One thing I do each year that brings joy and allows me to remain grateful of the novel opportunities that come with each particular season is engaging in seasonally-specific books, movies, and activities. This always sets the time of year off to a great start and makes it much more fun; now that we are in the midst of the time of snowfall, log fires, and hot cocoa, we can finally enjoy some books, movies, and activities that are special to winter and make the season a little less bleak. Lots of these will be Christmas themed… if you’re missing Christmas as much as I am, hopefully these can act as joyous reminders!

Books

1. A Christmas Memory, Truman Capote

This short, comforting memoir details a childhood of Christmas traditions with family, but Capote doesn’t leave it as just a wholesome childish tale—he goes further, creating a thought-provoking escapade into family-life, growing up, and friendship.

2. The Call of the Wild, Jack London

London’s classic, written in 1903, describes the story of Buck, a loyal dog kidnapped from California and taken to Yukon to work in the arctic conditions. Buck’s story includes his discovery of a new pack in the wilderness and tells the tales of the bond and the love shared between a dog and his owner.

3. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer’s memoir recounts his story of taking on Mount Everest, an attempt to summit the legendary mountain that ultimately produces an unexpected, devastating outcome.

4. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Written in 1847, this novel shares the tales of two families of West Yorkshire and their strained relationship with protagonist Heathcliff. Although a difficult read, it is certainly a fulfilling one.

5. Let it Snow, John Green

A cheap but fun romance, Let it Snow connects three holiday-themed romances, following them through their adventures into the winter weather and intertwines them all for a jubilant, perfectly heart-warming ending.

Movies

1. A Christmas Story

A true classic, A Christmas Story, filmed in 1983, follows two brothers and their family as they navigate the season. This is a must-watch if you love classics and Christmas movies!

2. Home Alone

Who hasn’t seen Home Alone? Kevin McCallister was left home, alone, while his family is off on Christmas vacation. When local robbers discover that he is home alone, Kevin must be creative and come up with the best ways to fend them off until his family returns.

3. White Christmas

Filmed in 1954, Bing Crosby’s White Christmas follows a song-and-dance team that become involved with a sister act, unfolding into a wonderful vintage movie that brings on all the holiday feelings.

4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Admittedly a Thanksgiving movie, Planes, Trains and Automobiles describes the meeting of Neal Page and Del Griffith and their friendship that blossoms as they get stuck out of state with a canceled flight, simply desiring to be home for the holidays. Together, they attempt to reach home in time for Thanksgiving without going broke—or crazy!

5. The Polar Express

Awoken in the middle of the night, a boy sees a train outside of his window that takes his from his hometown to the Polar Express to see Santa and see his gift. The Polar Express is a true childhood classic that reawakens the child-like love for Christmas that we all once had.

Activities

1. Ice skating

Ice skating is one of my friends and I’s favorite winter activity, and there are so many great places near us: Bucks County Ice Sports Center in Warminster and Hatfield Ice Arena in Colmar are two that we love!

2. Movie Marathon

With all the movie ideas listed above, what’s better than a movie marathon? Get some popcorn, hot cocoa, and bundle up for a night of great films to get you in the holiday spirit.

3. Make a ginger bread house—but from scratch

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think anyone has the money this holiday season to drop $30 on a gingerbread house kit. Besides, what’s the fun in that? Grab some old graham crackers, marshmallows, and icing, and make a little village yourself with your friends and family.

4. Make homemade ornaments

Find some arts and crafts materials and create some beautiful designs for your tree this season! Whether origami, hand-sewn, or felt, making homemade ornaments is always such a fun activity to bring on the holiday spirit.

5. Go see a light show

It may be too late, but seeing the strings of lights, red, green, blue, and yellow is an activity that always brings such joy to my family and I. We always go to Koziar’s Christmas Village in Berk’s County, but we also have a lot of fun driving around random neighborhoods and checking out the local light displays.

If you didn’t have any winter-specific activity ideas, I hope this list provided you with some! With lots of snow days hopefully coming up in February, make sure to engage in some of these fun endeavors to make the rest of your winter truly wonderful.