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Winter is the season that just keeps on giving.

It gives you an excuse to wear those fabulous boots you snagged in the Boxing Day sales, when it was 38 degrees and you were rocking thongs, shorts and a crop top.

Winter gives us the chance to get our slow cookers out, dust them off and get our slow-braised shanks and soups on.

Winter is the perfect time to take slightly longer showers, linger by the heater while having breakfast, and pull up a chair for a fireside glass of red with friends.

Winter means scarves and hot Milos, porridge and beanies. And how about those gorgeously clear, sunny but freezing winter skies?

Don’t even get me started on the beautiful late afternoon light and winter’s stunning sunsets.

The shorter days often mean flipping the headlights on when driving home from work – seriously people, put your darn headlights on once the sun starts to set. And if you’re riding your bike at day’s end, firstly, more power to you, and secondly, please, please get yourself a bodysuit made entirely of super reflective hi-vis material. I really want to be able to see you.

Gee I can get ranty quickly can’t I? Sorry about that, but really, a dinky little reflector light is not enough! Okay, breathe, regroup… where was I? Singing winter’s praises. Right-o.

Winter is my second favourite of the seasons; you probably know I’m an autumn girl through and through. Perhaps part of the reason for that is that while autumn has Easter, and falling leaves and the weather changes slowly from warm days to crisp mornings, by the time we get into winter, the days are shorter, and colder, and the dreaded lurgies we all hate seem to creep into our offices, schools and homes.

Luckily, I’ve got a few wintry tips to help keep you cosy, and show those aches, pains and lurgies the door.

First up, head to your fruit bowl. You’re going to need lemons. Yes, lovely lemons.

The lemon is such a happy fruit, all yellow, juicy and plump. If you’ve got a scratchy throat, whack the kettle on and squeeze half a lemon into a mug of hot water. Sip slowly and you’re bound to feel instantly better. If there’s honey lurking in the panty, squeeze some of that into your favourite mug too.

Ahhhh, sweet relief; not to mention a little lemon-y aromatherapy.

Once you are done with your hot lemon drink, whack the other half of that lemon into a chicken and get that bird roasting. A little lemon goes a long way.

The second thing I recommend may be harder to come by, but I’m convinced that it has magical powers for wintry goodness. It’s a vintage blanket, preferably one that belonged to your nanna.

I am lucky enough to have a couple of gorgeous woollen blankets that belonged to my grandparents.

Every winter, they come out of the ottoman where they spend the summer months. I give them a shake outside, and then re-arrange the cushions on my couch, plumping them and creating a little winter nest for myself.

All through the winter, these lovely blankets are never more than arm’s length away. Is there anything cosier than pulling a blanket right up to your chin? I think not!

Vintage blanket therapy is just the ticket. Perhaps you have a blanket that someone special crocheted for you, or was handed down to you, or that you found while roaming the antiques market on that special holiday. Maybe it’s a quilt or a throw… if it brings the cosy, it qualifies. (Polar fleece ‘blankets’ need not apply!)

I love this one the mostest. I love the colours in it, the weight of it and the history I feel in every fibre. I wonder whether it was a gift to my grandmother, or a treasure from her glory box (boy, those were the days). Perhaps it was purchased to cosy up my uncle’s childhood bedroom. I wonder if my mother and her sister curled up under it after school, or if it summered in a cupboard in my grandparents’ bedroom. Oh, the stories that blanket could tell.

I believe comfort comes from simple things like lemons and blankets. We don’t need the latest, fanciest thing, especially if we’re feeling poorly. We need things we know, things we can rely on to warm us up and comfort us.

And for those times when even the lemon-iest (What? That’s totally a word!) lemon drink and your cosiest blanket can’t quite do the trick, times when you’ve got a bung shoulder like I have at the moment, or an EOFY induced tension headache, you can always reach into the medicine cabinet for something to help your body over the lurgy beating line.

I’m not one to plod on, sans pharmaceuticals, when it comes to relieving pain. I’ll rest, eat extra well, I might book a visit to the osteopath or my GP, and then I’ll prop myself up on the couch, under grandma’s blanket, and let the lemon drinks, a couple of Nurofen and re-runs of The West Wing work their combined powers, until I’m feeling tip-top again. I call it the 21^st century version of a Bex and a good lie down. If it was good enough for nanna, it’s good enough for me.

Winter is undoubtedly a lovely season, but if you wrench your shoulder when digging the slow cooker out of the pantry, or are laid low by a nasty winter lurgy, you may find yourself dreaming of spring time, rather than revelling in cloudless morning skies or building snowmen with the kids.

Here’s to a winter where you reach more for a cosy blanket than anything else. But isn’t it comforting to know that with lemons in your fruit bowl, blankets by your side and a well stocked medicine cabinet, a cosy, well winter is close at hand?

Here’s to cosiness, all winter long.

Annette