Winter Blues Turn Green When You Add Yellow Sunshine

You would think (well, I would think) that I'd read more in the winter, the time of year I bury myself in a blanket on the couch until I must go to work or we run out of food. In fact, I was watching the Muumi cartoons with my daughter, and I was very jealous that these whimsical talking hippos went to sleep for the winter when the wind got cold, and woke to a beautiful spring, every year. Sadly, hibernation is frowned upon in the human species, so I trudge on half-asleep through the winter. But when the weather gets warm, I really wake up, and I spend every possible minute soaking up the sun (with SPF 30) while walking, swimming, or laying by the pool thinking about swimming, and reading! A great hold-over, though is these warm (40 degrees Farenheit is warm in February) days to gently nudge you awake before spring actually comes. So we did this:

And I saw my first hint of spring:

You may be thinking, "Um, pine trees are green all year, Anna." But when you are walking toward them and you hear a Rice Krispies sound above your head, and then you realize that the pine cones are cracking open to drop seeds...because it's almost spring!...well, that's a good day.

But if you are one of those people who appreciate the seasons as they come, we can still agree that these are great winter reads:

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, pictures by Mark Buehner
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, illustrated by Susan Jeffers

What do you read in the winter time, so close to spring?