December 11, 2025
When the temperatures drop and the year starts winding down, the world asks us to slow down whether we want to or not. Today’s Thought of the Day and Question of the Day invite us to look at two of the simplest ways to warm a cold day. One comes through laughter. The other comes through a steaming mug in your hands. In both cases, the warmth is really about something deeper. Let’s get into it.
Thought of the Day: A day without laughter is a day wasted. Charlie Chaplin
Laughter is one of the few universal human reactions we never really outgrow. Kids laugh without trying. Adults laugh to keep from losing it. Entire families can fall apart in a minute, then suddenly reconnect because someone makes a perfectly timed joke while they’re all standing in a messy kitchen trying to figure out who misplaced the baby’s socks.
Some days, laughter shows up loud and easy. Other days, it shows up as a tiny exhale through your nose that counts as a win because at least something broke through the noise. When Chaplin said a day without laughter is a day wasted, he wasn’t imagining some perfect, highlight-reel version of life. He was talking about presence. Attention. The ability to find one small spark even when the rest feels heavy.
For me, laughter is often the thing that reminds me I’m still a person and not just a task machine in adult human form. It cuts through clutter. It cuts through stress. It opens the door to breathe for a second. It’s the same reason I wrote about why anger so often tempts us when we are overwhelmed in my reflection on clutter and frustration. Laughter doesn’t magically fix anything, but it loosens the grip of whatever is trying to pull you apart.
And let’s be honest. On winter days, we all need every scrap of warmth we can get.
Question of the Day: What’s your favorite “it’s cold outside” beverage and why?
There are plenty of grown-up answers available here. Tea. Mulled wine. Fancy holiday lattes with flavor combinations that sound like failed candle experiments. All respectable choices.
But my answer. Even as a grown adult, there is nothing that hits my soul quite like a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day. Maybe it has whipped cream. Maybe it has marshmallows. Maybe both. It doesn’t matter. It’s a warm cup of love.
Hot cocoa is childhood in a mug. It’s snow days and boiler rooms and sitting by windows watching the world freeze while you cling to something warm. It’s the drink that doesn’t judge you for still wanting joy in its simplest form. You could be forty five years old with a mortgage and a pile of laundry that refuses to shrink, and still, that first sip can undo the whole day in the best way possible.
There’s something special about holding a mug with both hands when the cold tries to sneak into your bones. There is no multitasking with hot cocoa. You hold it. You drink it. You enjoy it. Presence again. Chaplin would approve.
It also reminds me of something I wrote in my post about finding small joys even when the world is moving too fast. Warmth counts. Comfort counts. Joy counts. And the things that bring us back to ourselves are rarely complicated.
So today, think about your own winter beverage. The one that slows you down. The one that warms you up. The one that makes the day feel less wasted.
What made you laugh today? And what warms you up when the cold settles in? Leave a comment and tell me your answers. And if you want these Thought of the Day and Question of the Day reflections delivered straight to you each morning, join the free daily email. It’s a warm cup of love in your inbox.
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