Falling into Winter

The cool weather is finally approaching. Here in South Carolina, unlike where I grew up in New Jersey, the winters tend to be mild. There's frost and maybe even some snow, but there won't be any blizzards and we'll measure the snowfall in inches (maybe even centimeters), not feet.

The mornings, though, are bitter, and the icy wind bites at me and my sister on our morning jogs. So, here are a few of my favorite things about cooler weather. These are things that I'm really looking forward to.

• The way that a warm bed feels like the most wonderful place in the world.

• Hot cocoa with mini marshmallows

• Slippers! Especially colorful ones. I may need to go shopping.

• Boots - especially really cute ones. I definitely need to go shopping.

• Wrapping up in a warm blanket, turning down the lights and watching a movie.

• Wrapping up in a warm blanket, keeping on the lights and reading a great book.

• Soup and Stew.

• Lighting candles. I feel like candles are a very "Christmas-time" tradition, so I rarely light candles in the summer. Only for birthdays, and those are totally a different kind of candle.

• When my nephew yells "Hey! I see my breath!"

• The awesome carolers who come by at Christmastime to my sister's neighborhood. We just discovered them for the first time last year. How we've been missing out!

• Crock-pot cooking

• Mittens, hats and homemade scarves.

• Cold weather is always a good excuse to buy more cardigans. And you can always use more cardigans.