, they leave rubber-band marks around those darling chubby ankles.  And if they're soft enough to be non-constricting, they slip off in the smallest breeze.  But not Old Navy baby socks.  I'm only sad that it's taken me three children to realize this truth.  Landon has these exact socks, pictured left, and they're my favorites.  I'm willing to do unnecessary loads of laundry just to keep these socks in rotation.  PLUS, they come with grippy little letters on the bottom to keep my tiny stair-climber from falling down the staircase (again).






Sleepytime Tea by Celestial Seasonings

While it is apparent to me that this list mostly contains ways in which I can relax, I don't care.  Maybe this is my winter agenda after all: hibernate.  With a cup of this delightful tea at bedtime. It's minty and light and so, so comfortable. 







This list is probably incomplete because I've not yet shown you my Downton Abbey fangirl persona, but I'll stop here and let you imagine my sunday night indulgence/obsession.  But tell me: What are you obsessing over/immersing in/slathering on/imbibing in this winter?