Twinkly lights, cake, books, knitting, quilts, Moomin cookery and a warm puppy. Is that what hygge is? I'm never quite sure. The dog is snoozing on my boot. Sometimes his walk is so exciting he has to have a lie down as soon as he gets in. He found a fellow puppy to go mad with today. Sprinting through the fallen leaves at top speed, nothing better if you're a small dog.
Writing deadlines loom here, and I'm lightly panicky, which is how I operate best. In fact that's why I'm here writing this, instead of somewhere else writing something else - just pressurising myself into full anxiety mode, all the better for accomplishing stuff. Things were on track until a little light illness for a couple of the children, requiring Days Off School. We all know how productive it's possible to be with small people breathing down your neck.
Littlest boy (peering over my shoulder at the laptop screen): Why is it a blank page?
Sigh.
I also seem to spend hours walking the dog. Good for me etc. etc., but really very time consuming. If I slack off a bit he starts chewing the house. He is nicely worn out right now, but by tomorrow morning we will have to start all over again. Today I entertained myself by checking out the contents of people's recycling bins as I walked. Really, your whole life is laid bare out there is it not? All that red wine and two bottles of gin. In one week! Tesco Finest 7-nut granola, fancy. I'm not sure I could even name seven nuts. Unwashed ready-meal cartons. Slack, just slack. Oh, I'm terrible I know.
It's the Christmas lights switch-on this evening in our little town. Every single child is going it seems, and excitement levels are sky-high. Candy floss, a big wheel, street fair stalls, an unknown celebrity, shocking plastic light-up things and chips with cheese, it's all there. The littlest boy has already drafted his Christmas list and re-written it out nicely. It ends "From the goodest boy in the world. PS I would also like an orange in my stocking please." Requests include really grippy gloves and pistol. As in previous years, I persuaded him to leave off axe. He tried for a hatchet or a machete, honestly, I've no idea why. What is it he wants to chop??? Maybe that should be Who. The really grippy gloves have me stumped. He likes to free-run about the place, and I think that's what they're for, so that he can climb walls in the manner of Spiderman. But where on earth do you find really grippy children's gloves? Oh how I hope I won't fail him. The festive season is a lot of pressure, no?
Are we feeling it yet?
Bike gloves? They have grip, especially mountain bike gloves. Love Bertie’s nose. Like melted chocolate (the colour, not the shape). Feeling good in a gentle pre-Christmas way here. Starting to sort out who’s having what when.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the light switch on, cheesy chips and the celebrity no one knows xxx
As I put out my recycled glass bin I often wonder if anyone looks in it; now I know ..oops! Light switch on here on Thursday and I’ll be enjoying the wafting of mulled wine and roasting chestnuts as I stand behind the till of NT shop. Your post is exceedingly hyggeful and reassuring to those of us who haven’t even thought about Christmas lists yet. For heavens sake it’s not December yet.:) Good luck with the writing deadlines; blank pages can be very calming. B x
ReplyDeleteMost so called celebrities are unknown to me. Good luck with the deadline.
ReplyDeleteHave you put his gloves in the search bar of Amazon? :-) I just ordered 4 different colored VW Bus mugs on there for my daughter-in-law! :-) I can so relate on the deadline issue.. I work best under pressure, too. I know you'll pull it off! I adore the photo of Bertie.. I'm going to go look at it again. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteDo they make rock climbing gloves for little boys? Really I have no clue. Little Buddy wants a V-tech watch, to play games on I think and a red remote control car. I can handle that. I am always amazed at how many people do not recycle in my neighborhood. Mostly I am talking about my next door neighbor who had tons of boxes int he garbage today yet tomorrow is recycling day! Now they are just waste and will not be reused. It make me crazy.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful hygge photos. Is that Fur Elise on the piano? I love the look of the Moomin cookbook and your quilt is gorgeous. I've often wondered what our recycling says about us! Maybe have a look at climbing gloves? xx
ReplyDeleteIt is, well spotted. Rather overplayed (or overbanged out) here at the moment. The Moomin cookbook is excellent, full of brilliant quotes and deliciousnesses. Thanks for the climbing gloves tip, I shall check them out. CJ xx
DeleteI refuse to consider it Christmas until after my birthday, which is in two days. It's bad enough that it falls on Thanksgiving this year. I think it's all looking very hygge to me over there, whatever that may mean. Every time I think I know what constitutes hygge, I end up standing corrected by somebody, so my definition has grown pretty broad. I hope the town lighting is fun. I remember going to those when I was a kid. I was just thinking the other day about how they did them in mid-December back then, and now you can see the annual River of Lights display here by the last week of November. All Christmas, all the time! Ha.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 12 I asked for a chainsaw for Christmas (I was bored of being cold and wanted wood for a fire). My parents didn't give me that but I did get a very nifty small chopping axe, I remember it fondly. I chopped up twigs and small branches.
ReplyDeleteNow you have me considering a small chopping axe... Oh I know he would love it. Obviously a chainsaw would be even better. CJ xx
DeleteI don't know about hygge, but it looks super cozy and the light switching scene you described sounds divine. I wish I could go!
ReplyDeleteI don't know my son was nuts for a pocket knife far before I thought he was old enough for one. We'd never encouraged these things, but this was how he is wired I suppose, his favorite part about camping is burning and/or things and using his pocket knife to this day. We let him use the hatchet for camping, only. ha!
http://bronteaurell.com/brontes-guide-to-hygge/
ReplyDeleteI like this explanation :)
Lovely post and pictures. I feel that the festive season is over-hyped and too long, and lost much of it's true meaning. Thankfully I can, and do, avoid most of it. xx
ReplyDeleteThat so made me laugh - the grippy gloves bit. Little B was obsessed with grippy gloves when we has about 3 or 4, he had spiderman ones which had little grippy dots all over the palms. We would use his hands to kind of bounce off low walls and bits of buildings on our walks to a from nursery. Fond memories x
ReplyDeleteI immediately thought of bike gloves for grippy gloves... and I can't imagine why you wouldn't buy him an axe. One of mine was in a sulk for weeks because I wouldn't buy him an air rifle. And I know what you mean about the dog. I seem to spend my entire life walking the dog and then rushing around trying to get things done while he sleeps. It's a bit like having small children really! I'm still in denial about any approaching festive season!
ReplyDeleteAn axe, a pistol? They sound like perfectly acceptable gifts to me!! Getting the brain slowly into gear for Christmas here :)
ReplyDeleteHazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans, brazil nuts, cashew nuts.... there's your seven :-) I am quite glad we have a recycling bin with lid! Having said that, I am amazed at the wine consumption of my neighbours - and I do quite enjoy a drink now and then myself - their purple (glass) wheelie bin is always full on collection day and it is a gigantic bin. I am ashamed for even paying attention. We once found Sammy chopping wood with a "borrowed" axe.... there must be something about axes and little boys! Sammy btw still has all ten fingers. It looks ever so cosy in your house, I do enjoy the darker evenings but maybe not so much the darker days. xx
ReplyDeleteI have the shame too, just can't stop myself though. Thank you for the nut list. Macadamias for breakfast! This is luxury indeed. I think myself lucky to have three cashews. CJ xx
DeleteI have some quite grippy cycling gloves which are psychaedelic on the back and bumpy chamois (not real chamois obvly) on the gripping bit. I like your use of lightly. I try and do everything lightly. My current mission is to have a plastic-free recycling bin, but I'm afraid we drink far too much. I buy three bottles of wine and three bottles of beer a week but my husband still brings booze home on his 10-mile off-road cycle from work. In our defence we do have a 24-year-old and his girlfriend for dinner quite often ... Lovely hygge photos, especially the puppy.
ReplyDeleteRugby gloves have grippy bits (to hang on to muddy rugby balls) - they might do the trick? I know exactly what you mean about the right amount of stress for peak working conditions; the trick is getting the balance right (I tend to go overboard on the stress). Good luck with it all. It's all looking lovely and twinkly at your place. Sam x
ReplyDelete(Your blog isn't letting me comment via Wordpress - sorry if you get several comments from me!)
Lovely post. Your comments on your neighbours' recycling bins made me laugh... and also feel better about my analysis of other people's shopping when standing in the queue at the supermarket checkout. Another of life's pleasures...
ReplyDeleteA Moomins Cookbook! I had no idea! Thank you for the tip, and for turning my mind to home and coziness. Don't think I will use that Danish word I'm getting a little tired of. We each will create our own individual version anyway, won't we? Blessings of the season!
ReplyDeletehaha...i ALWAYS noticed people's recycling when i walked our dogs in the city. Raiding people's bins for wine bottles used to be a Thing as they can be returned for a refund here (some piffling amount like 5 cents or something) but then it was declared Illegal because once it got to the curb it was supposedly city property. I think the bin men were just getting tetchy that they didn't get first dibs on the loot. :)
ReplyDeletelovely cozy photos....Bertie really is melt-a-licious. And i know what you mean about the walking....it can seem relentless. Then again, i find walking to be a good time to Ponder writerly things, so perhaps you can look at it as brainstorming time. :0
36,063 as i type this. Every day i sit down and think i'm not going to make it....but the 50,000 word deadline looms so i keep trudging onwards. Yes we can! I've had my one blog read now, so off to the Salt-mines of NaNo. Oooh, sounds like a setting for a fantasy story....
xoxoxo
I found grippy gloves at Mountain warehouse. (pack of 2/one size)They're standard gloves but with white grippy skeleton hands on the palm. My 7yr old loves them.
ReplyDeleteMarigolds are quite grippy. That's all I know.
ReplyDeleteYou've got hygge taped but the next big thing is Ikigai.
Hope you all enjoyed the Christmas light up. Your post is full of hygge it feels very warm and comforting! We are always amazed how much time is taken up walking the dog no sooner you are home from the 1st walk it doesn't seem very long before you are going out again! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteOh your photos are beautiful. I love the Christmas lights switch on! I actually love watching the kids' excitement more than the lights. One of my favourites parts of Christmas xx
ReplyDeleteYes I'm feeling it. But trying very hard to go with it and enjoy it. I know what you mean about the ratio of dog walking to chewing. My house is wrecked. Wrecked! He just destroyed a cork coaster while I typed this. I'm not even joking. X
ReplyDeleteThe doggy thing gets better. When Flora (an energetic Irish setter) was a puppy we felt like sleep-deprived, slightly frazzled new parents. 3 years on she still requires lots of walking but the destructive tendencies seem to have gone. How beautiful your little doggy is. Checking out the recycling bins of others is a great game :o) xx
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