I am not a cold weather fanatic. I can always find some ‘bad’ parts of winter but I am choosing to find favorites instead of pointing out problems. Let’s be real…I still complain…but I am trying focus on the positive.
Hot Cocoa
Winter is the perfect time to enjoy hot chocolate! It’s warm and it’s chocolate – two of my favorite things! This year was especially wonderful for hot cocoa because my mom began making hot cocoa balls. It is an incredibly luscious cup of hot chocolate that puts normal powder hot cocoa to shame. Mom sent me home with this glittery looking hot chocolate ball and I was ecstatic.
A few weeks later, I went back to mom’s house and helped her put more hot cocoa balls together. Straight up truth…..I broke a lot of them when trying to peel them out of the molds. Delicate touch is not one of my strong suits. My favorites are the Grinch Cocoa Balls!! They’re adorable, right?!?
Kids
My nephew and my niece are my favorites every season of every year. This picture of Kynlee signifies the feeling of Christmas. Kids are not weighed down by the worries that adults carry around in our incredibly heavy bags. Shouldn’t we all turn up the joy and enjoy the Christmas season with the pure happiness? Yes. The answer is yes.
This handsome young man is a bright shining star. I have so many sappy and loving things I could say but I won’t spill it all on here. Spending time together throwing a football back and forth while we shop in Walmart, watching him play baseball, enjoying good food, or playing in the yard are some of my favorites. We have many more memories to make and I can’t wait!
Sunny Days
Sunny days seem to be few and far between during the winter months. The sun can also be deceiving because not every sunny day means it is comfortable to go outside without a coat. Sad face. When I go outside, I want to feel the sun on my skin and I want to feel the warmth beaming down from the sky. Auggie and Kai also follow my lead when it comes to sun chasing. I try to move their beds throughout the day to help them stay in the sun. In the summer, I move their beds to stay in the shade. I moved their beds and came inside to get a cup of coffee and when I came back, they were already soaking up the tiny bits of sun.
One of the not-so-fun things about winter is how soggy every inch of the yard is. And since we don’t spend as much time outside in the backyard during the summer because of the sogginess, we try to take the dogs out for rides or to run errands as much as possible.
Snow
Snow is not usually on my favorites list. I am a Texas snow fan. You know the kind of snow I’m talking about…..it lightly snows for about 2 to 3 hours and we get about an inch of snow that collects on the ground and then it immediately begins to melt and disappear. Snow is beautiful but it is also destructive. The 2021 Texas snow storm was, hopefully, once in a lifetime. I have never seen it snow so hard, collect so fast, or stay around for so long. Being trapped at home without a possible way to leave created cabin fever pretty quickly.
Since I don’t like going outside in the cold, I was trapped inside. Let me clarify, I was able to go outside, I just didn’t want to. The cabin fever began to grow so I would pile on as many layers as I could and go outside. Snow is fully blinding and since I’m a fast learner, it only took me about 6 times of going outside to remember to wear sunglasses.
Auggie’s love of the snow and cold matches Kym’s love of it. Kai has my same dislike for the cold. These are actual pictures taken during the week of snow. Kai would rather be inside, snuggled in a blanket and Auggie would rather be outside in the snow. Every trip outside resulted in blobs of snow being brought inside and dropped all over the house as the dogs made their way to their favorite spots. By the second day, we had started heating towels in the dryer when the dogs went outside so we could wrap them in warm towels, and get the snow off of them, when they came inside.
The Tonight Dough
I love ice cream. It’s not my favorite go-to dessert but this ice cream is definitely my new favorite flavor. I’ve never heard of this before. I watch Jimmy Fallon every night and he had this on his show. I thought it was a joke until he got halfway through discussing it. The very next day, I went to Albertsons and was ecstatic to see this in the freezer.
You can read more about the Jimmy Fallon and Ben & Jerry’s partnership here. According to Jimmy during his show, and the website about this yummy ice cream, Jimmy is donating his proceeds to the non-profit organization SeriousFun Children’s Network. I urge you to grab a pint of this ice cream and treat yourself. Jimmy Fallon is one of my all-time favorites.
My Current Favorite
My current favorite is that spring is almost here!! I am happy to put winter behind me and I will continue to enjoy my favorites and look for new things to add to my favorite list. Cherish every day and look for the good in each day.
