Winter Survival Guide

Don't our garbage cans look gorgeous in the snow?

It snowed this weekend in Utah, and it was BEAUTIFUL. But it also got me thinking about how every year when the snow comes, people start complaining about winter and how much they hate it. But I believe that people can be turned into winter lovers--okay, winter TOLERATORS--if they try. I thought of some good skillz to do that, and I would like to share them with y'all.

Just to be clear, I don't myself hate winter. Most years I feel sort of meh about it, I have had the occasional dread associated with it, but this year I actually am getting really excited! And I feel like nearly everyone around me hates winter, and I just want people to be happy.

So, here we have: Erin's Guide To Not Hating Winter. These are my suggestions. Take them or leave them, but I think they could be helpful:

• Be prepared. "If you are prepared, ye shall not hate winter." I think that's how the saying goes. So get yourself some warm boots. Those are a lifesaver. Target has some great ones, check these out. And scarves--turns out they really do warm you up! I used to think they just looked cute, but they really do help. Wear a scarf. And a hat too. And gloves. All those things help you. And it's a good idea to start carrying around a bigger purse so that once you go indoors you can stash all those winter accessories in it. In The Happiness Project (a book I highly recommend), she talks about how she's grumpy when she's cold, so she started bundling up all the time, even if she sort of felt silly, but how she was so much happier when warm. I realized I'm sort of the same way! The other night Chris and I ventured out and he was in short sleeves and shorts, and I put on my furry boots, my puffy coat, a big fat scarf, and a warm hat. We looked really silly side by side but I was warm!
• Get your car prepared. Get one of those snow scraper things that has a brush and a scraper, they only cost like $3 and you don't have to pull out a credit card for your icy windows. And get some of those cheap gloves from the dollar store and leave them in your car all the time, so your fingers don't freeze when you de-snowify your vehicle.
• Find a winter hobby. I'm from Utah, but have been snowboarding one time and skiing one time. Way to waste the greatest snow on earth, Erin! I'm just not that into either of them. So for a long time I thought there was nothing outdoorsy for me in the winter. But then I discovered snowshoeing. And oh my gosh. I mean, it's hiking! In the winter! Hiking is one of my favorite things in the world, and realizing I could do it year round was the best thing of my life.

Snowshoeing!

• Save things for winter. If you drink hot chocolate and make soup and wear sweaters year round, it won't be fun to start doing all that once it starts snowing. The novelty of cold weather activities will make you life the cold weather more.
• Listen to Christmas music. Duh.
• Change the decor in your house. Put out some more blankets to cozy up with on the couch, hang a wreath on the door, and obviously get a Christmas tree and put presents under it.
• Look around. The morning after a snowstorm is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. The mountains are so breathtaking when they're covered in snow. Winter sunsets are always the most gorgeous. That January inversion produces some of the most stunning sunsets, which is kind of gross but also awesome. 
• Remember that your car is now a moving refrigerator! I love this. You know how sometimes you're out running errands, and you have to go to the grocery store, and then somewhere else, but first you have to go home and unload your groceries? In the winter you don't have to do that! I forget about it every year, and every year I'm excited. (Maybe every year I should just get better at managing my time, but here we are.) 
• Play in the snow. On Saturday Chris and I had a snowball fight in the backyard, dug a tunnel through the snow piled on top of the car, and took videos of each other shaking all the snow out of a tree. It was awesome.

• Go on a vacation. Southern Utah is still sunny and relatively warm through the winter, and Las Vegas or Arizona definitely are. Sometimes a little bit of a break is all you need to keep soldiering through to March. 
• Don't be so dramatic, keep things in perspective. Winter WILL end, and it WILL get warm again. In February it is really hard to remember that, but I promise you it will happen, every single year.

That's what I came up with. What am I missing? Who else has winter skillz?