Temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius were never something I truly appreciated. My body simply was not made for this. It might be a "Caribbean girl" syndrome, though many people born on the island absolutely love the cold. What I do love about winter are the coats, gloves and knitwear. It took me awhile, a few years admittedly, to grasp which coat was needed when (I wore thick, bulky coats in October - not exactly the norm, or necessary, I came to understand). Also, for some odd reason, I thought, especially the first year I lived in Amsterdam, that the longer the coat the warmer it would be (it is ok to laugh - I am doing so as well).

Slowly but surely I learned my way through the maze of suitable coats, understanding the weather report on the early morning news and building up my closet for the autumn and winter months (ok also for spring - we are speaking about the Netherlands after all). And then I moved back to Curacao.

My (backup) closet now has a winter section I visit about a week before a trip to any destination north of Miami in the months between October and March. It is quite a pity to keep these beautiful items locked up for so long, - some have not seen the light of day in six and a half years, most of it just does not fit into a small luggage.

Next week we are heading to New York city. After our spring edition earlier this year we are looking forward to the Christmas decorations, the window displays at Macy's, the activities at Bryant Park and some hot sake with our sushi. The snow storms the last few days in New York got the better of me and a visit to the winter section of my closet was, absolutely, called for. Out came the coats. I will, for the first time, and for pure indulgence, take two coats on this trip (we are going for four days). We might be lucky and the weather might be mild (it is December, ....oh who am I kidding).