I am always trying to look at winter with a positive light – quite frankly its the only way to get through a dark and dismal Danish winter. To new expats I always say that the first part of winter in the run up to Christmas is lovely – with the sparkle of Christmas lights, beautiful Christmas decorations in the shops, the magic of Tivoli at Christmas, Christmas beers, traditional Christmas cookies and the list goes on and on. I warn that the new year and especially February and March are the tough times, no more sparkle, just endless dreary almost light free days ahead. In fact in January 2013 we had under 20 hours of direct sunlight in the whole month. There is a reason why many Danes go on holiday to hot places in the Spring half term break – to maintain sanity.

This year I am actually facing the winter with a little trepidation. It is only the third week of October and already I am wearing my winter coat, wooly hat and yesterday, furry boots and in all honesty I wasn’t too warm at all. If my winter clothes are keeping me warm now how will they actually work when the real winter comes?It was reported in The Local this week that there is some dispute amongst weather predictors about the forthcoming season. I don’t think we get lucky with either scenario – damp and dismal or freezing cold. Snow is preferrable to rain that is for sure. So if the experts can’t decide, we can at least stay hopeful but if this week’s temperatures are anything to go by I would say the predictions for a super cold winter looks to be the winner.
Here are a few posts to help you prepare for the winter –