Hygge

So today when I was stumbling around the internet, I somehow went from an article on how to tell if your cat is ignoring you (spoiler alert: it usually is) to this interesting piece about the Danish concept of ‘hygge’.

I love words that don’t directly translate into English (another favourite is mamihlapinatapai – try saying that three times in a row!) and amidst gloomy weather reports and a still vaguely irritating hangover it’s a concept that’s got me thinking about the cosier, brighter sides to the approaching winter. So, here is a pre-emptive hygge-inspired happy list for reasons to be happy about winter (and believe me I am putting a lot of effort into this one because I am a self-confessed ‘sun monkey’, and being too cold for too long will almost definitely put me in a bad mood. But I digress…)

• Wearing stylish coats and feeling like a glamorous real person despite the fact that I am probably wearing hareems and a dirty jumper underneath (also big props to my nan here for giving me some amazing coats she was chucking out. They just don’t make them like they used to!)
• Kicking leaves around and cycling in autumn
• Having an excuse for having ‘windswept’ hair/being allowed to wear a hat all the time thus covering said hair
• Mulling everything, because warm alcohol is the best alcohol
• Sitting around a cozy fire (such a cliche, I know… but you really can’t beat it!)
• Seeing my bonkers family, and then escaping to hang out with my friends who I also haven’t seen for months
• Clear starry skies
• Dare I say it…. SNOW!!!
• Decorating for Christmas/Christmas food/Christmas in general. OK so it’s ages away and I know it can be a hard time too. But I still get excited about it. More urgently though…
• Halloween! (and getting ridiculously drunk in scary face paint)
• Thick scarves and gloves and socks and nice boots, because wearing soft things is nice.