‘It is the season’ is one of the most banded around comments I hear this time of year. I also personally use it a lot but why? It is the season to shop like a mad woman? It is the season to eat gluttonously? It is the season to party? It is the season to want more? It is the season to……
Sometimes we find we dream about these perfect days and try to set them up for the kids, only to end up getting so stressed that you actually ruin a day and give up trying to do nice things. This has happened to us so often, making an experience picture perfect and then actually regretting that you even woke up. What I am learning as the children grow up is that sometimes these moments come best when there is less instruction and more “winging it” happening. READ MORE
This is one of my favourite traditions from living at home. I would think it is about 10 years ago now that my parents started celebrating Sinterklaas. This is the celebration of the feast day of Saint Nicholas. It is a traditional celebration mainly recognised in the Netherlands and a lot of the surrounding countries. It is a celebration of gift giving on the evening of 5th December. The 6th is actually the feast day.
It isn’t a very British tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving as the Americans do. They obviously celebrate it as part of their history in remembrance of the first harvest of the Pilgrims in the new world. However for me I feel it is just as important to have a month to think about what you are thankful for and to celebrate at the end with families and friends. We started celebrating thanksgiving 3 years ago. We make an extra long table which stretches the whole of the living area and we have both sides of the family all round to dinner. It has now become tradition and we hope to host this meal every year for all those who can come.
You know that it is something I can talk about for hours, hey, you’ve read my blog posts. While we were away in Cornwall in the summer I picked myself up a new book about LAGOM; the Swedish philosophy about living by just the right amount. You will know that I like to talk about Hygge and even trying to create the feeling in my life and within my soul, but it seems that Lagom could be the newest life trend coming from the Scandinavian countries to teach us to live better.
I think what a lot of people worry about when they want to install a fire is that often they think they don’t have a place for it. They don’t necessarily have a traditional fire place or any kind of recess where they would put a stove. Our case is one that proves it is not necessary. And in fact, we placed our fire in a spot that had absolutely nothing special about it at all. It is simply just by a wall. OK, it’s also in the middle (ish) of the room but even that isn’t necessary.
After a much needed break through the summer and what has been gifted as a very lovely and surprisingly warm early autumn, it’s fair to say that we have only just got back into using our Stove now, in October. I can’t quite believe it if I am honest but here in Lincolnshire we have been blessed with not many cold days, and well, none consistently cold enough which have seen us light the fire every day.
I have been mulling on this question for ages and wondering what life was like before we had a fire. Seems strange, but if you know me personally you will have heard about how our life has changed since the installation of the fire and how much we highly recommend getting one.
I haven’t spoken about Hygge for ages. You know that wonderful Scandinavian way of life which is all focused around warming comfort. The ideal cosy life which stirs up all those lovely feelings deep inside you. Well I think it’s because we have passed out of what we would traditional see as the Hygge period and into a time where winter’s cold is becoming a forgotten thing. It only takes a good few days of blue skies and sunshine to get us all feeling better, but that in itself got me thinking: Where’s my springtime Hygge?
