Bolstering Ideas for After the Holidays

I am taking so many ideas from the comments on the I Hate Winter post. Just for starters, I am ALL IN on the idea of buying a lot of interesting Alternative Lights on post-Christmas clearance, calling them fairy/twinkle lights rather than Christmas lights, and having LIGHTS FOR THE REST OF WINTER. I think I saw some snowflake-shaped ones that would be perfect for January, and then YES to red/white for February, YES to green/white for March, YES, I am IN, YES, LET’S DO THIS.

Someone asked if I had a mood light and I do, because a few weeks ago Paul bought one and put it on my desk in front of me and plugged it in and switched it on. I sit in front of it every morning while I am having breakfast. I don’t know if it’s helping, but it has the benefit of feeling like there is something I am doing about this. The exact one he bought is no longer on the site at all for some reason, but it’s a Verilux HappyLight Lumi VT31 and looks roughly like the VT22 shown here; the main difference seems to be that mine has three different levels of light working up to 10,000 whatevers of light, and the VT22 is only the 10,000 whatevers.

YES to taking/upping vitamin D. My doctor told me awhile back to take 1-2 of whatever the dose is I’m taking (that is, of whatever dose she told me to take, which I’ve forgotten and the vitamin cupboard is so far away), so I take 1/day in summer and I take 2/day in winter. Again: I don’t know if it’s helping, but it feels like I am Doing Something, which is helpful no matter what.

YES to Julia’s reminder that before the end of this month, we will hit the solstice and then every day will be longer. It makes a huge difference to me to KNOW the days are on the upswing, even if I can’t tell yet.

YES to Blythe appreciating that at least this weather is a good match for one’s mood, as opposed to the RUDE SLAP of beautiful sunny weather when everything is terrible.

YES to KC’s idea of planting some seeds indoors and watching their hopeful little sproutings. Basil is a GREAT idea.

YES to Lynn’s hot drinks. So comfortingly WARM on the tum and the hands.

YES to Phancymama’s winter cocktails. My favorite winter drink is Drambuie, which is not a cocktail but it is fancy. Also, I sometimes drink brandy: I hate the taste, but literature has taught me that it’s good for health, warmth, nerves, and shock, all of which seem PERFECT for winter.

YES to Liz’s reminder that winter might be lousy, but that’s what makes it so cozy to be indoors with a book and a hot drink / winter cocktail / box of chocolate / stack of books. Summer evenings have their own charms, but “coziness” is not one of them.

YES to my sister-in-law reminding me of no mosquitoes/ticks and no leg-shaving and not being all sweaty/sticky all the time!

YES to StephLove’s wish that Christmas came a little later in winter when we needed it more. Paul and I accidentally re-invented the timing: I was telling him about Julia saying it was cheering that soon the days would be getting longer, and then I said it was nice it happened right around Christmas, just as he said we ought to have some sort of big celebration right around that time of year to mark that cheering shift.

 

Also. I have had a thought. I love having a countdown-to-Christmas calendar, but that just adds one more sad thing AFTER Christmas: no more happy little treat each day. What if we were to buy Advent / Countdown to Christmas calendars on clearance and then use them AFTER CHRISTMAS?? Like, start them on the day AFTER Christmas. Or actually: I am usually still pretty good through New Year’s Eve. So I will buy some and start using them on January 1st. I bought a Target’s 12 Days of Beauty one already on a Black Friday deal, and I’m going to save it until January. (I see it is now on a buy-one-get-one-50%-off deal, which is very close to as good as the deal I got, which was 30% all beauty sets. This might be nice for buying one for yourself and one for a winter-hating friend. Or one for yourself, one for your 14-year-old daughter who gets into your make-up/moisturizers now. Or one for yourself, a DIFFERENT set for your 14-year-old daughter who wants to try false eyelashes, heaven help us.)

It wouldn’t have to be an advent/12-days/countdown calendar per se: any of those gift sets they put on clearance after the holidays would work. Like, say you found a Burt’s Bees gift set of lip balms and lotions on clearance: then you could let yourself take out one item from the gift set each day, either your pick or else choosing one without peeking. Or let’s say you found a Burt’s Bees gift set, a hostess-gift box of assorted teas, a gift set of the face mists Miss Grace has us all using these days, a gift set of nail polishes, and a package of Reese’s Peanut Butter trees, all on post-holiday clearance: you could let yourself choose one little treat each day, whatever was most appealing. Today a face mist! The next day a peanut-butter tree! The next day a lip balm! The next day a packet of tea! Maybe then another lip balm before moving on to a nail polish! Or if you prefer surprises, you could open all the boxes and jumble all the items together into a bag and reach in each day without looking. Or you could simplify the whole thing and instead buy a big bag of candy and then reach in all day every day whenever.

I feel like with the “fairy lights until daffodils” concept and the “little treat every day” concept, we might be able to ride this out.

19 thoughts on “Bolstering Ideas for After the Holidays

  1. Amy

    I bought the same target advent calendar and it is sitting in my closet, waiting for the after holiday slump.

    I also received a tea advent calendar from Plum Deluxe, which combines surprises and hot beverages. That one, I am using for pre Christmas.

    If anyone has other ideas, I’d love to hear them.

    Reply
  2. Jane in Pa

    All awesome ideas and I plan to use them too! I like the idea of buying clearance gift sets and maybe I will buy some with the family in mind. Then I could randomly gift one of them when I feel like someone needs a little cheering up.
    I have done lights for a few years now and it really does help. We have a holly bush that I always put the red globe shaped lights on. After Christmas, I either also add white or leave the red through Valentine’s Day. Then green for March, pink for Easter and then red/white/blue is a staple grom MY thru Sept. Then HALLOWEEN lights and the cycle starts again. A couple of my neighbors have remarked that they love that we always have lights of some sort.
    I hope you find these ideas help!! Like you mentioned, it helps even just to feel like you are doing something about it ❤

    Reply
  3. Celeste

    I’m that weirdo who likes January. I like the peace of it all after the frenzy of holiday stuff. I like making soup because it’s the only time of year it sounds good. The ones with some greens in them ( Italian Wedding, Caldo Verde) are some of my favorites. I love to grow amaryllis bulbs, which are being sold lots of places right now. They take zero effort, don’t mind a drafty window, and are just so hopeful. If you have two or three beside each other it’s like watching a race to see which will burst first. It’s also the only time of year I care for citrus, and the fragrance of it freshly cut is thrilling. Oh, this reminds me of an excellent book recommendation: “On The Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station” by Gretchen Legler. It was fascinating, and I loved the part about how fresh citrus was absolutely prized there.

    Reply
  4. Kathy Potvin

    THE SHORTEST DAY
    By Susan Cooper
    So the shortest day came, and the year died,
    And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
    Came people singing, dancing,
    To drive the dark away.
    They lighted candles in the winter trees;
    They hung their homes with evergreen,
    They burned beseeching fires all night long
    To keep the year alive.
    And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
    They shouted, revelling.
    Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
    Echoing, behind us — listen!
    All the long echoes sing the same delight
    This shortest day
    As promise wakens in the sleeping land.
    They carol, feast, give thanks,
    And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
    And so do we, here, now,
    This year, and every year.
    Welcome Yule!

    Reply
  5. Suzanne

    Something I do to try and stave off winter: I buy “summer foods.” You know. Like, a really expensive box of blueberries or strawberries. Or I have a salad with avocado and corn on the cob. I realize this is dependent on produce available in one’s market, but I find it so bolstering to, like, grill chicken when I’ve tired of eating soups and stews and root vegetables. This may be why I have an uptick in stir-fry cravings during the winter, who knows. All those colorful veggies seem so summery and bright.

    Reply
    1. Swistle Post author

      If you go to Amazon.com or Target.com and search for “face mist” or “facial spray” you will find all these bottles of things you are supposed to spritz onto your face periodically throughout the day to keep you dewy and fresh and ever-youthful! I have the Oil of Olay Cooling Mist, the Burt’s Bees Hydrating Facial Mist, and a sample of SheaMoisture Green Tea Soothing Toner and Hydrating Mist. I don’t know if they work per se, but they are another of those “I am DOING SOMETHING!!” items.

      Reply
  6. Shawna

    I realize that this is not a practical solution for many people, but we do a week somewhere warm in late January / early February every year. As soon as Christmas is over it becomes our main focus and breaks up the winter for us. I scrimp and save in many, many ways, but I never begrudge doing a winter vacation and always fit it into our budget.

    I’ve also turned up our baseline “home” temperature on our thermostat by a degree this past year. I read an article stating that people with warmer houses tend to be more active and not hide under blankets and so are a bit thinner and that was all the excuse I needed.

    Reply
  7. Samantha

    What about browsing recipes now, printing them out, and sticking them to your January calendar. Maybe one a week or so. Especially dessert or appetizer type things that will feel like a treat worth making and looking forward to.

    Reply
  8. KC

    I’d also note that January also comes with an onslaught of commercial advertising and communal pressure for things like Juice Cleanses and all the other things that people feel vaguely guilty about not doing. So, like, know who you are, know who you aren’t, know who you want to be becoming, and shut those voices down when they aren’t actually in line with your “core values” or whatever. I have personally found that having One Aspiration for the new year, if it is something achievable, can be really mood lifting, but if I set myself up for failure, it is… not fun.

    (and I grinned when I saw basil. I really do love growing basil. :-) And also that someone *actually read* my comment!)

    But yes! I sent a January Cheering Present Box to a friend who struggled with post-Christmas depression and it was at least a great deal of fun to pack up. I strongly endorse trying out the post-Christmas treat dosing strategy. :-) (the previously-mentioned stickers might be another good option?)

    Reply
  9. Alexicographer

    Oh! I read the early comments on the last post and did not go back and read the later comments, partly because the earlier ones were mostly (at least as I recall) of the “With you!” type, and while I am not not with you, I am (a) not too badly affected by winter (b) live somewhere where it’s reasonably mild/short, usually and (c) vacation a bit south of where I already am for about a week right after Christmas — which isn’t actually ideal in terms of timing, but is workable, so I didn’t really feel I had much to gain or contribute from that conversation.

    But upon reflection, something we have that I love for minimizing one annoying aspect of winter — and maybe you do too already, but maybe not — is a heated mattress pad. I do not like electric blankets, but have owned at least 3 of these over the years and LOVE them. Well, some more than others — some get warmer and those are the ones I love most and our current one, unfortunately, is not the best we’ve owned in that regard, but all the same — getting into a warm, as opposed to a cold, bed at night is such a thrill (I use mine before I’m in there and then turn it off when I get in. I do also have a good down comforter, so once I’m in there generating heat, keeping it warm is not a problem).

    Also: I love, and make, hot chocolate in the evenings in winter, and also love (but rarely make) either mulled cider or mulled wine — both the smell pervading the house and the flavor.

    Reply
  10. Kate

    I love all this! Here’s another thought- think of us down here in Australia where Christmas falls in summer so everything is cheery and festive and sunny and holidays all at once.
    But in winter, there is no Christmas; and there’s not even a public holiday long weekend between June (starting to get really cold) and October (only just started getting warm again).

    Reply
  11. Claire

    So technically Christmas begins on Christmas day and then you have the 12 days of Christmas which ends with Epiphany on January 6th when supposedly the Wise Men arrived with presents for Baby Jesus. In Catholic areas, Epiphany is a big deal with a lot of parties. It also ushers in the season of Epiphany which more people know as Mardi Gras season. Ending of course with Mardi Gras or the day before Ash Wednesday. Then you have Lent which is penitential and the real dregs of winter.

    So your 12 days of presents after Christmas makes perfect sense. Sort of how you wanted a big celebration right around the winter solstice.

    Reply
  12. Rose

    A favorite thing for me in the winter is my window crystals for wall rainbows. I’ve got a lot of south facing windows and I have a few dangling crystals hanging in one and on sunny days especially around the solstice it’s rainbow city. Super bonus is my young kids are still absolutely adorable about it. The actual “crystals “ are pieces from hanging chandeliers that my mom picked up at antique stores.

    Reply

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