Happy new year! If you have come over to my blog to read this post then thank you! I thought i would give you a little insight into how my Christmas holiday has been and a little heart felt talk about the concept of Hygge. With this post I am exploring the lifestyle side of blogging and I will try to incorporate a lifestyle post on this blog every now and then.
PS: If you stick around to the end of this post you will see me in my natural habitat without makeup, non-glam and cosy in my proudly reused Christmas jumper.
So last year I read this book called The Little Book of Hygge – The Danish Way to Live Well. I got given this book by a friend and I went into reading completely biased , ok hear me out, I am either into murder mysteries, crime dramas or poetry and sentimental love lost fiction (only certain times an year) so I was bit narrow minded about the Hygge concept. But as i got through the first few pages I found it quite interesting. It is remarkable that despite having no natural light from October to March every year Danes are one of the happiest people in the world. In 2020 Denmark came second in the UN’s report of world’s happiest places. First was Finland despite all the craziness in the world right now.
When in the UK we were told we were going into a Tier 4 lockdown in December it just meant Christmas would just be simple and slow this year. However being a mum can it ever mean that you let the Christmas magic disappear just because we are stuck at home? NO. It was my intent to make this time of the year as special, cosy and Hygge as possible for my family.
So let’s dive into how to make it a Hygge Christmas or Hygge winter.
First things First – What is Hygge?
However you spell it or pronounce it Hygee (Hoo-Ga or Hhyoo-gh) is all about the ambiance and aesthetic rather than about a specific thing. It is described as a feeling of home, feeling of being safe and cosy. Hygge is simplicity and all things that make you feel relaxed.
So here are a few things Hygge we did for our cosy Christmas.
Hot Cocoa
When people were asked to describe Hygge a lot of them said a Hot Cocoa by a fireplace.
When you need a mood boost in the winter months you just need some good quality Cocoa and lot of quality chocolate in your pantry. Doesn’t have to be expensive just a little treat to savour every now and then to give you little pleasures and something to look forward to everyday.
My current favourite is a chocolate bar called Tony’s Chocolonely a very tasty bar of chocolate with a good cause – about 2 million children are made to work illegally in cocoa plantations in Africa and Tony is working towards making the chocolate industry slavery free with every chocolate bar we buy. Which is why I love to support the cause.
Cosy scenes with a faux fireplace
So a fireplace has always been my dream and they are considered very Hygge but new houses in the UK don’t exactly have them. But what is life without a little bit of improvising? So listen close, Youtube is your friend if you don’t have a fireplace. Some genius decided to film hours and hours of fireplace videos and put them on youtube for fireplace deprived people like me to feel the warmth.
Both me and my little one love watching the fireplace videos on youtube. There is something so soothing about the fire crackling sound that is just so relaxing.
“Hygge offers space for both reverie and relatedness. The heat of an open fire draws us close. Its shadow gives us a place to hide and softens our gaze.” – Louisa Thomsen Brits
Over this winter break we have done this calming exercise for hours where we just curl up on the sofa wrap ourselves in a cosy throw and just listen to the crackling sounds. Almost makes me want to never leave the sofa. So Hygge !
Candles
One of your Hygge essentials is a candle, the more the merrier. Everything is better in candle light. But just make sure you don’t leave lit candles lying around without supervision.
The table this year was simple and I decided i wanted to keep the candles red so we have that festive colour in our living room. My living room is quite neutral with shades of creams , browns and whites so this is a lovely change. I love candles and any amount of them are not enough scented candles are my favourite. Apart from Jo Malone I also totally adore Olivia Blake candles as they smell divine.
Tree
No Christmas is complete without proper decorations, usually i would go with super bright ornaments but this year I decided to stick to a few colours.
The tree this year was snow flocked Green, Brown, Gold and white. I decided to stick to these four Base colours for majority of my ornaments and then added the sentimental ornaments on there that don’t need colour coordination. I think the whole concept of cosiness was brought to life with this setting.
Food
It’s the most Hyggeling time of the year and our Christmas plate looked something like below. There is nothing more Hygge than accommodating everyone’s needs and keeping things simple. We don’t like to eat Turkey over Christmas as the stress of getting the perfect one is just not worth it. This year I did a vegan / vegetarian roast for my husband and a chicken roast for myself and little one.
There is just something special about coming together and enjoying a lovely meal. It is trully blissful.
Hygge in the house
Nothing makes it more Hygge than your kitchen and little things that make it home. Since Hygge is all about aesthetics it doest get any more homely than this.
The below image comes from Ella Woodward’s Kitchen and is my inspiration for something that i am looking to do in my kitchen in 2021.
Flowers make me Hygge
If we are talking about bliss and all things beautiful how can we leave flowers behind? No Hygge without simple and beautiful flower arrangements.
Always a good idea to have floral arrangements around the house to spread cheer and a bit of colour all around.
Home is Hygge
Last but not the least as promised here is me lounging around with my hot chocolate and candy cane ready to spill on my beige carpet. Come to think of it , haven’t we all been one with Hygge in 2020 ? Just matters how you look at it , some just find it miserable to be home and long to go out while the rest of us have been embracing the year we stayed home and made it our own.
Hope you found this post cosy and Hyggelicious to your liking. I am certainly not this blissful all the time but its the holidays, we are on lockdown and there is nothing more important than feeling joyous for being alive, safe and healthy.
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