Winter to Spring – April 2026

We made it through winter. Seriously. We made it through. It was a winter for the record books (and I wish I was just saying that or exaggerating, but no it really it was). We broke records this winter of ‘25-’26 (yes, I was going for a geezer moment there- indulge me in this, I just lived it- thank you kindly). 

This winter is going into the record books as the all-time coldest winter since temperatures started being recorded in Fairbanks (1904!!!). Being heralded as a sub-zero marathon of a winter, we spent 152 consecutive days below freezing, with 31 days of those at or below -40F. That would be the fourth highest amount of -40-degree days in a single winter. 72 of those 152 days were spent at or below -20. It was WILD to experience that’s for sure. Sadly, yes sadly, we only tied the record for the latest “first day above zero”. On top of that, we got 92.6” of snow, which is the 12th snowiest winter on record. 

All that to say…winter was not terrible. It was a thing to experience. 

When we moved up here, I said I was excited to experience an “Interior Alaska” Winter. I wanted to feel it all- from the darkness, to the frigid harsh temps, to the snow; I wanted the full experience…and I got it.From Winter Solstice Celebrations, to eating dinner with a moose, to seeing both light pillars AND The Northern Lights, to experiencing extreme cold and Ice Fog, to going dog mushing. Winter offered a little bit of everything and I honestly loved every minute of it. So, let’s break it down and talk about what life and the weather looks like now.I’ll pop some pictures in so you can experience some of it too.

First off, the darkness. Yes, it’s true we get down to the point where we only have about 3 hrs. and 30-45 minutes of “daylight”. Yes, that is INSANE to experience…and yet it’s also so cozy. We break out the sun lights first thing in the morning to help us get up and go and re set our circadian rhythm. At night we cuddle up on the couch with all the lamps and cozy lighting you can imagine and hunker down. Life moves slower, more intentionally. There isn’t any “let me just run out for this” and yet you never really feel stir crazy. The Northern Lights are OUT and out constantly. We could see them some nights from our windows and would just lay and watch them. We have fireworks in the dead of winter- in fact the Winter Solstice Celebration is one to experience and to remember.

When the daylight comes, most of the time it is full sun. If it’s sunny it’s a dry cold and it’s bearable. Bundle up in all your layers and go outside for 5-10 minutes. It resets you. You may only see that sun for 3 ½ hours, but you’re seeing that sun. It’s incredible. 

Then there’s the snow. Yes, it’s a lot of snow. Yes, it compacts on the road and for 4-6 months you’re driving on compact snow mixed with gravel and ice and no pavement. Yes, it means you have to get used to how your car handles in those conditions or look at getting different tires. BUT it’s beautiful. It’s white. It’s pristine. It’s crisp. It’s literally like living in a snow globe while it’s snowing. The amount of time I spent in my window seat just watching big white flakes come down…unreal. The snowblower was definitely a necessity just for the sheer relocating purposes of all the snow. It was wonderous. 

Finally, there’s the extreme cold. I will admit- there are times when this feels brutal. I did hit a brief period where I just wanted winter to end. I was tired of the cold, I wanted to wear dresses again, and I just wanted to be able to get out. Thankfully this only lasted, at most, two weeks and right in the middle the worst of the cold broke and we started to see more reasonable temperatures. The thing to note about Interior Alaska is it’s very dry.  So, the cold is very dry. Which, in turn, makes it very manageable. Am I saying I want to live at -40F forever? Absolutely not. Am I saying, that -40 is wild to experience and I’m glad I got to? Absolutely. 

Something I will forever remember is that with -40 temps, comes the fog. The frozen fog. This thick, can’t see half a foot in front of your face fog that doesn’t let up. It’s like being in a horror movie, but in a cool way because you can only experience it by being here and experiencing it. We had several days of this (and in hindsight probably contributed to my winter irritation when it came back around for a second go) and it’s not something I will be forgetting anytime soon. 

So, now that winter has “passed”, what does it look like? Well…almost the same. We still have snow everywhere, though our big berms are being taken down as part of the snow removal efforts (to ease and quicken clean up), the roads are, for the most part, pretty clear to drive on (so no more driving on hard pack snow and ice), and the temps are very slowly rising…though what would have felt warm this time last year is now very different. We’re in the low forties for our highs every day and its very much a “leave the jacket inside” temperature at this point for us. I’m not quite breaking out all of the sundresses, but I’m in some sort of long sleeve dress almost every day OR a jeans/tee/sweater combo. I’ve been known to utter the words “I’m so flipping hot today” several times over the last couple weeks. We’re starting to see some {dead} grass, which is a comfort, and our daylight hours are extending noticeably (as I’m writing this, we are well over 14 hours of daylight). There is a lightness around- like everyone is coming out from the winter hibernation, fresh and ready to start again. Life is coming back, and you can feel it from the longer days to the warmer temps, to the smile and lightness afoot in everyone.

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A Magical Winter

Winter can be rough. No matter where you are located (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) the days are shorter, they tend to be darker, its colder and we all tend to enter a bit of a hibernation. It’s funny as I never really thought of it that way- but, like many animals, we do tend to hibernate in the winter in some form. Whether that means that we just stay home more, stay inside, or if we actually struggle with a level of depression that tends to be present in those darkest months of Winter. And with that hibernation can come a level of…stagnation. There is so much “staying put” that it envelops us and tends to not only just affect what we do, but also how we think and feel. Seasonal Depression (technically called Seasonal Affective Disorder of SAD, but I’m shortening it for the purposes of this post) is a very real thing and a very common thing. 

How we deal with Seasonal Depression is such a personal thing. For some it requires a level of medication, for others natural remedies, and for some a combination of different things. For me, I’ve found that making an intentional shift to my morning routines, to my outlook, to what I eat and do really helps. 

I don’t know that I had ever dealt with Seasonal Depression prior to our move to Germany. And it wasn’t Germany’s fault that I got it- we just happened to get these super thick foggy weeks (yes weeks, not days) where you couldn’t see past your car hood, and it would just sit. Unmoving. I was driving home one day from playgroup with the boys and the direction my thoughts went was…unheard of for me. It crept up on me and, until my brain cycled through that, I didn’t realize that it was actually Seasonal Depression. 

It wasn’t that I didn’t think I would ever deal with Seasonal Depression, it was that I was such a gloomy day kind of girl. I love a soft rainy day, overcast skies, cooler temps (and by cooler, I mean like 60’s- let’s not go crazy)- all of this spells the perfect day for me. HOWEVER, when you go weeks with this thick unending fog, gloomy gray taking over everything and everywhere…well let’s just say even the gloomiest of weather girl gets out of sorts. And boy, I got way out of sorts. 

I learned a lot that year, about Seasonal Depression, about what works for me and what doesn’t, and then how to prepare and work through it for future years. I will say, I am very blessed in that I deal with this in a very mild way. Most of my issues just are general mood and sleep issues. I’ve found and learned and talked through intentional ways to “trick” myself (which we’ll get into) and make this work for me. However, if you are dealing with Seasonal Depression, it’s always a good idea to talk with a therapist and figure out what works best for you. 

For me, there is a lot of intention that I put in for the winter months. I’m already a “make the mundane magical” kind of person, but this really amps up in the winter (though to be fair it’s really just amped up across the board since coming back to the States). It starts when I wake up in the morning…

One of those things I struggle with in the winter is sleep. I tend to oversleep or have very little energy to actually get up in the morning. As this goes on, I can fall into the trap of becoming a bit of a night recluse, though that tends to come later when the real overstimulation hits. A lot of my morning issues boil down to the fact that there is no light. When I wake up in the morning it’s dark, throughout the day it tends (in our area) to stay very gray, and then all of the sudden it’s dark again before dinner time. Very dark. I’ve been looking at a variety of sunrise alarm clocks, and while I still need to buy an actual one some point in the near future, this year I did get a small light that is movable that I was able to set up as a makeshift sunrise alarm clock. I picked up THIS little light and one of the settings you can program is a sunrise to go off when you’re alarm clock goes off. It’s not quite a sunrise alarm clock as those mimic the sunrise much better, typically over an hour or so, this one cycles through the brightness and colors in about a minute and a half, but it does the trick in a pinch! 

In order to combat the overwhelming urge to just snuggle under and stay in bed, I will give myself 5 minutes post alarm (10 minutes if I’m sick/slept poorly/whatever), then I sit up, turn my actual lamp on, and turn my phone upside down. Since I’m already sitting up, a full light is on, I might as well just get out of bed and get going- mind tricks at their best. My body, my mind, and my soul truly appreciate the extra quiet time in the mornings to prep myself before the kids have to get up. 

Another trick that I play on myself is to properly get ready for the day, even if I’m not going anywhere (this is absolutely not the first time I’ve shared about this phenomenon). This is a twofold situation- the first is that I always feel better when I’m at least a little put together, the second is that if you trick your body and mind into thinking something is happening, you’ll actually make things happen. For me personally, if I stay in sweats all day or pajama clothing, I tend to do very little and, as someone who NEEDS to be at least somewhat productive, this is a problem. So, I pick out an outfit that works for how I’m feeling and then I’ll figure out how to make it work for the weather (as sometimes I just cannot bring myself to wear jeans). Once I get clothes on, throw a little dash of makeup on and fiddle with my hair, I put some soft music on my phone. 

I’m a big music person- it sets the mood, can change the mood, can alter my thoughts and feelings. Most mornings it’s a soft playlist (Romanticize Your Life), a mixture of classical, movie scores, and a couple of songs that just speak to my soul. I will play it through a Bluetooth speaker once I get downstairs and the soft melodies really drift through the downstairs and create a calm, cozy atmosphere.

But, honestly, the most important thing I do for myself in the winter is work on feeling like those little moments, the first cup in the morning, watching yet another snowfall from my backdoor, spending way too much time inside my house, are actually the most magical moments. Really just marveling at what winter DOES offer, rather than what I’m losing when it’s gray for days on end and I can’t always step outside for a long walk in the woods (which I technically could still do, but most of the walking paths aren’t maintained in the winter, so it requires snowshoes and full gear). 

Even though I can’t necessarily go for the walks and fun things that I normally will do with friends when the weather is nice, I try to do other things. I’ll do a brunch charcuterie with a friend, or a reading date, things along those lines (I’m not a big gym go-er so I don’t “go workout” or walk the treadmill- though I have done that). 

I will tell you what I don’t do, or rather what I try to do less…spend time on electronics. I try to limit (as much as I can) my time on social media, my time on shopping websites (which tends to get bad in the winter), and my time watching tv/movies/YouTube. During winter I’ll fall into rabbit holes very quickly and will find myself spending hours rewatching, scrolling, whatever. Then I end up feeling worse than I did before (I know psychologically I am dissociating and all the rest of that, but I really just want to do less psycho analysis this year my goodness). I try to put my phone up at distances while I am doing other things, or just ignore it all together as much as I can. Again, not perfect (as my screen time would confirm), but it is something I tend to try to be more aware of in winter. 

You’ll notice I haven’t said anything about moving my body. It’s true that I’m a big exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise person- think hikes, walks, bike rides, and such, with a little yoga on the side. During winter outdoor walks are…difficult until they end up becoming impossible without fifty million layers. It’s also true that I’m a big believer that moving your body in some way is essential to your mental health (and your physical but you already know that). I try to move my body in some way 3 times a week. Typically, that ends up being yoga, but sometimes I try to throw a little cardio dance workout in there just to get my heartbeat going and the blood truly pumping. But I also don’t push it too much- if it happens then it’s great, if not there is another day to try. I’m always outside walking to and from the bus stop twice a day so there is something every day. 

I’ve written about romanticizing your life HERE and this is just a much bigger expansion of that. Our winter season here tends to be really bad in the January/February/a little of March time period- though I can fake it with March, pretending like Spring is coming (though it doesn’t here until late May), so I really focus on myself, my mood, and the little things during those times. It doesn’t always work, I still have rough days, but I find that it HELPS. And honestly, I’ll take any help I can get. 

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