Adventures In… Winter Joys and Twinkle Lights
There’s a quiet kind of magic in choosing a life you live over one you simply accumulate. For years now, the hubs and I have prioritized moments and experiences more than stuff— things you can actually feel over the kind you dust off. That said, I’d be lying if I claimed I was lacking in my fair share of “joy trinkets” but that’s a blog for another day.
We’ve built our life together around exploring new places, foods, and activities in ways that work for us - wheelchairs, winter storms, and all. And somewhere along that journey, we created a handful of habits that have become tiny weekly anchors and seasonal favorites.
Pour-over coffees generally ring in our sleepy Saturday mornings like quiet, caffeinated church bells. Most Friday nights, you’ll find us singing along to our favorite playlists, pouring a glass of red, and letting the week melt into something slower and softer. It’s not grand. It’s not expensive. But it’s ours and honestly, that’s where the joy lives.
This stretch between Thanksgiving and the new year is my absolute favorite time to be cocooned here in our little patch of Maine woods. The world dims at 4 p.m., but in our home, It glows. We turn our living room into a festive sanctuary Christmas melodies, twinkle lights, and garlands. Add a cozy fire and a marathon of cheesy holiday movies, and suddenly “staying in” feels like its own kind of micro adventure.
Because here’s a little truth Eat. Stay. Wheel. keeps coming back to:
Adventure isn’t always out there. Sometimes it’s right here, cuddled in a blanket, holding a favorite beverage, surrounded by the people you love. Sometimes the adventures are simple, a collection of rituals and little joys created inside our own four walls.
watching a chickadee hang upside down nibbling dinner
A playlist that turns the living room into a soft, slow dance floor
A cozy blanket and a movie that is painfully predictable but also perfectly delightful
Lighting a candle that smells like nostalgia
Savoring the fist bite of a new homemade dish or fresh batch of molasses cookies
Watching our fur baby stare in awe at snowflakes dancing outside the window
1000 piece puzzles in progress on the kitchen table
Lox, Bagels, Lasagna…Eggnog!
These micro-moments are what carry us through a season that can sometimes feel overwhelming. As someone who battles seasonal depression, these tiny moments are grounding, nourishing, accessible, and deeply human. They remind us that joy isn’t something we wait for, it’s something we notice. Something we create. Something we include in the everyday, however it looks.
This season, my adventure is simple:
Savor the little joys, prioritize the cozy moments, and whenever possible lean into the magic of staying in.
If you’re craving a slower, gentler holiday season, one that feels accessible, and comforting you’re in the right place. Here’s to adventures that don’t require a QR code, a stamina test, or anything more than being present.
In this season rife with holiday hustle, it’s more important than ever that we find ways to love our daily lives just as much as we enjoy special occasions. 2025 has been a year of challenge, change, healing, and gratitude. It was a reminder that joy doesn’t always arrive wrapped or on schedule.
And that’s exactly where Eat. Stay. Wheel. lives.
As we roll into 2026, the focus remains beautifully simple: more joy, noticed on purpose. More moments that meet us where we are. More experiences that don’t require perfection or permission.
You don’t have to wheel far to live well.
You don’t have to do more to feel fulfilled.
Sometimes the bravest adventure is choosing presence and softness right where you are.
One moment.
One ritual.
One joyful roll at a time.