25 Authors and their Favorite Winter Activities
25 Authors and their Favorite Winter Activities
25 authors share the winter activities they enjoy the most. Anything from ice skating, to curling up by the fire, to a tropical vacation, to making cookies. They tell their readers about it here.
Me? I love to ice skate. I was a competitive ice skater for almost ten years. Synchronized skating (like synchronized swimming but on ice) was my favorite - I much preferred to be out on the ice with my friends than have all eyes on just me. In college, I was a coach for the introductory synchronized ice skating team and it was probably one of my favorite jobs.
I don’t get to ice skate very often anymore. And as I get older I’m able to less of the jumps and spins I used to be able to do. But I still enjoy skating loops around an ice rink. This year I am hoping to make it to the ice skating ribbon at Maggie Daley park in Chicago. It’s been on my bucket list for years. This year I’m actually going to do it.
Gabrielle St. George
Outdoor— A moonlit walk in the deep crisp snow through the forest on my farm along the shores of Lake Huron.
Indoor— Curling up next to the woodstove with a steaming cup of herbal tea, and a great mystery novel, a cat on my lap and a dog at my feet.
Heather Frimmer
As a child, I was a competitive team ice skater. I can no longer do anything fancy, but I still enjoying lacing up my skates and taking several laps around the rink. Something about the cold air on my face and the ice sliding beneath my feet makes me feel relaxed and content with the world.
Laurie Buchanan
There's nothing more beautiful than the snow-covered Boise River Greenbelt. I walk six miles (in three two-mile stints) each day—rain or shine. It's an excellent way to clear the cobwebs from a writer's brain.
Nancy Stella
My favorite winter activity is making snow angels. When my children were toddlers they loved playing in the snow. I used to fuss about the mess it left in the house and just the yuck of getting wet. One year I heard their laughter when diving into snow with each other and the dogs as thing grew messier and messier. Their laughter melted my anxiousness. I could not help, but jump in and make snow angels with them. Each year there after we made snow angels. Now I can't wait to make snow angels with grandchildren!
Olivia Swindler
Skiing! I live at the foothills of the French Alps and I try to ski as often as I can!
Paulette Stout
I love winter and ours is filled with downhill skiing—nearly every weekend. Weekday mornings, I love going snowshoeing in the woods. Snow crunches underfoot while sun sparkles off the ice-covered trees overhead. I can see my breath already!
Maria Daversa
Hiking in the snow with my dog, Bono. For the past fifteen years, my husband and I have adopted senior shepherds and walking in any amount of snow can be dangerous, and painful, for an older dog. So, it has not been a sport we have engaged in often. But two years ago, as my own parents began to age, we decided to adopt a young dog that would more easily fit my lifestyle of traveling back and forth to a nearby state to visit my folks. I'd forgotten how much fun it was to watch a young dog run through the first snowfall of the winter! This, therefore, has become my favorite winter activity!
Jill Hannah Anderson
Curling! I curl women's league from October-March every year and it's a fun exercise that helps pass the time in our cold Minnesota winters.
Mandi Kane
My favorite winter activity is reading by the fire at my Dad's ranch in New Mexico while drinking cinnamon apple spice tea or hot cocoa. I love how quiet and peaceful it is there, and how I can truly unplug and enjoy the season and time with my family. It's my favorite place to be.
Kristine Klussman, PhD
My favorite winter activity is cooking the seasonal recipes I save to make only this time of year – like apple pie, pumpkin bread, and prime rib roast. Enjoying these dishes only once a year keeps them feeling special and exciting for us.
Diana Howard
My favorite winter activities used to be cross country skiing and sitting in front of a roaring fire sipping apple cider but since I now winter in Florida, my favorite activities are taking pictures along the ocean shoreline or in various nature sanctuaries and playing golf. I’ve always loved a good snowstorm but the brutal cold of South Dakota doesn’t work for us like it used to. I have written many poems that use winter in some way - mostly as a time for hunkering down, renewing spirit and eating Christmas cookies!
Sarah McCraw Crow
I love snowshoeing with my dog after a big snowstorm. We head out the back door, down the hill and onto the wooded trails behind our house. It's quiet, just the sound of my snowshoes squeaking on the snow, and if the sun's come out, the snow sparkles. I do some of my best writing on these trails. Plus it's a great workout, for me and my dog.
Penny Haw
South African winters are not as extreme as the season is in many other parts of the world. Snow falls sporadically and only in a few places in the country. When it does occur, it's a great novelty and South Africans flock to snowy spots like others head off to the beach. That said, Cape Town, where I live, is known as the Cape of Storms. We get most of our rain in winter when it is frequently accompanied by high winds. The sea rages and the rain is blown horizontal to the earth. Our winter storms can be spectacularly wild.
So, what is my favourite winter activity? I live on the slope of a mountain near the Atlantic Ocean and, when there is a lull in the stormy weather, I enjoy tucking my hair away, pulling on some boots, zipping myself into my rain jacket and taking my dogs for a walk with my husband.
We hike into the sand dunes and onto the mountain, where we typically have to lean into the wind to keep going. There's a track above the ocean that offers some shelter in places and a magnificent view onto the sand, rocks and crashing waves. We walk with the wind whisking our breaths away. It's invigorating, exhausting and life-affirming—particularly since I know that home is dry and warm and the reward is coffee and one or two of my husband's delicious apple pancakes.
Judy Prescott Marshall
Writing in my studio with a soothing cup of tea and watching the snow blanket the majestic Ten Mile River.
Melina Maria Morry
Besides baking my Grammy’s signature butter tarts and drinking rum and egg nog, I love skiing! When I was younger—and before everyone grew up and moved to different cities—my family used to rent a chalet on Mount Washington and go skiing together in the winter. It was so much fun to wake up with everyone in the same house, get bundled up together, and hit the slopes for hours, swishing through fresh powder. I loved it when the place we rented had a hot tub so we could soak apres-ski and soothe our sore muscles! My sister and I are trying to plan another mountainside escape after our babies are born and we can both ski again. I can’t wait to feel the icing sugar snow under my skis.
Gail Priest
My favorite winter activity is curling up in front of the fire with a cup of tea and a good book. If it's snowing, all the better. We had one all-day snow storm last winter. We had recently built a three season room on the back of the house. It is all windows. I cranked up the electric radiators out there, wore my winter coat, and snuggled with the dog under an electric blanket and watched the snow coming down for hours.
Luisa Livorno Ramondo
I have been blessed with three wonderful sons and for about the last 10 years I’ve had the pleasure of watching them play ice hockey on a very small pond we have in front of our barn in Berkshire NY. They play, they wrestle, they fight and they laugh and they do all of this with my husband. I absolutely love standing on the side of the pond and watching this beautiful event unfold in front of me. It’s something we do most winters when the ice is safe and thick enough to play on. It is one of the most glorious winter activities for me to watch!
Charlene Carr
A sledding day - out with my husband and daughter, then back home for hot chocolate and homemade cookies!
Clark Burbidge
Winter in Utah is fantastic. Not too cold, perhaps ten weeks of sub-freezing weather but rarely into the single digits, with weeklong warming trends mixed in with temps up in the 40s. If you're going to have winter, it is about the perfect place to have it. The snow is light, perfect for snow angels and skiing, and the state has plenty of snow removal equipment, so even on the worst days (I have seen up to 48 inches of snow in 24 hours on several occasions), the roads are cleared quickly. I have loved to downhill ski and cross-country ski for most of my life. Many of our children have enjoyed the sport as well. Leah and I enjoy having family over to make snowmen or sled in the yard (we have a little hill) or to go to one of the local schools or parks where the sledding is awesome and steeper. The bike trails are kept clear most of the winter, and I continue to ride my bike when it's not too icy. Layering up makes it warm and easy to do even into the 30s. My sweet wife enjoys baking and cooking warm and inviting treats and meals, and we love playing games together or with friends.
Lisa Barr
When you are an Empty Nester there is only ONE activity that matters in the Winter: that special holiday moment when your nest is FULL! I have three daughters -- one lives in New York, another in Downtown Chicago, and my youngest is finishing her senior year in Boulder. They are ALL coming home for the holidays -- first for Thanksgiving, and then again, from Christmas through New Years. Of course, my clean house turns into a shit-storm of strewn clothes and unwashed dishes and unmade beds and opened bags of food and friends in-and-out -- who cares -- I LOVE IT! Coming from freezing Chicago, my favorite moment is a light snowfall -- when my crew (daughters plus hubby and dog) lounge around in their sweats on the couch with a spread of non-Organic guilty pleasures on the coffee table watching our holiday faves -- Here's lookin' at you, LOVE ACTUALLY. It's my Cup-Runneth-Over Mom Moment.
Heather Mateus Sappenfield
Usually my fav winter activity is backcountry ski touring through the tranquil forests and snowfields of my home in Vail, CO, but this year it will be attending the SOVAS Awards Red-Carpet Gala at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC on December 19! For a mountain gal, it all feels surreal: My gown is ready, my fingers are crossed, in the hope that Micheal Crouch wins an Academy Award of voice acting for his narration of my story collection LYRICS FOR ROCK STARS! More info here: https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2021/10/18/barack-obama-tina-fey-julie-louis-dryfus-jamie-foxx-sandra-oh-maya-rudolph-headline-nominees-voice-arts-awards/
Heather Webb
My favorite winter activity is going for a long walk through the woods, or across a snowy field in my warm gear, and following it up with hot chocolate and a big pot of homemade soup.
Kristine Ochu
The holiday activity that I loved was our family talent show! I’m five out of six children with two brothers and three sisters. My brothers were off to college and the military when I was six years old so it was up to the girls to put on the show! My oldest sister would roll her eyes, groaning in agony as if she was getting a tooth pulled without anesthesia! While my other sisters and I would plan for days, excited to practice songs and choregraph dance moves!
My parents and grandparents would sit on the couch, with huge smiles as if this was a Broadway show they’d been waiting to see for years! My oldest sister would lead off with a poem or a depressing song, reflecting how she felt about this humiliating performance! While I would twirl into the room, in my ballet outfit, leaping and prancing around with dramatic gestures. My other sisters would sing and dance. At the end we all sang a song together.
When my daughters were little—the show continued on! They had three generations cheering them on! Last Christmas, I was blessed to see my four grandchildren ages 8, 6, 4 and 2 years old, perform, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"! It was hysterical as they forgot the words, did a little pushing and shoving and danced around. I was the one smiling this time knowing family was the best present of them all!
Wade Rouse/Viola Shipman
I'm making this a "twofer":
My favorite HOLIDAY tradition is decorating Christmas trees (yes, plural). I have thousands of ornaments and put up multiple themed trees. Each tub is filled with boxes of heirloom ornaments, including beautiful, delicate glass ones (lots of Shiny Brites) from my grandma (Viola Shipman, my pen name) as well as vintage bottle brush trees, snow globes, tree skirts, etc. We pause with each ornament and tell a story of where it came from, and it grounds me to family and makes my holiday and year complete.
My favorite WINTER activity is making beloved family soups, stews and desserts nearly every weekend. Winter's a time to cook and bake, and I have all of my family's old recipes and love the way the house smells when it's filled with my favorite foods. And I love to share it all over good wine with friends.
Jennieke Cohen
My favorite winter activity is probably baking (cookies, desserts, pastries--whatever takes my fancy at the given moment) and making homemade latkes during Hanukkah. Or, rather, eating the latkes! And, of course, cozying up in front of a fire when it’s cold out is always nice on long winter nights.
