Is Winter the Season of Romance?

Does winter speak romance to you? Does it lighten your heart when the day begins with a sparkling frost under sharp blue skies and ends with a zillion stars studding an inky night? I love those brisk, invigorating days.

And I’m usually ready for winter, looking forward to evenings by the fire, cuddling up under a blanket on the sofa with a pile of to-be-reads waiting on the bedside or coffee table. I love it the first time I shrug into a warm coat and tug on a pair of boots, the first time I make a big pot of soup laden with vegetables and some good chicken or beef bones.

There were a few things different about this winter though, and maybe that’s why I’ve found the months between May and September (just a few days away!) have dragged. We moved house just before Christmas last year and our new home doesn’t have a fireplace. It’s a small home and very easy to keep warm with electric heating but I do miss the coziness of a wood fire. Although gathering firewood and dragging it upstairs in all weathers is a chore I don’t miss at all.

And yikes-despite tugging hard, I couldn’t zip my long boots over my calves! As everyone knows, it’s much easier to put weight on in winter than take it off so my chances of getting into a pair of long boots were way slimmer than my pre-winter calves. And so it’s proved. I had to buy a new pair of ankle boots and if I’m not careful a winter of meaty soup and chunky bread will fatten up my ankles as well.

But I think winter can be very romantic. Closing the curtains against the rest of the world, snuggling under the covers, sipping a mellow red (pinot noir for me!), lazing on a sheepskin rug. What do you think?