Embracing a Hygglig Winter & Creating Moments
For me, the long, bitterly cold winters of Virginia are difficult to get through. Perhaps that is because some of the things that make me the happiest are sunshine and water!
Embracing winter as you move towards it and make this winter the very happiest winter you’ve had yet is the best approach I think! I like to try to take a little time on a weekend, when winter is approaching, to reflect on how we’d like to enjoy winter the most. Rather than letting the dread of cold toes, dead branches, bitter winds, and long dark days creep in, I try to bask, smiling, in the warmth of all the good and dear things that winter will hold!
Since winter happens mostly inside one’s own home, I think making winter pleasant has so much to do with the home! I like to do a similar process like this to make my closet enjoyable for the season, too, so that every area of my life is fit more maximum enjoyment and just feels like me. I’ll write about that another day, but here is all about creating a winter that is lovely, cozy, warm, and memorable! Here is all about how to create all the times you’d like to have and make your winter the most hygglig!
START WITH A CLEAN SLATE!
The first step, always, is to declutter. The thing about winter is, when you are indoors a lot, clutter and odds and ends make you feel a bit claustrophobic. It’s so very nice to have a clean, fresh space that feels like you can rejuvenate and relax - a little oasis indoors. Isn’t it just the BEST feeling when you declutter and finally find a place for those odds and ends? You can even go so far as to sell a chair or other objects that when you stop to think, you’re not really sure why you have them or need at all! Clean off all the surfaces, putting the things you might like to enjoy over the winter into a separate pile. The other pile can go into the closet for now!
Now that everything is paired down, do a really good clean! Now, you’re ready to begin the fun part!
TAKE A MOMENT, DREAM ABOUT THIS WINTER . .
Sit in your clean home, or living room, and imagine you and your love or your family this winter. What types of moments would you like to have? What memories would you like to be able to create, and look back on? What would your ideal winter look like? Perhaps you can journal a bit to really dig into what you’d love to experience in your home. For me, I would like cozy evenings reading by the fire, warm soup, roasted squash, life-giving conversations, the laughter of friends, candles, the scents of lavender and rosemary, and creativity! I’d like our cottage to be filled with peace, love, and joy. These words are often paired together, but when I imagine our winter, this is what I would like those in my home and me to feel! Now, I will go about creating a space that invites these moments!
SPOTS FOR RITUALS + SPECIAL TIMES
For me, this means that we have our furniture arranged in a funny way, with the couch close to the fireplace so we can warm our toes. There is a stack of good books, about wabi-sabi, health, far away places, and deep spiritual matters sitting nearby, calling to be opened.
There is a little corner I made for myself, a good morning corner, with a very cozy blanket, brass candlesticks with pink colored candles which my mum brought me from Paris, a motivational quote on the wall, and a stack of books and journals which I go to first thing in the day, my prayer journal and goals journal included!
Another corner I have made for myself is by our bed, I have more brass candlesticks (my mum and I collected them from thrift stores from my wedding, so they have a special memory and also I think their sculptural form is much more beautiful than the normal type of candles!), an essential oil diffuser, a spot for a mug of chamomile tea, and a little bowl of odds and ends we have collected from our travels - wave washed bits of sea tiles from the beach of Italy, baby pinecones from California, little rocks from my childhood home, and some that I can’t remember anymore where they are from, but I know they contain the souls of good memories. I use this spot to do some yoga before bed, to breathe, and to reflect on the things I am grateful for in the day that has just drawn to a close. It only takes about 10 minutes for this little ritual, and I notice that I fall asleep very peacefully when I do this! All of my life, my thoughts have kept me tossing and turning for hours before I could fall asleep, so letting everything go and giving myself space for pleasantness is very rewarding.
At the dining room table is collected bits of nature, the strangest puffy seed pods I foraged from a field I had a photo shoot in, and golden wheat from what wilderness but of course, trader joe’s, all of which are in terra-cotta vases. We look at them when we eat together most nights, at the table, playing with them, as we talk over the mundane little things, how our days went, plans, and thoughts from a latest book, the world at large or a recent conversation we’ve had!
SENSES:
I think stimulating the senses is such a lovely thing to get to do during winter! Some of my favorite ways are:
Essential oils -
as mentioned! I love love lavender, as well as some of the pinier scents for winter.
Hot meals in the making - I think it is a great pleasure to be able to waft the smells of good, nourishing things across the cottage, and I especially love trying to do this when Chafin is arriving home if I can, and when guests are coming over. The smell of caramelized onions, roasted vegetables, a crockpot chicken, or a hearty soup give the cottage lots of soul and love the moment you step in from the cold!
Candlelight - I love, as I have said so much because it brings the same cheer that sunshine does, only cozier, and moodier. It is my life-saver for rising early, and soothes my soul oh so much before bed! It just brings lots of winter cheer to the home!
Soft textures - blankets, cashmere sweaters, linen pajamas, cotton socks, all of these make me snuggle in and feel as cuddly as a babe with bunny ears, the most adorably cuddly things I know of! I’m thankful for these fine little luxuries in winter!
Best of all, are real snuggles - That’s a no brainer of course, winter was created for snuggling! Create time and space to snuggle up to your lover, your pets, your kiddos or your best of friends!
Wintery Smells - wreaths and Christmas trees are a happy smell, but to make it even more potent, simmer cinnamon sticks, rosemary, orange slices, cloves and water on the stove to fill the house with goodness in the evening!
DEAREST HUMANS
Winter is a time for embracing relationships and can be the cheeriest, hyggligiest things of all! Mulled wine and laughter with your best friends, or preparing a meal for someone you don’t know so well to bless them, cuddling up to your furry friends, and time to keep warm the love of your life. Since my toes are constantly cold, I am always sliding them under my husband when we are reading together because only he can warm them up just right! Make occasion to celebrate time together. Invite friends to share what they are grateful for, or a word of something they’d like to fill their life with this winter. Make space to talk about dreams and heart things. Make a potluck and invite everyone to bring a family recipe and a story behind it. Reflect on memories or stories from winters past as you gather together! These are happy moments indeed, and it’s hard to worry about the dark, cold, dead winter outside when your heart is so full!
Cheers to the winter ahead! I hope you find it delightful indeed!
If you are inspired to try one of these things or have your own favorite tradition, I’d dearly love to hear it, so write in the comments below!
