How To Beat The Winter Blues With Hygge

Now that the holidays are over, the winter blues can start to set in. Personally, I love the holidays for family time together, the cozy warmth and Christmas spirit. Who says Christmas spirit has to end come the New Year?

I have always been someone who loves Christmas and have even been known to listen to Christmas music in the sweltering hot days of July. I usually do little things to keep the spirit alive throughout the year and help build excitement for the year to come. Some things I’ve done in the past are keeping out one Christmas ornament, watching Christmas movies, and not deleting my Christmas playlists right away.

These things bring me peace and warmth on the cold days and that’s why I was so pleased when I found out about hygge. It doesn’t have to be Christmas to enjoy hygge and there’s so many articles online, books and videos for you to learn about it.

Briefly and from my understanding, hygge is enjoying a cozy life. Now, I have been informed that hygge cannot be forced and that it’s more of a state of mind and atmosphere than it is a to-do list. These are mere suggestions of things that have brought me serenity, made me feel nostalgic or are just plain cozy. So take this blog post as you will…

What better time to focus on coziness then after the holidays? So I’ve put together a list of things you, your family and your pets can do that are hygge.

Enjoy a candlelit dinner. Having candles as the only light. Remember to switch off your phones and enjoy your homemade meal.
Spend an hour outside playing. Like building a snow fort, snow man or just making snow angels. Even just half an hour. When you come in, make some hot chocolate or tea, snuggle up and put on a movie.
Read. Out loud. You can take turns reading or someone can pick the book and someone else can read it to everyone. You can also read to your pets, too. They love to be included. If you live alone, read out loud to yourself. I recommend reading a picture book that gives you nostalgia. You can get it from the library or just from your own collection. This is also a nice outing if you have a little free library by your house you can walk to. If you’d like to treat yourself, you can also buy one but that’s not necessary.
Since the holidays are over, everyone will stop getting all those Christmas cards. Why not surprise a loved one with a hand-written letter? You can write one letter as the whole family or you can have each family member pick someone to write to.
This next one is on my bucket list…. Have an outdoor fire. That’s right. In the snow. In the middle of winter. Dress everyone up in their winter snow suits and just enjoy burning logs. Make some hot chocolate and go around in a circle having everyone say something they love about the person beside them.
Craft night. Keep in mind the ages of the kids if you have them. Some ideas I have for age groups are: teen to young adult- painting following a bob ross tutorial, pre-teen- decorate/ stencil/ paint tote bags, big kids- DIY slime, little kids- colouring, toddlers- finger painting, babies- hand print ornaments and last but not least, pets- paw painting or pets print ornaments
For the last way to embrace hygge, I have decided to leave it up to you. Let me know down below what you come up with or recommend for me to try.