Hygge

November 2020

It has been snowing steadily for a week!

Snow removal in the mornings is time consuming; the careful drive to and from school is longer now and the power has gone off for short spells regularly. There are also lovely delights as the kids recount high stakes sledding adventures during school recess, the snowy-scape is simply spectacular, and I am surrendering to the time suck of winter comfort food cooking as I am seriously into keeping the kitchen warm.

The guest room-come-office space is separate from the main cabin and, with the pandemic chapter of living here, it has become a quieter adult retreat to do our calls, our zooming, our work. Even in summer, it’s always chilled and the electric heater is noisy. But no more!

A very good thing has happened in the slow transformation of this fixer upper property—a change that claims the space as more ‘us'. Last week, a small wood stove, ordered long ago was finally installed. And now I sit in an old family rocking chair, doing online course work, cosying up next to this darling and very petite Jotul (I like small things…). There is a hot plate big enough for a single pot or kettle.

Formally, the wood burner is the Norwegian Jotul Model F 602 V2 Non-catalytic Wood Heater.  But to me, a HEART has arrived! What is it about fire and warmth? It is just so profound in a cold place. It represents that essential survival/life for our species. With a power loss, as tiny as it is, she would keep us warm and fed. It is also THE symbol for me of a cosiest, Heidi-esque-backcountry-hut-heaven and a sensory resting place of “hearth and home.”

It is hygge.

Thanks to the hygge hype I now have a word that meaningfully fits the bill. In my wonderful bedside book (thank you Rachel!), The Little Book of Hygge, the Danish Way to Live Well, Meik Wiking affirms:

It is fair to say that a fireplace may just be ultimate headquarters of hygge. It’s somewhere we can sit by ourselves to rest while experiencing ultimate feelings of cosiness and warmth.

Hygge is so much more than physical cosiness: it is the art of creating intimacy, and it offers a Felt Sense, and emotional and bodily sense of safety, a feeling of belonging to the moment and to each other, a restorative pause, a deep sigh of contentment and ease.

A hygge blessing for a pandemic winter.