wake to

wake (up) to (something)

1. Literally, to be roused from sleep due to some stimulus, especially noise. I've been waking to the sound of my neighbor's dogs barking at 6 AM every single morning for the past two months. We woke to a clatter downstairs, and I thought we were being robbed.
2. To encounter something upon waking. I woke up to the smell of bacon frying downstairs. For Mother's Day, let's let Mom sleep in and wake to a clean house.
3. To become suddenly and acutely aware of something, such as some problem or issue. When is the company finally going to wake up to the deep dissatisfaction among its employees? These politicians need to wake up to the serious problems plaguing our country.
See also: wake
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

wake (up) to something

 and waken to something
to awaken and face something, such as a problem, sunlight, music, noise, etc. I love to wake up to soft music. We woke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
See also: wake
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • wake (up) to (something)
  • waken
  • waken to (something)
  • awake
  • awake to
  • awoke
  • bark at
  • bark at (someone or something)
  • deep sleep
  • awake from
References in periodicals archive
This entry into Sharpe's study emerges through examples of Sharpe's personal, familial, and professional experiences in the wake, where Sharpe ultimately asserts, "I want In the Wake to declare that we are Black peoples in the wake with no state or nation to protect us, with no citizenship bound to be respected, and to position us in the modalities of Black life lived in, as, under, despite Black death: to think and be and act from there" (22).
Wake Work: "A Long History and Present"
As a consequence, the reader will find no attempts in A Guide through Finnegans Wake to analyze the poetic potential of Joyce's wordplay; and among "three score and ten topsycal readings" (Penguin ed., 20) suggested by the Wake, Epstein will typically focus on one rather than more.
Epstein, Edmund Lloyd. A Guide through Finnegans Wake
McMahon expects the reactions to McLuhan's Wake to be as varied as they were to the man himself.
McLuhan's wake: massaging the medium
The Ducks believe they will play with a lot more confidence after getting past Montana and that could make it harder for Wake to slow them down.
Wake Forest offers big-time challenge
The cyclical shifts in state (from wake to sleep to wake and back) are brought about by respiratory control instability, which is set in motion by the initial shift from wake to sleep.
An overview of sleep disordered breathing for the otolaryngologist