By Allie Pollock

Winter is a time for special or fun activities: playing sports or playing in snow, watching Hallmark or watching a family tradition grow. Some people favor spending time playing winter sports or curling up by the fire. Regardless if you have the time of your life traveling, or spend your time scrolling on TikTok, winter is a time for relaxation and joy. 

If you happen to be insane and like exerting yourself, don’t sweat, there are plenty of winter sports and other weirdos who enjoy them. Winter sports can be ice skating, snowboarding, but also basketball and year-round sports. Everyone has their favorite wintertime sport. Lucia Jordana says, “I like playing tennis in the winter the most. Tennis involves a lot of conditioning and it’s easier in the cold than in the heat.” Tennis seems like a racket! Tennis is one of those sports that is not always considered a winter sport, but can be played year round.  Soccer is another example of a year-round, enjoyable sport. Andrew Rowan expresses this, “I like playing soccer in the winter.” Really vague, but straight to the point. Circling back to Lucia Jordana, winter sports may be more enjoyable because of the weather.

Perhaps instead of basketball, you prefer other sports that are more wintery: snowboarding or skiing, things that involve snow. Snow is wonderful and fun, so of course it doesn’t snow here. When asked, “What would you do if it snowed in Sacramento?” Natalie Allred, Andrew Rowan, and Lucia Jordana, all had similar answers. They were all along the lines of going outside and enjoying it. I mean what else would you do, go underground and hibernate? Nataile Allred talked about a much overlooked snow activity, tubing. She says, “I would be really excited and play in the snow with friends! I’d really want to go tubing with them.” What I got from this was that sometimes it’s not just the activity that is fun, it simply can be the company you’re with. To the people that don’t believe me, have fun trying to play Chess by yourself. You always know your next move, so you’re trying to fool yourself. It doesn’t snow in Sacramento, but if it did, what would you do? 

When I think of winter activities, certain things come to mind: making Christmas cookies with my grandmother, or watching bad holiday movies with my family. I asked Natalie, Andrew, and Lucia to choose between a couple of activities. I asked, “What is the ideal winter activity: baking cookies, watching holiday movies, or taking advantage of the cold weather?” All three answered differently. Natalie responded with, “I would say, baking cookies.” Baking cookies, a classic winter activity. You can’t go wrong with cookies.  Lucia had a different approach, “. . . I would want to take advantage of the cold weather and try some snow activities because it does not snow very often.” We all say going out in the cold is fun until we’re out there freezing and shaking. Andrew didn’t want the other activities, so he said, “Watching movies.”Andrew Rowan is the winner for the vaguest response! Now, I am one to sit on the couch all day watching awful Christmas movies with the same plot, so I can’t judge. All three responses are traditional activities to enjoy in the winter.

While talking about Christmas traditions, I asked about their wintertime family traditions. Lucia Jordana talked a little about traveling for break. Lucia also talked about this tradition, “We do however have a tradition where the rest of my family is over at my house and we make gingerbread houses and decorate them.” Honestly, I’m not a fan of eating gingerbread, but decorating gingerbread houses, that’s where the fun is. Andrew talked about a standing tradition, “We normally go to Tahoe once or twice. Either to just be there or snowboard.” For anyone living under a rock, Lake Tahoe is a charming lake cuddled into the mountains. Tahoe gets snow, making it a popular winter destination for those who unfortunately don’t get any. 

We all have things we love, sometimes we can only do those things in winter. You can only jump face first into the snow during winter. Otherwise, that would hurt. When I asked Natalie what her favorite winter activity was she said, “I get to dress really cute and cozy in warm clothes!” Now, I don’t look good all bundled up with a scarf, hoodie, puffer, etc. To whoever does, you could pull off a potato sack. “ Being in the snow,” is Andrew’s favorite winter activity. Such a short response, shocker. We all have our favorite activities that are possible because of wintertime.

In conclusion, winter is the perfect time of year for sports, tradition, and everything else. You can play in the snow, hang out with friends and family, or just relax. Winter has the best activities.