My Winter Plans (And Why I Created a Seasonal Planner)
Hello, my friends!
It might still be autumn, but I’ve already started thinking about my plans for winter. Autumn is my favourite season, but winter has its moments as well. All the joyful cosy moments are still there—I’m just not a fan of how cold it gets and how short the days become. Simply because our bills go up! We use so much more electricity during winter, but that’s life.
I still enjoy those cosy nights in, getting to wrap up in blankets and drink extra cups of tea. Maybe a hot chocolate or two.
Winter is a great time for resetting. The new year is just around the corner, so I start thinking about what I want that year to be like. December is for wrapping up the year, celebrating the ending with festive gatherings and delicious hearty meals. January has always felt like a bit of a lull to me—like I’m winding up for the year ahead. February is when I start to get some momentum again. Spring is on the horizon, and everything feels brighter.
Winter Projects I’m Excited About
This winter I have a few projects I’d like to get stuck into.
First up: our cats need a new, prettier space for their litter trays. We’ve been keeping them inside this tent thing in the living room, and it desperately needs some beautification. I have my eye on these cat litter cabinets on Amazon that would really suit the room and make the place so much tidier.
My creative projects for the season will be a new design for my planner and creating my reading journal for 2026. I have a few ideas buzzing around at the moment that I need to refine.
Books, Movies & All Things Gothic
I really want to read more this winter. Winter is a great time for reading with how long the evenings are. There are so many books I want to read, but I would really love to explore more gothic literature this season.
Gothic and winter go so well together. I can just picture windy ruined castles, dark forests, and wandering ghosts already!
Those vibes, please!
Gothic Books on My TBR
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- The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Libro.fm describes this book as “folk horror meets dark academia in this thrilling supernatural mystery” I mean, enough said!
- Anathema by Keri Lake – Not gonna lie, the cover has me sold on this one, but it also sounds like an alluring dark fairytale that has all the vibes I want this winter.
I would also love some movies with those vibes, but I’ll likely continue rewatching Supernatural. I started rewatching it in September to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary. It’s crazy that the show is that old! I was seriously obsessed with it in college.
I’m really enjoying rewatching it, but it’s also making me a little sad. Two of my best friends at the time were watching it with me, and sadly, we’re no longer friends. They both moved away and we drifted apart. It’s sad, but it tends to happen after college. Everyone starts their big adult lives, and the things that brought us together don’t exist anymore.
Exploring Gothic Ireland
On a lighter (maybe?) note, wanting to read gothic books makes me want to visit gothic places, and we have plenty of those in Ireland. I’m surrounded by ruined castles, ancient graveyards, and creepy forests. Well, the forests aren’t all that creepy really, but the castles are ruins and the graveyards have ancient graves.
There’s a graveyard down the road from me that’s so old and overgrown, no one knows who the graves belong to anymore.
Top of my list for visiting is Tintern Abbey in Wexford (no connection to the Wordsworth poem). There’s a beautiful abbey ruin, an old graveyard, gorgeous grounds, and forest walks. Perfect for a gothic stroll.
Keeping Track: My New Winter Planner
And with all of these plans—and I’m sure I’ll come up with more as the season progresses—I’m keeping track with my new winter planner. This is part of the Winter Wonder Collection in my Etsy shop, which has a more romantic aesthetic than gothic, but I love the blue, grey, and pink colour scheme of it. It gives me warm, happy winter vibes, which is what I want when planning. I want to be happy and excited about what’s ahead (as much as possible).
I decided to make seasonal planners in autumn because I can’t stick to an annual or monthly planner. I needed something longer than a month because I lose interest if I have to create something new that often, and shorter than a year because then I forget about it.
Working seasonally gives me a refreshing feeling every three months. I have a sense of renewal with the season and embrace the changes it brings so much more.
Creating three months together under one theme means I have something pretty and relevant, and it means I can focus on my plans instead of on decorating the planner. No shade to anyone who loves making spreads in their bullet journal every month! I just don’t have the patience for it.
The Winter Wonder Collection has a Mini-Journal Kit and an Ephemera Kit, and now a Planner Kit as well. I used the ephemera kit in the winter section of my reading journal. That’s actually the reason I made the kits. To be honest, I make all of my kits for myself first and then pop them on Etsy… I’m not very business-minded! But I just love them and love to share them with the world! Even if they never sold, I’m just happy to have created them.
I would love to create a winter memories journal with the collection this year. Part planner, part journal.
Coming Soon: Vlogs Are Back!
As well as all of that, I would really love to start vlogging again. It’s been several years, but I used to really enjoy making cosy reading vlogs. Now, I would make more of a home vlog style with reading, journaling, home life, and of course my two cats… maybe my husband too!
If you’d like to follow along, you can check out my YouTube here. It’s mostly Journal with Me videos at the moment and could really use some housekeeping. There are a few old videos up there that don’t really represent who I am anymore. This blog could probably do with a tidy too, actually!
Your Turn!
So, those are my winter plans. What are your plans for this season? Is it winter where you are? I’d love to hear from you—especially what books or movies you’re planning for the season. Drop a comment below!
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Elaine
Elaine Howlin 