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Hygge and Snow at the Cabin

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Ya'll it snowed here!  I know that's not a huge deal for everyone, but we haven't had snow like this in seven years. It was unbelievable that we got four inches of snow and it didn't melt for eight days! I absolutely love snow and I've always been someone who needs cozy. I wear socks and sweaters year round. I can't wait each year until it's cold enough to have a fire in the fire place. Until last year I just called it feeling homey or cozy. Then I stumbled onto the Danish word hygge. 

 I'm happy to be joining a Hygge home blog hop, full of ideas to bring hyggelig into our lives.  They're linked at the bottom of this post.



Our family was fortunate to be able to spend the past three weeks together because of school breaks and vacation time. Although my husband and I had a long list of projects that we could have been working on around the house, we decided to scale the list back and just work on a few things here and there. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to fully live a hyggelig life.

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Last year I bought a book, The Little Book of Hygge, to try to learn more. I learned that the concept of hygge goes way beyond just sweaters, socks, candles and fires. Hyggelig is, in addition to cozy and comfortable atmosphere, a feeling of warmth, togetherness, happiness and harmony. Very similar, I think, to the calm and slower life that I try to bring into our family. I highly recommend reading that book. 


We didn't plan a vacation for this time. We love being at home and decided on a staycation for Winter break. When the snow started falling, we decided to pretend we had gone on vacation to a mountain cabin instead. My plan for hyggelig living was coming together. 

My Hygge Tips:

Create a Cozy and Warm Atmosphere

Warm lighting is important.  I kept our lights dimmed and the fire roaring. I added some candles around in safe spots and fairy lights in glass candle holders.  The low warm lights made the house glow, especially at night.  


 I used lots of cozy pillows and throws with a variety of textures. There's a big furry one on the floor the kids love to lay on while watching TV. They call it the dog pillow because apparently it reminds them of the way a dog feels. Honestly, most of the pillows and throws spend most of the time on the floor with the kids. 

 Even my Granddaddy's cuckoo clock's ticking and cuckooing added to the atmosphere. After the kids were in bed, my husband and I watched Netflix. We had a glass of our favorite whiskey as the fire crackled and the clock tick tocked. He asked me, "is this what you mean by hygge? I get it now. "

 Because I love having fires so much, last year my husband got this Grate Wall of Fire fireplace grate for me as a gift. It creates a more upright fire that starts easier and puts out so much more heat and less smoke.


Enjoy Simple Food

We made simple hearty dinners together; homemade pizza, chili, pot roasts, roasted chicken and vegetables. I made lots of grilled cheese sandwiches for lunches. We had popcorn in front of the fire for snacks. Slow cooker dinners and soups were awesome because it filled the house with yummy smells all day. Nothing was fancy, just casual. We ate dinner by candlelight so we could enjoy the snow outside the dining room window. 
 


Enjoy Nature

Our snow days were full of walks in our snowy woods. Everything looked so different with the snow and all of the ponds frozen. 


We walked and explored areas of our nine acres of woods that we've never been to before.  We found lots of animal tracks in the snow and tried to identify them. 



The kids built snowmen and Daddy dragged them on a sled behind the tractor (we don't have any hills).  Then everyone came back in and changed into what I've always called "comfies," fleeces and soft warm clothes, for hot chocolate by the fire. 

We even managed some late night snow walks after the kids were in bed (grandparents live here too so they weren't alone).
I love to bring nature inside, too. You guys know l am an extreme forager for branches, greenery and wild flowers to decorate with. I recently found some paperwhite bulbs on clearance at Lowes and the kids and I set them in this antique mixing bowl. They haven't quite bloomed yet but we have enjoyed tracking their growth. 


Sip Warm Drinks

I set up a hot chocolate and tea bar for the kids to help themselves as much as they wanted. They couldn't believe their ears! It was just herbal tea bags, hot chocolate mix, and marshmallows beside the Keurig, but they thought it was awesome. Surprisingly, they were reasonable about how much they made. My only rule was they had to clean up after themselves so I didn't have to do it. 
Those sweet coffee, tea, and sugar enamel canisters are some of my favorite kitchen things.  I keep herbal tea bags in the tea canister for the kids and Keurig cups in the coffee canister for Mama and Daddy.  I found the set here.

Be Together

Hygge is so nice, but hygge together is even better. Our family together time and the memories we made were priceless. Had we been able to include some close friends, we would have made it even more hyggelig. I'm not saying it was perfect by any means, we had normal sibling squabbles and bills still came in the mail. But the overall feeling was still there. 

We don't usually have the luxury of this much time together, but the Danish make hygge part of their every day lives year round. My goal for this upcoming year is to try to do that too, carve out time to feel cozy, comfortable and peaceful together as a family. The stresses of daily life will always be there and things will always come up, but a hyggelig approach to life can be an underlying calm and constant. 

Now if you'd like to see how a few others are living hyggelig, I've joined up with a group of bloggers on a Hygge blog tour.  Have a look at:



Nina & Cecilia | Nina & Cecilia








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