As we made plans for our move I loudly proclaimed that, “I will never complain about being cold, no matter how cold it gets!” I repeated it many times on moving day when the temperature was 102 degrees in mid-April!
Now that I am living in the cold I have kept my promise and I have not yet complained about being cold. However, I am keenly aware of it and I am finding ways to take some of the bite off from this coldest time of year. I thought I would share a few of my techniques with you.
The first is a comforting cup of my mom’s homemade hot cocoa. In the far off days when I was still a child, we had a plentiful milk supply. My parents kept a cow at the bottom of our large property and my brothers took turns milking it night and morning. Many winter days at home were begun with a bowl of hot oatmeal and a cup of hot cocoa before setting off to walk to school. (Marshmallows melting on top were an extra treat that I still enjoy.)
Here is the simple recipe should you want to try it yourself.
Mom’s Hot Cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup water
8 cups milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
Mix sugar, cocoa, salt and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and let gently boil until the sugar is dissolved. Add milk and blend. Heat to desired temperature. Mix in vanilla. Serve.
Another way to cozy up winter is a warm hot water bottle at your feet. However, a friend recently gave me a much faster and easier substitute for this warming comfort.
She also made me a 4” x 22” corn bag to warm and drape across my shoulders and around my neck. Heaven!
She tells me these same bags can be kept in the refrigerator for comfort from summer’s heat in reverse—instant cool for heat relief. I would not want to try it now, but I believe her and I will try it next summer.
My friend buys a 50 lb bag of this corn from the feed store for filling her flannel bags—which she gives to all of her friends, but dry beans or rice could will work as a substitute for the corn. I would not recommend filling your flannel bag with popcorn—for obvious reasons.
My final cold weather neutralizer is familiar to all of us quilters—Bag Balm. I bought some at our local pharmacy recently—at the recommendation of the pharmacist—for healing cracked, dry skin on hands.
So I figured that if it is good enough for Shania, it is good enough for me, and I have been using it in the mornings on my face, neck and hands. It really works!
My hands are never dry anymore and they look like they belong to someone much younger. About my face, I really can’t say since at my age one cannot truly be objective about how young or old one may look, but the skin on my face and neck never feels dry anymore.
I hope you are staying warm this winter. Meanwhile, I am off to the microwave to re-heat my foot warmer.