Beat the Winter Blues

Beat The Winter Blues! Enjoy a Winter Wonderland Instead... and Here's How! 

Imagine a winter without Christmas cheer, without lights, without a little sparkly frost...

The darkest months are the easiest time of year to wallow and feel blue, and the hardest time of year for getting up in the mornings. A busy day full of things to buy and create, people to see, and Christmas cards to write just adds that little extra motivation in the mornings (it helps if you like Christmas)!

We humans crave natural light and some people even suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is a Psychological disorder where a person's mood is severely affected by the limited daylight hours. People affected can experience feelings of depression, along with the winter blues. There are special lamps which mimic daylight to help with this disorder, but you should try and get outside when you can. A crisp sunny day still exists in winter, you just need to wrap up warm and get up a little earlier to make the most of it. It also helps to embrace other cheery aspects of winter. Use candles, fairy lights and decorations to brighten up your home or office environment. Use music, food and drink to inspire and stimulate your other senses.

Fill your winter months with exciting things to do. Christmas is notoriously a busy social time of year and December is by far the page in the calendar which most resembles a busy social life. It is great to go to parties and evenings out with friends etc. Even if you don't quite feel like going out at first (it's cold, it's damp, and the duvet is invitingly close, the bed temptingly unmade), you really should make the effort. You know as well as I do that you'll have much more fun once you're there...
 
Enjoy Christmas, but save some money for January! The Christmas comedown and the winter blues are so much easier to get through when you have other things to look forward to. Keep that calendar full even if you're doing cheaper things and things that are free. Catch up with friends who were busy over Christmas, get outdoors and get some fresh air.

Decorate!

Hang 'winter' decorations so you can keep them up longer after Christmas

Place candles around your home to create a friendly and magical glow

 
Stuff clementines with cloves to create an intense spicy citrus Christmas smell

Use Christmas lights or fairy lights to create a magical and delicate light around doorways, windows and mirrors. This really adds a feeling of cosiness and banishes my winter blues most effectively!

I highly reccommend these classy 'Kasbah' and 'Maroq' lights for Christmas lights or just all-year fairy lights. They Kasbah ones are pretty little glass lanterns on a subtle white-ish string of cable. They are also not too Christmassy - I keep mine up all year round.The Maroq ones are dainty little silver globes with tiny diamond shapes cut out for the light to shine through. I bought my mum these and they are magical. She also keeps them up year-round.

Create!

Bake cookies and gingerbread. Use cinnamon and ginger to give your baking a Christmassy tang.
 
Create your own Christmas decorations and even make your own cards. An excellent activitiy with children. 
 

Wrap Up!

Wrapping up against the winter elements is so much fun, and I love winter fashion. There is just something about the feeling of being warm and snug in your winter gear with the wind and snow (or rain of course) inches from your bare skin. 




My favourite winter warmers:

• Warm and snug winter boots
• Funky and colourful woolly hats with giant bobbles
• Onesies (Midwinter is the only time it is acceptable to look like a giant baby)
• Scarves and snoods

Eat!

'Lebkuchen' - Traditional German Christmassy soft biscuits and gingerbread, spiced and iced, sometimes with chocolate and a syrupy centre. The best ones I have seen are in Sainsbury's and Lidl (the hearts in lidl are the best - covered in chocolate with a sweet jammy centre).

Bratwurst or big pork sausages. Most European Christmas markets have these. Christmas markets from Europe tour most UK cities and town centres in the run-up to Christmas.

 

Drink!

Mulled wine - THE Christmas drunk! Heat sugar, lemon and clementine peel, cinnamon, cloves and a little nutmeg with a little red wine to make a syrup, then add all of your red wine over a low heat and add a star anise, gently heating the wine for 5 minutes.
 
Hot chocolate - the cosiest drink, best enjoyed by a crackling fire! Choc-o-Lait is no ordinary hot chocolate - it is a lump of chocolate on a stick that you swirl in a mug of hot milk. Delicious!
 

Party!

Get Dressed up and go out...

Winter 2012-2013 fashion For us girls:

• Chunky heels 
• Sequin jumpers
• Cinched waists
• Skater skirts (high-waisted and puffy)
• Peplum skirts (high waisted with flaps/layer around hips)
• Peplum tops (cinched waist with flaps/layer around hips)
• Spiky studded heels

Socialise!

Spending time with friends is so good for the soul.

Make a special effort to see your friends at Christmas - everyone is so busy but life is too short...

 

Exercise!

Ice-skate at an ice-rink or a town centre or garden centre temporary rink.
 
Ski on a winter holiday or at a UK snowdome such as Milton Keynes or Tamworth, Birmingham. They have real snow and you can take a range of skiing and snowboarding lessons. Milton Keynes also have rubber donut ring sledging - no lesson required!
 
Wrap up warm and go for a walk in the crisp cold air - even better if there's a goal at the end like hot chocolate in a cosy tearoom. You'll feel exhilarated after a brisk walk, not to mention surprisingly warmed up. 
 

Watch!

• Elf (A Christmas film with Will Ferrell as the lead - hilarious!)
• The Snowman (A short film with stunning vocals by Aled Jones, and no speaking. This adds to the magic)
• Love Actually (A stupidly soppy but quite clever Christmas film - literally an all-star cast including Hugh Grant).
• Home Alone 1&2 (Very silly but funny 90s Christmas films). 
• Muppets Christmas Carol (Funny, creative and cute spin on the famous Christmas novel).

Embrace The Beauty of Winter!

• Sparkly frost
• Christmas lights in people's windows
• Crackling fires
• Pure snow
• Sunsets and twilight
• Cosiness of the indoors 
• The sound of the rain outside when you have a steaming mug of cocoa

Text and Images Copyright © Lise Griffiths, 2012
All Rights Reserved