Back to normal

It is the first Monday after New Year’s Day and things are back to real life again. When Christmas and New Year’s are in the middle of the week, it just seems to me that things aren’t normal again until the Monday after. I know businesses are open, people are at work, but to me it feels kind of surreal — like I can’t figure out what day it is and what I should be doing. 

The last couple of weeks have been quiet at our house. For Christmas dinner, we had a fire in the fire ring and cooked hot dogs. We had them with chips, baked beans and toasted marshmallows. It was just a little chilly to eat outside, but it was sure fun. Some of the kids came out and joined us, which made it a really fun, relaxing day. 

On New Year’s Day, Angie and I went to a friend’s house for lunch and had a great visit with them and the other people who showed up for a finger food lunch. It was also a very relaxing day. After that, things started to get back to normal — sort of. 

The overcast weather has me as grumpy as a bear. I thrive on sunshine and blue skies. I need the sunshine, otherwise I get grumpy and kind of lethargic. When we lived in Missoula, it was overcast, foggy, plain cloudy or snowing, seemingly all of the time. One winter, the sun shined part of seven days in the whole month of January. I was an emotional mess. I think I spent the whole month eating caramels and sitting with a blanket around me, reading books. Of course that was also the first winter I had ever spent away from home and I was horribly homesick. The fact that we weren’t getting any sunshine only made it worse. 

The next winter was worse, but about halfway through it I heard a radio program outlining the symptoms of a fairly new condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. After hearing that, I knew there was something causing me to be so, well, sad! But I also got some tools to help conquer it. They weren’t quite to the point of realizing it was caused by a deficiency of Vitamin D at the time, but now I know what helps. Back then, I knew I needed social interaction and to get out of the house into the fresh air, sunshine or no sunshine. It was then that I took up cross-country skiing. I didn’t go long distances, just around the trailer court, or on the trail of the smoke jumper’s center, which was right next door to the trailer court. I would ski maybe an hour or so a day. It helped a lot, but I still disliked winter, which I had always loved before. I don’t mind winter now, I haven’t skied in years, I don’t think I even could anymore, but I have always enjoyed walking in the winter.

When I come back from a long walk in the cold, bracing air, I like a good cup of old-fashioned hot cocoa. Not the stuff that comes in a packet, but old-fashioned cooked-in-a-saucepan hot cocoa. 

Hot Cocoa 

from the Household Searchlight Cookbook, Copyright 1945

3 tablespoons cocoa

¼ cup sugar

dash of salt

2 cups boiling water

2 cups whole milk, scalded

Combine cocoa, sugar, salt and water. Cook from 3-5 minutes over direct heat. Add milk. Beat with a whisk, serve hot. Top with marshmallows or whipped cream. (Actually, my favorite topping is a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.)