January is a month that is lovingly welcomed in our home. Perhaps because three of our birthdays all fall during this month, but also because we very much enjoy the opportunity to calibrate intentions for the year ahead. Despite typically being a month of slower living following the fast-paced holiday season, I’ve discovered that this first full month of winter has been quite busy in recent years. And it is within this buzz of activity that my appreciation for the nuances of this cold month originate. 

Returning to work after my first maternity leave in 2020, moving from Ohio back to Upstate New York in 2021, giving birth in 2022, and now celebrating three birthdays in our immediate family, January has felt quite busy. Arriving at the realization that Januarys may feel quite eventful for the rest of my life given these birthday celebrations alone, I have come to appreciate the peacefulness that coincides with deep snowfalls and extra cups of tea, and finally getting to settle into this winter season.

Here we seem to lean into hibernation as best as we can, pulling books down from the bookshelves, snuggling under blankets, watching a movie or two on a slow morning or evening. Hot bowls of homemade soup, a few celebratory home-cooked birthday meals paired with a bottle of red wine, perhaps even making the time for a long bath…these are all highlights of the winter season that December typically doesn’t afford us the time to partake or fully appreciate. 

In January, we take note of the shifting sun as it gently pours into our kitchen in the early morning and floods it again in the late afternoon. The sun’s warmth serves as a reminder of travel and adventure. We look to books and art to inspire far-away places that seem even further away as we’re often snowed in, and know that extensive travel is likely not in our books for another few years as we soak up this time at home with little ones. 

And with thoughts on travel, we consider learning about new places, and fill any silence in the month with opportunities to learn and grow. And as we reflect and think of the year that lies ahead, in January we dream.