Some thoughts:

Nothing teaches like experience. Nothing makes that experience easier - less frustrating - than good gear.

Water - How did you keep your water bottles from freezing up? In real cold weather I'll usually bring along a cooler specifically to keep the water from freezing up. I've considered putting the water inside my sleeping bag during the day instead, but the risk of spill and wetting the bag is just too great.

Stove - I usually stick to stoves that use Coleman fuel in the winter since propane (and maybe isobutane?) simply don't work well in very low temps, if at all. Which one I used depends on the camp location.

Tent - What kind of tent do you use? Does it have aluminum or fiberglass poles (my recently purchased Scoutmaster's tent is my first w/ fiberglass poles - wondering about how they'll behave in cold weather). Did you put any storm guylines on the tent? After having a tent fold in on me in the past (luckily the tent wasn't damaged, but could have been) I'm a huge fan of using storm guylines. How did you "stake" the tent down" With frozen ground you may have been limited in your choices in fastening it down.

Sleeping Bag: It amazes me how cold I can get in my 15* and 0* sleeping bags - mostly my feet. I do all the things we're supposed to do - put on dry non-cotton undies, wear a hat, eat before turning in, etc... but still. Wearing good wool socks seems to help a lot. I've tried a liner, but I get wrapped up in it. I'll assume you had a good insulating pad underneath you. For really cold weather I've know lots of folks to bring those thick pink construction-grade foam boards along to put on the floor of the tent.

Fire: So were you able to start a wood fire? If so, did you find dry firewood in the area? On the ground or hanging? Did you have to split it? It is good to hear the cottenball w/ PJ worked for you, but I'm confused as to what you were igniting with it. Did you use a sparker? Which one? I have several: Sparklite, MagFire, Strike Force, etc..., but I usually only carry the MagFire (except for my EDC BSA Hot Spark).

Ken K.