Winter has come upon us in our region in full force and we're likely only about halfway through it.
I personally find the lead up to Christmas the easiest part of winter because of the anticipation and prepping of all things festive and cozy. It is not hard to love a white Christmas. As all the festivities and gatherings wind down, though, and we look at the forecasts of chilly temperatures, it can be tempting to allow a little bit of dread to settle in.
Dread and the survival mentality are no way, though, to spend the rest of our winter season.
Not long ago, I came across a cultural concept of the Danes that looks to be a promising ideal to adopt and is often attributed to Denmark citizens being ranked as some of the happiest in the world. The concept is called Hygge (pronounced a bit like HYU-gah) and it doesn't have a direct English translation.
The closest we come is coziness, but it's much more than that, and is an entire ideology that embraces the long, dark winter days as a reason to hunker down, create cozy environments and share time and space with people.
Many of us Canadians already do some of this, but we could embrace it more. Having candle lit meals, inviting other families over for weekly game nights, having everyone don comfy clothes, curling up together to read aloud books, and generally slowing down and embracing the time we have to spend indoors sounds like a great idea.
Warmth and coziness are key elements of Hygge. Keep a good stock of warm drinks like coffee, tea, hot cocoa, cider and mulled wine in hand. I've also read that sweet treats are kept on hand to accompany these evenings of lingering over hot drinks with friends and family.
Really, this is starting to sound a lot like how many of us do Christmas, so why not extend the coziness and warmth of the holidays till March, while, of course, getting outside often to burn off all that energy?
