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Description: A rack with colourful scarves. Image has the number 7 in a diamond shape and the hashtag #ChronicChristmas

This is my daily Advent calendar of gift ideas for people with chronic illness, running from December 1-25. Some entries will contain affiliate links.

One of the problems with having pain on a frequent or a near-constant basis, is that it tends to be aggravated by temperature. Although some are heat-intolerant, an awful lot of people find the cold makes it worse.

I’ve been very sensitive to the cold for as long as I can remember and when I developed fibromyalgia in about 2004, it got even worse. A draft on my neck or shoulders will have my entire body seized up in the grip of some fairly unrelenting pain in no time. Which is why I always wear scarves, both  outside and inside, and every season, too.

Luckily, these days scarves are terribly fashionable, so I am, for once in my life, on trend. Can I maybe argue that I started the whole thing?

Likely not.

The point — and I do have one — is that a scarf is an excellent gift. Make it lightweight, make it warm, such as a pashmina, pick a pattern or colour that you know will go with something the person already owns. Or a favourite colour. Above all, make it fabulous.

If you knit, crochet, or use a loom, go for it. The only thing better than a scarf is one that is made with love. Yes, I know that only those who knit (or crochet or weave) like the wind are likely to finish it on time for the holidays, but there is no law against giving something on the needles and promising the finished product sometime in January.

Every time your friend or family member wears the scarf, they’ll think of you. On rough days, it will be like wearing a hug.

The best, right?