Hot Chocolate and Cold Wintry Days

Today is a day for staying inside…..if you can. Fortunately, today I can stay inside; other than doing my chicken chores.  The girls do not require too much work at this time, other than feeding, watering, collecting eggs and keeping a path scooped through any snow that falls (they hate walking in snow), .

It sounds like the next few days, in our area, are just going to get colder and colder. The weather people are even telling us it will get to below zero wind chills the rest of this week. I am not looking forward to that at all! I can totally understand why some people flee this area in the winter and head south.

On days that are so cold the best thing you can do is “hunker down”. It is good to have some indoor projects to do on those days. With Christmas on it’s way; it is no problem finding things to do indoors.

The days are much easier to take when you are on the inside of your house looking out the windows. Being outside in this weather is really no fun at all. That wind actually hurts your face if you are out there too long.  Years ago a weatherman reminded us to forego our pierced earrings on those extremely cold days as they would just freeze our earlobes faster because of the metal.

I googled and found out it is only 97 days till Spring!!  Woo Hoo!! I told my husband this and he laughed……he informed me that technically it is not even winter yet.  Nuts…….that means there is still a lot of time for wind chills, ice, snow, snowdrifts, scooping snow, stoking the woodstove, scooping more snow, cold wind chills, scooping more snow…..you get the idea.  That TV program Survivor has nothing on us.

I have a feeling that surviving the winter is what makes the arrival of spring and summer so welcome. I also know that the older I get, it seems like the colder I get. Our folks used to tell us this and we never really believed them. Somewhere along the line they just keep getting wiser and wiser.

To make this season a little more bearable I  usually try to have some Hot Chocolate Mix on hand for the cold days. It is very easy to make and you end up with a large batch.

Hot Chocolate Mix
8 quart box powdered instant  non-fat milk
2 pound box Nestle’s Quik
2 cups powdered sugar
11 ounce powdered coffee creamer
In a large bowl mix all ingredients together.
Store in a covered container
Use 4 teaspoons to a mug of hot water.
(more or less  teaspoons to taste)

Making a batch of this might also be a great gift idea for a teacher, friend or someone you just want to give a little something too.  You could package it with a mug and some mints or marshmallows. I do know it also tastes wonderful with a little mint chocolate piece melted in your cup or if you put marshmallows in it.

There is really something very comforting about curling up in a blanket, sitting in your favorite rocking chair in front of the wood stove, with a cup of this hot chocolate in hand. If you manage to have a good book to go with this; the cold weather is not so hard to take. If you have a friend or your spouse sitting next to you, it is even better.

May the coming winter season treat you kindly and may you find blessings in the waiting for spring to return.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.”
― Edith Sitwell

(My blogging day mug was a birthday gift this year….pretty cool right?)