coping mechanisms

Winter has arrived in Boston. The backyard trees have nary a leaf left, our temperatures this week will reach no higher than the 30s, and as I walked home a couple nights ago, the first snow flurries fell, dancing in the headlights of passing cars.

I like autumn better, but I don't mind winter so much. I wholeheartedly embrace that crucial strategy for weathering winter: to out-cozy it.

Whether from the outside in, with colorful cashmere sweaters, dapper wool coats, and stylish scarves and gloves. (Thank goodness for J. Crew's constant sales and promotions.)

Or from the inside out, with cups and cups of hot chocolate and tea or nourishing servings of comfort food. This week I'm enjoying this decadently delicious mac and cheese, served with a side of steamed broccoli to add a little virtue.

In addition, self-observations have revealed, of late, another approach for dealing with winter.

To protect nicks and cuts on chapped knuckles, I chose these unabashedly adorable Band-Aids.

And to soothe dry noses (feline and human), I was drawn irresistibly to this pulchritudinous pachyderm.

From which I declare Strategy #2 for coping with winter: to out-cute it.

(pretty photo of macaron and hot chocolate by fruitcakey, on Flickr)