The Cozy Joy Of A Snow Day

Or a quiet hour.

Nov 22, 2024

Hello, lovely! I’m Nospheratt and this is Joy Every Week - a weekly quest to find joy in everyday things. Enjoy! :)

It’s snowing again.

It started yesterday, softly, slowly. It was almost nothing, and I thought it wasn’t going to last. But it did—it kept going, getting stronger, until these big fluffy bits of nothing were falling from the sky.

And I can’t still fully comprehend it, wrap my head around it.

That I’m sitting here, writing, as I’ve done all my life, except I can see it’s snowing outside.

Close-up of a white windowsill. There’s a wooden lantern and a string of white balls, glowing softly, next to a blue mug. There’s snow accumulated in the outside of the window, and a few snowflakes cling to the windowpane. In the distance another window is illuminated by soft, yellow light.

It’s not the first snow I’ve seen, though I haven’t seen many. But it still breaks my brain.

Uruguay, the tiny South American country where I’m from, is mostly flat, a small group of grassland hills. We have cold weather, and what we call helada—frost. In winter, you wake up to white plants and fields, your breath mists the air, everything crisp and clear. But no snow.

Our neighbor countries have snow in the Andes Mountains, but I’ve never been.

Sometimes it snows in Madrid, where I lived from 2018 to 2020.

But the one and only day it snowed during that time, I didn’t get to see it. It only snowed in some neighborhoods, and it did snow in Chamberí—we lived exactly over the line that separates Chamberí from Malasaña—but I was somewhere else.

So, for me, snow is something from fairy tales, from the movies.

I never thought I’d someday live somewhere where snow is just a fact of life, just another thing that comes with the seasons, like flowers blooming in spring and the leaves falling when autumn arrives.

Except nowadays I live in the French-Swiss border, in a tiny French town. And it does snow here.

Last year was so hot it didn’t snow much on these parts. We got one day of real snow, I think, and then it was just the jumbled mess of watery mud that’s left when snow starts to melt.

That’s something the movies and fairy tales don’t tell you, by the way: how snow is pretty and pristine as long as it’s not trampled on, but as soon as cars start to pass by and people walk on it, it turns gray and eventually black.

That will come later.

But today… everything looks white and pristine. And quiet, so quiet. It’s something I’d never experienced before, the way the world feels quiet when snow is falling gently and there’s no wind. The quietness floats in the air, a blanket of soft silence. The air is cold, peaceful, and I stay still, breathing, heart full with slow contentment, with the beauty of this magical winter wonderland.

A cozy scene. There’s a mug resting over a sweater and a blanket, and in the background a fireplace glows warmly, next to a window. Outside there’s a pine covered in snow, blurred by the distance. Fairy lights are sparkling next to the fireplace and over the window.

A Pause

I had a lot to do - there’s always so many things to be done - but I allowed myself an hour to sit in the sofa and do nothing.

Disconnect.

Watch the snow fall. Think, and not think at all.

A cup of tea, a pen and a notebook. The last ginger cookies. A blanket and fluffy socks.

For an hour, I was transported to another world. Out of time, a place where I found a moment of peace.

I wish I could do that every day, but we both know that’s not happening. So how about planning for a snow day? Or even, like I did, for one hour of peace in a snow day?

I wrote down mine on my notebook:

Plan for a Snow Day

Tea + Round mug
- I have a thing for round bottom mug & glasses. That shape is so soothing and cozy. I own some similar to these.
Ginger cookies
- The ones I had on hand. Any cookies will do.
Journal, pens, pencils
Coloring book
- I recently got this color-by-numbers one and I love it. I like coloring books in general, but having the colors already decided for me is nice when I’m truly, utterly exhausted.
Playlist
- I mostly listen to the silence, but I like having some calm music queued in case I feel like it
Warm fluffy socks
Permission slip for a quiet ~~day~~ hour
- This was a mindset more than anything, but I’m going to make a pretty paper permission slip for next time. A tangible, visible reminder that it’s okay to take a little break, pause for a while, and not think about to-do lists and obligations.

This can easily be made into a joy box for snow days. 😉

This Week’s Quest - The Joy Of A Snow Day

Ideas & inspiration to find your joy.

1 - Make a plan

Like I did above. Keep it simple and easy:

A beverage
A snack
Something for cozy comfort
An activity, if you want. And try for offline things, so you can actually disconnect for a while.
Permission slip! Don’t forget your permission slip. Write it down on a piece of paper if it helps. 😊

If there’s no snow where you live, think about your favorite weather - rainy day, sunny morning, gloomy night, warm afternoon.

The point is to be ready to enjoy it when it arrives. To find a moment of calm connecting with the season—whatever that season is.

2 - Enjoy it!

That’s it. When the next snow day comes, enjoy it. Give yourself permission to take a break, be still, just… be.

If you can’t take the entire day off, try for an hour of quiet joy. It’s still amazing, I promise.

📚Reads

➡️ 20 Memory-Making Ways for Adults to Enjoy a Snow Day

When a snowstorm catches you off-guard and driving around isn't much of an option, you might have to wrack your brain for things to do. Thankfully, our list of things to do on a snow day for adults will keep you busy.

If you’d rather have a more active snow day, here are some great ideas.

➡️ How to Winter: Harnessing Your Mindset to Thrive In Cold, Dark or Difficult Times

Drawing on her extensive PhD research, and insight from cultures around the world, Leibowitz offers practical, easy-to-follow advice for transforming your experience of wintertime. What's more, she sets out how techniques used for shifting our mindsets around winter can also be used to cope with times of emotional difficulty.
Whether you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, or simply find yourself in an annual slump, How to Winter will help you learn to thrive in cold, dark or difficult times.

I’ve just started this book, but it feels like and ideal read for cozy, snowy days.

🎥 Watch

This doesn’t have anything to do with snow, but it gives me SUCH JOY that I have to share it. I’m a huge fan of the How To Train Your Dragon franchise and this looks amazing. I’ve cried watching this and the trailer.

Actually, How To Train Your Dragon is an excellent option for snow day marathons, now that I think of it. 😁 adds to plan

🎙️Listen

Tranquillium - Cello in the Rain by Nick Squires — Besides this Facebook video, this song is only available in the Calm app and I think it’s a shame, because it’s gorgeous and so full of wonder and tranquility. Nick has a Cello in the Rain album in Spotify, with other songs. It’s lovely, but Tranquillium is my favorite by far. It was the first one I added to my snow day playlist.

🌳 Quote

View of a park covered in snow. There are trees by both sides of a wide walkway, bushes and a bench, also covered in snow. Everything looks white and winter-y. Overlay text reads ““Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.” -Anamika Mishra

That’s It For Today!

Hope you find a moment of calm, some time for a pause, snow day or not.

If you enjoyed this post, please drop me a like/heart. It means a lot to me. ❤️

And tell me: do you enjoy snow days? Do you have any happy memories of being snowed in? 🙂

Until next time. —Nospheratt

Dr Ray Lightbown

Nov 23, 2024

Snow is magical. It is beautiful. Children like snow. I like looking at it but, as with many adults, who encounter it and deal with it every wnter, it can become a nuisance or challenge. I now live in the tropics (for 23 years ). I love your joyful approach to daily living.

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