Winter in the USA is a fun time for all. Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and other holidays are a big part of the winter season’s festivities but there are many other ways that this season can be enjoyed.

Although the cold and snow may not be everybody’s idea of fun, there are those for whom winter and the snow and cold is the best time of the year.  In the USA it means the start of the holiday season. For children and for adults, it’s a time when they can get outside and enjoy the activities that the snow has to offer.  Here are some ways to look at the winter holiday season as a time to have fun, enjoy romance and take part in fantastic and inexpensive outdoor activities.

Create Wintertime Memories

• Go sledding
• Build a snowman
• Have a snowball fight
• Make a snow angel
• Catch snowflakes on your tongue
• Collect pine cones
• Build a snow fort
• Read a favourite book from your childhood
• Make paper cut-outs of snowflakes
• Have tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich

Enjoy Traditional Holiday or Winter Foods

• Bake cookies and share them with your neighbors
• Drink some hot buttered rum
• Boil up some spiced cider or a pot of mulled wine
• Make a large batch of chilli
• Bake your favourite pie
• Drink some eggnog
• Make snow cream
• Make a cheesy casserole
• Bake cinnamon rolls
• Pop a bottle of champagne
• Place some peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate

Take to the Great Outdoors

• Ski the slopes
• Go ice skating
• Kickback in an outdoor hot tub
• Go snowshoeing
• Go sledding

Rest or Play in the Great Indoors

• Sit and cuddle with someone in front of a roaring fire
• Read a book while curled up under a blanket
• Wear fuzzy slippers in your home
• Complete a jig-saw
• Take a long warm bubble bath
• Shop online in your PJs for after Christmas sales

Just Because

• Watch the snow fall
• Hold a warm mug of chocolate milk on a cold day
• Wear mittens
• Mail a handwritten card to a friend you haven’t talk to in years
• Donate toys/food/clothing to local charities
• Breathe the smell of pine
• Watch a local hockey game
• Wear flannel Pjs
• On a chilly night listen to the wind howl
• Watch a local hockey game
• Volunteer in a soup kitchen
• Wear something red

Get into that Holiday Spirit

• Put up a wreath
• Decorate your home with colorful festive lights
• Decorate a gingerbread house
• Turn on the Christmas song radio station
• Admire the zaniest and the most beautiful of the neighborhood lights
• Throw a Superbowl party
• Listen to carollers
• Go to a holiday craft fair and buy a memento of this time