13 Things I Love About Winter

Hello My Lovelies,

I hope you are all doing well and are having a wonderful festive week so far. So, yesterdays was the first official day of Winter and with only a few days left to go until Christmas I could't be more excited. Back in October I put together a little post all about the '13 Things I Love About Autumn' and I received such a great response from you all that I thought that it was only fitting to continue on through the next season. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I am not really bias when it comes to the different seasons because there are things I absolutely adore about them all, including the beautiful sunshine throughout the summer time, the falling leaves in autumn, layering up with cosy clothes and more! So, in honour of Winter I thought I would put together a few reasons why I love it so much.

1. Crisp and Frosty Mornings

Now, I am not always a morning person because I love my sleep and my cosy bed but there is something just so beautiful about crisp and frosty winter mornings. Once I've gotten over the fact that  I have to get up I absolutely love looking out the window to see what Jack Frost has been up to throughout the evening. Seeing that glistening sheet of frost on the pavement, plants and cars is just so pretty and brings back so many childhood memories for me. I'm up around 5:30 - 6:00am every morning for work and when the dark mornings are at their peak it proves to be a little more difficult but it just means that I get to see the frost unravel on my morning commute.

2. Baths, Baths and More Baths

I mentioned this in my Autumn post and I could't not mention it in the Winter edition. As the weather cools down there is nothing I love more than indulging in long bubble baths. With the transition into Winter this is the perfect opportunity to stock up on all of your favourite Lush bath goodies, including their festive collections and treat yourself to some much needed 'me' time.

3. Winter Woolies

As much as I love my summer wardrobe I do love switching things up and layering up my favourite cosy knits, turtle neck tops, faux fur gilets, fuzzy socks, boots and more. I can't wait to whip out my favourite hats, scarves and woo lie headbands.

4. Winter Wonderland

If you follow me on Snapchat then you will know that I was in London a few weeks ago and stopped by Winter Wonderland. It's become a yearly tradition to stop by and we've been doing so for around 4 years now - I just love it there! From the yummy food, to the cheesy game stalls, rides and more it just doesn't feel like Christmas until we've made our annual stop.

5. Christmas Markets

One thing I've never really done that I would absolutely love to do is visit some Christmas Markets. I've stopped by the stalls at Winter Wonderland but I don't think I've ever been to a real Christmas Market. Like the ones in South Bank in London or the ones in Germany or Berlin. If you have any advice or posts on Christmas markets then please let me know!

6. Christmas Playlists

Now, ever since I saw Justin Bieber live at the O2 back in November I haven't been able to stop listening to his playlist on Spotify - he's my guilty pleasure haha! However, at work and when I don't have my spottily streaming I just absolutely love that their are tonnes of festive tunes around at the moment. There are a mixture of oldies and newbies and I'll hold my hands up and say that I love them all and can't help but sing a few cheeky lines every time they come on the radio. Everyone in the office kept saying how it was 'too early' for Christmas songs at the beginning of December but honestly, the sooner the better for me!!

7. It's Movie Season

Like I mentioned in my Autumn post, all of my favourite US shows start up again around this time of the year, however, usually just before Christmas they all go on a break...yup, not cute at all! The one time I have time off and they all go on a break *cries*. So, with that being said it's the perfect opportunity for you to have cosy movie nights in and I recently posted on how to have the ultimate girls night in! Since being off for Christmas I have watched a handful of movies that have been on my watch list for months and they've been some of my favourite evenings. If you have any recommendations please leave them in the comments below!

8. Calories? What are they?

If you read my Slimming World post then you would know that at the beginning of the year I started my Slimming World journey but admittedly I haven't been completely on plan since I got back from Dubai this summer haha. So, I've decided to start back up again in the New Year and give myself some space to nor worry about calories over Christmas time. I mean they don't count at Christmas right?! Everyone who knows me personally will understand how much I LOVE food. I mean, I have a major sweet tooth but I genuinely love comfort food too. I can't wait to prepare more warming dishes like hearty porridge, sheppards pie, stews, lots of pasta dishes (I'm Italian and we eat pasta all day everyday haha) and of course, sweet treats like Eves Pudding, cherry crumble and more! I am still on a semi-health kick but that doesn't mean you can't treat yourself...it's all about balance.

9. Festive Candles

If you have been reading my blog for quite some time then you will know how much I love candles. I will light them all year round but as soon as Winter hits thats when it starts to get real serious. I start whipping out all of my festive favourites from Yankee Candles like Mandarin Cranberry, Christmas Cookie, Christmas Eve and more. Candles are all rounders for me because they help create cosy ambiance, mood lighting and of course, beautiful aromas that fill the room. Also, as a blogger they also come in super handy for blog photography too haha.

10. Decorating the Christmas Tree

When it comes to Christmas and decorating the Christmas tree I become so traditional! Admittedly I have been a little late the last few years due to work commitments, however, when it's finally done I become the happiest person in the Meola household. Last Sunday I took the morning out to build and decorate our tree and I was so pleased with the final look and feel. Throughout the years we have collected an array of different decorations and each and every one of them has a special meaning or memory. For example, we have some from when I was a baby, we collect the Harrods baubles with the year stamps and we also have some cute decorations from Macy's that we got in New York last year.

11. Family Time

With the festive season just around the corner Winter is the perfect opportunity for you to spend some quality time with you family and loved ones. I work full time outside of my blog and this year I made sure to take the week before Christmas off to ultimately de-stress, spend time with my family and get ready for the lead up to Christmas.

12. Holidays Are coming

What is Winter without Christmas?! When pretty much everything we have spoken about above come into play then you know for sure Winter is here and Christmas is just around the corner. I am such a big kid and I enjoy the festive season so much. From the Christmas adverts (I absolutely love Marks & Spencer's and Heathrow Airports the most this year), Christmas shopping, wrapping all the presents, all the glitter, Christmas jumpers, red lipstick and more. I can't wait to enjoy Christmas 2016 and see what it has in store.

13. New Year Resolutions

New Year, New Me! I love reflecting on the past year and then setting out goals for myself for the brand new year to come. I'll have a full post on this coming up on the blog really soon so make sure you keep an eye out for that.

I hope you all enjoyed this wintery inspired post - with all of the lovely comments around my Autumn post it was only a matter of time before I did a follow up and I really hope you enjoy this one too! There are a million and one reasons why I love Winter but I thought I would share 13 of my favourites. Like always lovelies, if you have any questions, requests or if you just want a chat you can contact me on my social media or leave me a comment below. I love hearing from you all and i make sure to read every single comment…they really make my day!

You can catch all of the Meola festivities on Instagram and Snapchat - @SophiaMeola

What do you love about Winter?

Lots of Love