It’s no surprise that it’s cold here in December, it is the North East of Scotland after all. I have been a little surprised as just how cold it is though. Quite often, I’ve noticed December is milder than November but not this year.

Things have gone from cold to freezing and it does have an effect on everything. Nobody wants to get out of cosy beds, hot drinks are welcomed as are bowls of soup or spicy curries. Gardening is put on hold as the frozen ground acts like a bodyguard for the soil and plants – making sure nothing gets near either. So, indoor tasks become a priority, as does the gratitude.

I go to my bed at the end of a cold day and I am grateful for the bed, the warm covers and the roof over our heads. I’m grateful hot drinks are only a flick of a switch away, as is increasing the temperature of the house. I can’t plant my bulbs but I’m grateful for the garden.

When I pull up the blind in the kitchen at the start of another freezing day, I make sure to appreciate the view: the frosted grasses and plants, the birds that come to our feeders, the dramatic light and so on. I admit, some days it can be more of an effort than others but then I remind myself I am looking at it from inside a warm house and not everybody is so lucky. At this time of year I often catch myself wondering how the animals and birds survive. I can’t help but marvel at their ability to do so. I then remember there are people struggling alongside those animals and birds. Peope who don’t have a warm bed to retreat to at the end of the day. People who see the same sorts of scenes I do but where I see ‘sparkle’, they see struggle. And so my gratitude for what I have and where I am becomes a priority.

I also make a point, when cooking those warming dishes to stop and smell the ginger. To take just a moment to appreciate that warming, exotic spice that gives such odorous pleasure and lifts the spirits on even the gloomiest of days.

Yes, I have a lot to be grateful for.