Finding ways to appreciate the winter season
Praising the seldom-praised season we all know for its snow
As a Midwesterner, it is easy to dislike winter with the dropping temperatures and the never-ending snowfall that seems to pile up inch after inch throughout the season. I often surprise people when I position winter ahead of summer while listing out my favorite seasons in order, placing summer last. To me, for winter to be third place out of four is not meant to be a gracious award, in fact, it solidly places it in the losing category. It makes me wonder whether I am being too harsh on winter with what I think about the season. I find myself asking the rhetorical question, “What is there to like or enjoy about winter?”
The thing is, that question is less rhetorical than I think. Sure, some of us could come up with longer lists of what we like or enjoy about winter, but we should be honest with ourselves - every season has its downsides, just as every season has its joys. Sometimes, even what we perceive to be downsides can rather be upsides and something to be enjoyed about the season. Winter is no exception.
I will wholeheartedly admit that I would rather be too cold than too warm because it is easier to deal with. Fortunately, unlike air conditioning, clothing has existed since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden. It is by far easier to ward off the cold than it is to chase away the warm air of the summer. Summer is dead last on my ordered list of seasons from favorite to least favorite. I simply would prefer to be a bit on the cold side than to spend my days sweltering in the rising heat of summer. While some may acclaim the activities of summer, I would propose that winter activities can be more enjoyable. I would prefer sledding or building in the snow any day to playing catch or riding a bike.
There is really something interesting about snow. As a science student, it is particularly fascinating to recognize that every snowflake is unique and completely different from another, just like you and I. The only difference is that when snow does come around, the individual flakes are by far more populous than us. There is something to appreciate about how the properties of water combined with the action of freezing create the beautiful sculpture that we call snow.
While winter may seem mostly devoid of creation to us, it rather gives rise to parts of creation that we do not get to see during other times of the year. This state of sleep that the world enters into permits something that we often take for granted at breakfast, that once was sap from maple trees.
The snow may get in our way sometimes. It can keep us from traveling and doing the things that we would easily do at any other time during the year. However, winter, while being stubborn in its ways in this regard, still is something to appreciate. After all, some of the best memories that I have are of playing in piles of snow or of drinking a warm cup of hot cocoa. When we look at the blessings of the season of winter, we realize how even this season that is so often marked by cloudy days and bitter cold can still contain a source of hope and joy - even if that is a longing for when the snow disappears into the ground and the sun, once again, sheds its warm, bright rays.