Winter with a small child can feel like a long stretch of grey afternoons. The park is muddy, everyone is in three layers, and by half past three it is dark again.
But some of the loveliest moments I photograph come from this time of year. Not the big days out. The small, ordinary ones at home, when nobody is trying very hard and everyone is warm.
Here are ten things worth doing before spring arrives.
Take a walk in the frost
Early morning, before the sun has properly got going. Everything is stiff and white and your baby will want to touch all of it. Cold hands are a small price.
Drink hot chocolate by the fire
Or by a radiator, or under a blanket on the sofa. The fire is optional. The sitting still together is the point.
See the Christmas lights
You do not need a proper display. A drive through a village with the lights on does the job when your baby is small enough that everything is new.
Bake gingerbread biscuits
Expect mess. Expect most of the dough to be eaten raw. The photographs from these afternoons are always the ones parents keep.
Make paper snowflakes
Cheap, quick, and they stay in the window for weeks. Toddlers can hold the paper while you cut.
Build an indoor reading fort
Cushions, a blanket over two chairs, a torch. It buys you an hour and it becomes a thing they ask for again.
Go on a winter photography walk
Take your phone and photograph the ordinary bits. Wellies in a puddle, a red cheek, a hand in a glove. You will be glad you did.
Have a cosy film afternoon
Curtains shut, blanket out, in the middle of the day. There is no rule that says films are for evenings.
Make winter soup
Something warm on the hob makes the whole house feel different. Small hands can drop things into the pan.
Warm blankets and breakfast in bed
A Saturday, no plans, everyone still in pyjamas at ten. This is the one people remember.
None of these need booking, buying or planning. They just need someone to suggest them on a grey Tuesday.
If you would like the full list, I have made a free printable winter bucket list with forty ideas on it, indoor and out. Print it, stick it on the fridge, tick things off as you go.
