Stuck in a cold-snap and desperate to replenish our will to live, we’ve collected the best suggestions for making it through what’s known around here as the longest, darkest month of the year. There’s plenty of action, as long as you have a snowsuit and a sense of adventure (or, if you show up at the right events, maybe one will be provided for you).

1. Go to a Winter Farmer’s Market. See your neighbors, enjoy the brightness and energy and color of all the fresh food, and take home some cheese, fresh fish, crisp greens, or maple syrup.
2. Mmm… brunch. What else were you going to do today, anyway?
3. Join some buddies for chicken paprikash and DVD series marathon.
4. Order some seed catalogs and plan your dream garden. Start your tomatoes before Daylight Savings returns!
5. Winter hike or snowshoe. Everything’s not dead! Winter reveals long views, hardy greens and conifers, and the tracks of animals enlivening the woods.
6. Snuggle.
7. Skate one of the many ponds in the Seacoast...kill at pond hockey!
8. Bundle up and bird watch.
9. Show up at Ceres Bakery at 10:34 a.m., and hope that their flatbreads are ready, which they are not, so flirt with the cute girl behind the counter until they are ready.
10. Learn to shell, store, and cook local shrimp, on your own, or at the Local Shrimp workshop at UNH on Feb. 10—only $10!
11. Find an ambitious recipe you’ve always wanted to try (Boeuf Bourguignon? Oyster Stew? Homemade Challah?). Spend the day making it, and the evening feasting on it. Heats up your house and your soul.
12. Throw a party! Two good themes for acting up in winter are “Surfing” and “Bad Taste.” For surfing, turn up the heat, wear beach clothes and drink fruity drinks! For the bad taste party, create a name and persona with matching outfit and give prizes for the best/worst.
13. Take the RPM Challenge.
14. Plan a trip to a maple sugaring operation as soon as the sap is running. Inhale sweet steam, then spend your inheritance—it’s pure gold!
15. Step outside on a dark night. Listen to the silence. See the stars. Breathe deeply. Sleep well.
16. Bring tasty snacks up to the Wire offices.
17. If it snows, it flows—we can’t legally say which ones, but use your detective skills to find a local lounge that offers an unadvertised drink special during snowstorms, and bring along your dominoes, cribbage board or scrabble.
18. Organize a Backgammon Tournament at your local pub.
19. Yahtzee at the Coat of Arms over a pint of Fuller’s ESB.
20. Have a  Snow Tasting Party.
21. Have a Tequila Tasting Party.
22. Listen to local stories at A Winter’s Tale at the Red Door.
23. Find a sky guide and a spot away from streetlights, and learn the winter stars and constellations by heart.
24. If you’re not a morning person, it’s a lot easier to catch a sunrise in winter.
25. Laugh at your chittering cats watching scampy backyard squirrels.
26. It’s your government—use it! Ever been to a council meeting, commission, or Blue Ribbon committee meeting? Visit your town’s web site for a schedule and agendas, and drop in for a glimpse at up-close government.
27. Wake your hibernating brain with a round of pop culture trivia and an Irish coffee at a local pub.
28. Rewrite all of your New Year’s Eve Resolutions so that they all amount to drinking more Milk Stout at the Portsmouth Brewery.
29. Visit the NH state liquor store and make a beeline for the “NH Made” rack, where you can select from a surprising variety of local ciders, wines, and beers.
30. Head to Loco Coco’s Tacos in Kittery and see if you’re strong enough for the fiery Chiles Relleno. Guaranteed to return blood circulation to your littlest frozen fingers and toes.
31. Late-night Hulk Hands battles in Market Square. No one is there to see or care.
32. Facebook! No, not really...
33. Pretend to be Godzilla by crunching half melted ice sheets on the sidewalk.
34. Make Easter Island monoliths out of snow.
35. Take a photograph of the same thing for an entire month at the same time of day.
36. Fight the darkness, build a fire!
37. Spin tires, drive sideways—avoid collision.
38. Burrow into a snow bank and have a lookout posted—then talk to people passing on the street as if you are a Talking Snowbank.
39. Make a big Thermos of hot chocolate and go sledding—kids optional.
40. Scour our excellent (and environmentally friendly) thrift shops for childhood memorabilia, funky clothing, unique housewares.
41. Buy an honest-to-God, dead-tree Sunday newspaper and read it on a slow, quiet morning over coffee and pastry.
42. Savor the rumble of the mighty plows before the alarm goes off. 
43. Borrow a kid and spend an afternoon convincing the Children’s Museum of NH that the child is “your legacy to the institution.” 
44. Troll the wine tastings! Grab the weekly listing in The Wire and drop in to Atrezzi, Enoteca, Philbrick’s, and other locations for free regular wine tastings. Spend a few bucks on a bottle.
45. Have four slices of pizza for five bucks at the Gas Light Lunch Buffet. Or as many as you want, while you’re still wearing that winter coat.
46. All-Skate afternoons at Roller Skate Newington, “where the music never stops.” It really hasn’t changed—lace up your quads and practice your smooth crossover turns.
47. Learn Mah-Jongg at the Portsmouth Public Library on Saturday mornings.
48. Wander around Market Square and say to people you don’t know, “Welcome to Portsmouth! Can I get you anything?”
49. Get out the charcoal and barbeque!
50. Recruit teams for the inaugural season of the Portsmouth Napping League.
51. Show some love for our awesome local downtowns. Such as: While away an afternoon and evening in Kittery Foreside by shopping the craft galleries, picking up specialty foods at Enoteca, enjoying a beer or game of pool at The Corner Pub, and dinner at Tulsi or Anneke Jans.
52. Go hang with Nick the Bartender at the Rosa. Order Peroni beer in the swanky tall glass. Throw a charity dollar at the ceiling.
53. Grab a nice steaming cup-o-Dancing Goats and write an op-ed rant for The Wire.
54. Write letters (snail mail) to someone you’re thinking of.
55. Taste-sample your pets’ hands and feet—dog pads and cat pads are soft and delicious!
56. Share your meds.
57. Layer up for fashion fun. When else can you deck out with tights, legwarmers, sweaters, turtlenecks, gaiters, parkas, boots, and jaunty Euro-knotted scarves?
58. Warm your innards and your heart by sharing a plate of spicy pad thai or a hot lamb curry with some friends.
59. Make the rounds of the wonderful weeknight deals for locals at area restaurants (Jumpin’ Jay’s Shuck-a-Buck Tuesdays, Cava’s $2 Tapas Sundays, Robert’s Maine Grill $12 community suppers, “stimulus” deals at Café Mirabelle and Black Trumpet, etc.) Winter bonus: no lines, no tourists!
60. Bend your blues away with one trial class at every yoga studio on the Seacoast.
61. Pet the cute rescue dogs that hang out at Eye Look Optical.
62. Dance, dance, dance! Try West African Dance classes at Yoga East or belly dance in Rollinsford.
63. Go through the entertainment listings and pick out a local musician or band you’ve never seen, at a venue you’ve never visited. Maybe you’ll discover the next Seacoast idol.
64. Meet some friends, see some friends at the Players’ Ring.
65. Got a favorite family stew, roast or casserole? Dig out the recipe and make it for (or in honor of) the person who first made it for you.
66. Candlepin bowling. You know you want to. Under $10 for a lane, cool shoes, and edge-of-your-seat competition.
67. Read anything written by Italo Calvino.
68. Rent and watch the DVD “Endless Summer”...as many times as it takes.
69. Drink several variously sized bottles of wine and/or beer and start a jug band.
70. Help launch the ArtPM Challenge by making four really unique pieces of art.
71. Notice the little rituals say you are here, in the middle of your odd little life, like leaving winter wet shoes just inside the door, and stepping into the room in your bare feet.
72. Zumba! It’s pretty inexpensive and reminds you that hips are made for swinging.
73. Stretch away your winter creakies in the tropics of Bikram Yoga Portsmouth—10 bucks buys you 10 days of unlimited classes.
74. Pretend you’re in the tropics with a swim in a heated pool—Portsmouth YMCA, Portsmouth Indoor Pool, etc.
75. Pet every dog you meet on the street.
76. Make a quick trip to the SPCA in Stratham to hang out in the Visiting Room.
77. Listen to New Orleans R&B. Not sure where to start? Ask the Bruce Pingree of “The Blues Show” on WUNH.
78. Head to the Press Room for a weekend night upstairs when the band is hot and the dance floor is jammed. Dance up a sweat, feel like it’s July.
79. Sunday nights at the Grog in Newburyport: Parker Wheeler and friends play the blues—lots of good music and dancing for only $5.
80. Night School: Monday nights at the Dolphin Striker is Old School night. Rick Watson leads a band of various musicians, and they encourage anyone to sit and play. Grab your uke and sit and pick and grin!
81. Write children’s songs for the Uncle Phil Show on WSCA 106.1.
82. Warm yourself with cheap, pristine vinyl LP’s from Odyssey and Oracle, or CHEEP! used CDs from Bull Moose.
83. Let yourself be “snowed in.” You know you COULD leave and go do important stuff. But you also know you just got a great excuse NOT to.
84. Did you know there’s a state university near here? Holy smokes! Head up to Durham for a movie, talk, recital, or even a dance lesson.
85. Pine for all that’s lost in Dr. Zhivago, February’s Screen Classic at The Music Hall on Feb. 25.
86. Judge temperature by freezing nostrils. Always a surprise, and doesn’t happen any other time of the year.
87. Pick up some soft, woolly yarn at a yarn store and finally learn to knit.
88. Attend a singing session at the Press Room.
89. Volunteer! Find someone who may be going a bit madder than you, and show up for them.
90. Clean up JennessBeach with the Blue Ocean Society.
91. Organize a block-long Music Mix Swap and host it on Pleasant Street.
92. Get your costume ready for Mardi Gras and strut your stuff on Mardi Gras Day.
93. Take every opportunity to boogie-oogie-oogie like you just can’t boogie no more.
94. Cook a meal for a musician the end of the month while they are trying desperately to make their RPM record.
95. Kiss someone lovely on the abandoned PrescottPark stage under the moonlight at midnight.
96. Bring the light inside. Light every candle in the house. Decorate with holiday lights. Turn out the overheads. Get sexy. Or not.
97. Give it up—even just a few bucks—for (H)EAT, your local food pantry, and others in need this winter.
98. Go to an art gallery opening or Art ’Round Town night. Feast your eyes, meet some creative people, and fill up on half-ounce portions of white wine and Goldfish crackers.
99. Re-read “Ethan Frome,” feel better about your own life.
100. Bury something in a snowbank that won’t appear until spring, like a little sign that says, “HELLO DOVER!”
101. Renew your library card.
102. Fall down, stay there, see who picks you up.
103. Visit the display at the Portsmouth Library, made by local eighth graders working with artist Nate Walker to make sculptures made from found objects.
104. Find out about life on the rocky shore, whales, or ocean exploration every Saturday, Sunday and Monday in special programs at the SeacoastScienceCenter—only $5 for adults and $3 for kids.
105. Got a cold? Order a hot toddy at a local establishment. Whisky, hot water, honey, and a lemon wedge with a clove stuck in it. Good for what ails you.