Winter in all of its harsh beauty has definitely hit Western New York. Today, as I bundled up to step outside to warm up the vehicle before running some errands, I was amazed at how warm it felt at 19 degrees. I thought for sure I would have to explain to our youngest daughter why shorts would not be a good choice today! It amazes me how a little bit of sunshine can go a long way. Isn't it like that in life? Just a little bit of kindness goes a long way. It doesn't have to be anything major, maybe just an extra smile for the cashier on your way out of the grocery store. An extra breath taken instead of yelling whilst working your way through that algebra equation for the twenty-sixth time with your child. Or maybe, it's paying for the person behind you in the drive-thru lane. Sometimes spreading a little bit of joy costs us next to nothing, but for the person receiving it, it can mean the world. This wasn't quite where I set out to go with this blog post, but maybe it is the push we all need to help spread a little bit of happiness in the long days of winter.
Sometimes the months after Christmas can seem long and kind of empty. Gone are the beautiful warm lights of the Christmas decorations, all packed up and placed back in the attic for the next year. Gone is the excitement of the children, the cookie decorating, the time to sit and enjoy the warmth of what the season truly is about. Then out stretching before us like a blank canvas are the seemingly long days of winter. I promised myself this year that I would try to embrace winter. I mean, theoretically, as the calendar goes, we are not even a month into winter (sorry to burst your bubble) and yet it seems like we have had frigid temperatures forever. However, I have decided to find the little things to be thankful for in each day. Like the warm pair of knitted mittens I was given this year (handmade at that!). Or the sunshine out for a short spell today giving me a wonderful excuse to take the dogs for a brisk walk.
Another thing that keeps us going on these long winter days is the anticipation of baby goat kids in the spring. It makes that trek trudging over to the barn through the snow and cold a little sweeter in the mornings and evenings. The first glimpse of the sun peeking over the horizon on a cold winter morning filling the skyline with beautiful hues of pinks and golds, really does take the edge off heading out into the cold.
What are you thankful for this winter season? Is there anything, no matter how small or large, that you can do to brighten someone else's day, that in turn would brighten your day? One person, doing one random act of kindness, touches another person, encouraging another random act of kindness, and before we know it, we have turned our winter blues into winter joy and brightened somebody else's day at the same time. Now that would be great to see just how far the ripple would reach!
So, winter blues or winter cheer? I vote for winter cheer as I spend my evening preparing to roll out our spring fragrances in our moisturizing goat milk lotions and soaps. You may want to keep an eye on our website shop as we have a new spring fragrance coming out soon. Plus, by popular demand, one of our new soap fragrances from this past year will be making an appearance in our lotion too. Any guesses which one?
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