We are nearing the end of January, just about to slide into the month of love and romance and chocolate and all that jazz (aka: February, in case you didn’t know). And we are also in the middle of winter (at least, those of us north of the equator). Now, there are those among us (I shall refrain from naming them) who do not properly appreciate winter.

This is an affront to me okay so “affront” may be a little strong, but details.  I love winter. It is the best of all four seasons. This is a fact. Period. No argument can sway me because this is truth: winter is spring, summer, and fall’s superior. But, alas, there are those who don’t agree with me; simply put: they are wrong. And this is post is to tell you why (and because a blog on only serious things would be boring).

First of all, I’m not going to disparage the other seasons no, actually, I probably will. This post is solely about the winter’s virtues and the other seasons’ shortcomings. Note: part of the reason I’m writing this is because it is currently 45 degrees outside, and it’s been raining for the last week like it’s spring. These are great, depressing crimes against winter, and I hope to remind myself that most winters aren’t like this one.

I am a great lover of the cold, and because I live in the wilds of Wisconsin, it can get pretty cold (in 2014, we had more than 40 days below zero. Boom.). I can’t stand the heat and sweat of summer. The sticky, smelly damp that clings to the skin when the air temperature rises above 75 degrees. The humidity that suffocates you the instant you step outside. But it isn’t so with winter. It’s crisp and clear and cold. The first inhale that sends frost through your lungs and color to your cheeks and reminds you that you are alive.

And there are the other things that come along with the cold. Fuzzy socks to slide around on the hardwood and tile. Soft slippers to pull over chilled feet. Cozy blankets to burrow under. Hot chocolate with whipped cream to sip. Hats to cover messy hair and keep ears warm. Scarves to wind and tie in fun knots. Fires to start and then admire. Frozen lakes and ponds to dance on and walk across. So many wonderful things come with winter’s cold, including snow.

Who in their right mind does not like snow? From heavy, packable snow to powdery flakes, it’s magical. Fall ends in death, people, that’s all there is to it. Sure, the colors of fall are pretty, but then everything ends up naked and dead and ugh. Snow is the blanket that covers fall’s crimes and brings beauty back to the world. Waking up to the blinding brightness of sunlight on snow is one of my favorite things. The colors of winter, the whites and the pale blues and the blacks, are exquisite, crystalline.

Speaking of the sun, yes, winter days are short, and people can find the darkness depressing, but winter is the only time when many people actually see the sun rise over the horizon oh, look, another strike against summer: no one besides my dad wakes up at four in the morning and so no one besides my dad sees the sunrise in the summer, so there, summer, with your coveted long days. But winter sunrises can come around seven, and there’s little that can compare with a fresh fall of snow set on fire by the sun’s rising rays.

Winter is a time of sleeping, when the earth rests. It’s a time of soup and naps. It’s a time of learning and stillness. It’s the time of quiet before life explodes again in the spring.

Mmmmmmm. Now the temperature just needs to drop below freezing again so that it actually feels like winter. Anyway, those are some of the reasons that I find winter so enchanting, so much better than all the other seasons combined.

What about you? Do you love winter too (the correct answer is yes)? If not *gasp*, what’s your favorite season? Why? Or, do you not care about seasons at all?

P.S. – This was a short peeps. I actually kept it under a thousand words even though I can sing winter’s virtues for days.