We Need HYGGE

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We all know what HYGGE is, right? The word is Danish, and supposedly there is no direct English translation. But "a quality of coziness that engenders contentment and a feeling of well-being" supposedly comes close.

So how do you pronounce this wonderful term? Hue-gah? Hoo-gay? Hue-guh? No one seems quite sure about this, either. But no matter how you say it, HYGGE has spawned hundreds of books and magazine articles and decorating trends. The Danes came up with the concept because they have very long dark winters and they needed to find a way to make those dark days fun instead of going out and burying themselves en mass in snow drifts or drinking themselves to death. So they concentrated on fuzzy hand-knitted socks and crackling fires and perfect pots of tea, and on candle-lit homey gatherings of friends and family around home-cooked pots of stew. (Do they use Le Creuset in Denmark, I wonder?)  Then, they throw in READING. Now that sound pretty hard to beat, and just the ticket for those of us who are feeling a bit battered by this last year.

Of course, it occurs to me that I have been making perfect pots of tea for years, and that I already have fuzzy socks, and that there are few things I love more than reading in front of the fire, or warm cozy dinners with family, or drinking wine in my kitchen with my very best friends gathered together.  But apparently the secret to HYGGE is that you should do those things consciously, with appreciation for the moment.

Debs with fire, fuzzy socks, candle, and her furry friend, Chewbacca.

REDS, do you practice HYGGE?

INGRID THOFT: YES!!  How could I not, with a name like mine?  One of my nephews refers to his sweats and p.j.s as his "cozies," and the whole family has adopted the term.  I like getting into my cozies and curling up on the couch with a good book.  Even though I have the Danish blood, I think my husband taught me about coziness and a feeling of contentment more than anyone else.  I grew up with an inclination to always be productive, but early on in our relationship, he showed me the value of slowing down and recharging one's batteries.  I think a lot of cultures do it better compared to Americans when it comes to self-care and creating a sense of community.  I'm all for productivity, but much can be gained from taking it easy when given the chance.  Also, aren't the Danes one of the happiest groups of people on the planet?  Perhaps they're on to something.

Do you know how much I love Ingrid's photo???

HALLIE EPHRON: HYGGE? I'd never heard the term, but "slowing down to smell the roses" and being content in the moment and indulging in friends and good food and staying warm... high priorities for me. All year 'round. My favorite winter clothing: silky long underwear -- not the waffle weave cotton stuff that bunches up in your pant legs and armpits. That thin extra layer really works, and there are brands like Cuddle Duds that aren't expensive and feel great.

And I confess I'm into warm winter socks in a big way and sometimes, when it's really cold, I wear my Uggs boots around the house. They weren't cheap but one of the best investments I ever made... five+ years ago.

My favorite cozy activity does not involve friends... a hot bath. The original bathtub in our 1920s house is large and has a sloped end and I can submerge everything but my knees.  Mmmmmm.

Hallie's UGGs and fuzzy socks

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Jonathan and I say it all the time: Cozy! We have two cozy chairs--and either one may be occupied by either of us so we don't have "my" chair--and sweatpants and fleece tops and fuzzy blankets and watch some great movie with wine. Kidding me? Fabulous.
Also!  Jonathan makes coffee for me every morning. When I hear the sound of the spoon stirring in the milk, I know this seems silly, but I think, wow, I'm lucky.
I have fuzzy slippers, I admit, and Uggs? Are perfect. (Except if it rains.)
And how about that moment when you first get into bed, and the comforter and pillows are all puffy?

Hank--or Jonathan's--cozy chair

RHYS BOWEN: I am not a winter person! If I had my way I'd hibernate and wake up in March. I know this is wimpy because California winters are not harsh, but usually I escape to Arizona and this year John's health issues are keeping us in very wet and windy Marin County. So for the first time in ages I'm having to create my Hygge (I'd guess it's hooguh). I do love my Uggs. Brought them back from Australia in the days when I went back and forth all the time to my parents and now wear them in the house all the time (my, but they hold up well!).
Candles. I love candles on winter evenings and I've kept up some of the sparkly little lights. And I'm knitting scarves and I love mulled wine. And I'm making lots of soup. I'm lucky enough that two of my children live nearby and I really enjoy impromptu visits from them. And going to movies and having lunch with friends. I think we need lots of contact with people we care about to get us through the dark time of year! 

LUCY BURDETTE: Wish we all lived closer and could do Hygge together (not Hallie's bathtub though!) Of course in Key West, we don't have too much chilly weather. But when I am in a chilly patch, I have a very nice fleece blanket that I like for lying on the couch to watch TV. And animals help too! Especially a purring cat on my lap. They are having a cold snap in LA, where my sweet granddaughter Dorothea agrees
with the cat notion. (She has two kitties, this is Zuma.)

Julia practicing ultra-hygge

 DEBS: Oh, I am with Hallie on the bath. And with Hank on the puffy down comforter when you snuggle into bed at night. And candles and soup and friends for wine, and purring (or snoring, as the case may be) animals. I don't have to mention how I feel about tea... I make a perfect pot with a perfect cup every single morning, and it is a highlight of my day. You can't get much more HYGGE than that. Although I would certainly try. (Maybe we are transplanted Danes, although Ingrid gets first claim!) But what do the Danes do in the summer??

READERS, how about you? Are you into the cozy Danish HYGGE thing?

P.S. I love everyone's houses. How fun to see them!

Five SMALL Thanksgivings

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Jungle Red to all of you! We hope you are all eating a bit too much, and that someone other than you gets to do the washing up!

But if you have a minute to celebrate with us, we have a Thanksgiving Challenge for you.

Once again, there are exclusions: We are all (we hope) thankful for our families and our friends, our pets, food on the table, our health, our homes, and BOOKS. So tell us FIVE other little things that make this day, or any other day, a little brighter.

I'll go first:

DEBS: 1) I'm thankful that my daughter convinced me to try Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. It sounded really weird, but it turned out to be delicious.

2)I just discovered that I like persimmons.  That proves that there are always interesting new things to look forward to.

3)And speaking of interesting new things, I came home from a week's writing retreat to find that my husband had grown a beard. This is the first time in the forty years I've known him that I've ever seen him with a beard. I think I like it.

4)I just have to get in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special.

With this week's frigid North Texas temps, I am more thankful than ever that we installed a gas jet in our fireplace when we had to rebuild the chimney a few years ago. No more Girl Scout fire-building skills needed.  Just put in some logs and turn on the gas.  Bliss.  Just add hot chocolate and a boo--opps, sorry. I almost threw in the B word.

Now, your turn, REDS. No cheating.

RHYS BOWEN:I have an awful lot to be thankful for this week with my whole family assembled around me as we celebrate a milestone birthday for my husband. But I'll try to come up with little things1. I'm thankful that I've never grown up, that I can still enjoy silly play and being a kid with my grandkids. I was told I was the only grandmother someone had ever seen chasing her granddaughters over the play structure and up the rock wall.2.I'm thankful I love to sing. When I'm with a choir singing great music I get chills
3.I'm thankful we import tea from England for our daily cuppe and that we still have that civilized four o'clock ritual.
4. I'm thankful for PBS. Otherwise the TV would never get turned on.
5. I'm thankful we have a Fresh and Easy store near us in Phoenix that stocks Crunchie bars. Absolutely my favorite candy.

HALLIE EPHRON: First off, I'm grateful to Debs that I don't have to come up with a seee-rious list of things I"m grateful for. I'm thankful for:
1.Hot smoked paprika, a spice which I only recently discovered and which I now use in my rub for chicken before roasting (or barbecuing). So delicious!
2. My immersion blender, which makes all kinds of wintery soups easy and no blender to clean up after.
3. My UGGS. I bought a pair 4 years ago and live in them through the winter. I cannot function if my feet are cold.
4. My daily newspaper. Hard copy. So grateful it's still being printed so I can have comics and the bridge column with my morning coffee.
5. And echoing Rhys on this, public television. Scott & Bailey. George Gently. Doc Martin. Downton. Antiques Roadshow. And so much more.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, little things. Let's see...

1. Wine. What can I say. My mom died a few years ago, and one of her legacies to me was part of her wine cellar. We have been having DELICIOUS wine, and we toast to her every time. (I'm embarrassed to put this first, but I did think of it first..)
2. Yeah, the things my mother left me. Including gorgeous scarves, which I wear all the time. You'd think it might make me sad, but it doesn't.
3. My iphone. I LOVE it. When I can't find it, I begin to freak out, which is scary. But it's a fabulous invention. And ON Demand TV. (This is the technology choice. So I can choose both things.)
4. Yes, Daily newspaper, at the breakfast table, with coffee. Starbucks Christmas blend! 
5.  Our ducks that come every spring. And our garden.

LUCY BURDETTE: Okay I'm thinking...
1. thankful for my morning walk with John and Tonka, which ends up with a cafe con leche at The Cuban Coffee Queen
2. thankful for the TV show Nashville on NBC. I'm crazy for this show--the music, the stars, the soap opera plot!
3. thankful for cheese, especially sharp cheddar--for toasted cheese

sandwiches, mac and cheese, and cheese on anything
4. Eyesight. What in the world would I do if I couldn't read??
5. fur and the animals who wear it. Nothing more soothing than ruffling the fur of one of my guys. While watching Nashville. and eating cheese (just kidding there:)

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: One of my favorite quotes is: Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.? ? A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

OK, now for five things:

1) I'm grateful that even though we live in the city, our windows face into the middle of a block, so we have a beautiful view of trees and can hear the birds sing.
2) I'm grateful for Frank's Hot Sauce, a Buffalo staple and what's used on real wings. I put it on almost everything. My husband jokes I'd put it on ice cream?
3) I'm thankful for our "nurse cat" Xander ? he's a bit of a grumpy old man-cat, but if anyone's sick or sad, he's right there, snuggling and purring.
4) I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but thankful for the new CW show, Reign. Even though it's historically inaccurate, it's jolly good fun ? and has distracted me through a lot of dark moments this fall.
5) Sick today and thankful to work from home, in my PJs, with tea and cats.

DEBS: Rhys, congrats to John!  Your celebration sounds fabulous.  And you are indeed the "games mistress" :-) If I ever want to organize a big bash, I'm calling you.

Susan, writing in PJs with tea and cats is always the best, but here's hoping you're feeling more festive on the day.

Hank, if I'd inherited anyone's wine, it would be first on my list!

Hallie, how does anyone live without an immersion blender?

And Lucy, I haven't seen Nashville. Nor Reign, Susan.  But I do have On-Demand TV...

What about you, readers?  What five SMALL things are you thankful for today?

(And we here at Jungle Red are very thankful for YOU, which is no small thing at all!)

Winter...going, going...

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Okay - it's not gone just yet. And my husband keeps reminding me that it once snowed on Easter Sunday (dang, let's hope that doesn't happen, it would ruin my new patent leather Mary Janes!)

As much as I love spring - and I will be yakking about garden ideas on Wednesday - I will miss winter. (Although I won't miss even the little bit of shoveling that I do myself. That's my house below and it has far too many paths the snowplow guys can't reach!)

I can't imagine living any place that didn't have four distinct seasons and apart from hosting my birthday, my husband's, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year's, the Oscars, the Philly Flower Show and Mardi Gras, winter's the time we get to wear great big sweaters and tall boots. Scarves. We can generally eat and drink with reckless abandon since who's going to see it under all those layers?? Thick soups, hot chocolate - go for it! Roberta's cassoulet, Jan's toffee candies - count me in.
But it isn't just the food.

So here they are, The Top Five Things I Will Miss When Winter Finally Ends5 - Wearing my black Uggs around the house. They've been the unofficial signal that I'm home and I aint goin' nowhere.
4 -  Collecting kindling and bringing in firewood. I always feel like Olivia Walton when I do this and - go figure - I love it.
3 - Irish Coffee. Where has this drink been all my life? It's probably fattening, right?
2 - Snowshoeing. My new fave activity (to counteract the Irish Coffee.)
..and the top thing I'll miss when winter ends
1 - Sitting by the fire with Max the dog and a good book.

What about you gals?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What I'll miss about winter? Ah, sweaters. Big mufflery scarves. I love my plaid flannel "lounge pants."  I love sitting in the big chair with a book and a big fluffy blanket. And yes, indeedy, my black uggs. And no, Irish Coffee can't be fattening. Can it? I mean--it's hot. So any calories would, like, automatically burn off.
Sigh. It is going by awfully quickly, though...

HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, there's not a lot that I will miss about winter.
I'll miss a little:
Homemade soups -- split pea, minestrone, white bean and tomato, black bean and cilantro, whatever's in the refrigerator...
Roast chicken with roasted veggies.
Medium-dry sherry before dinner.
My wonderful warm quilt.
Yes, my Uggs -- like having permission to wear my bedroom slippers in public.
Not having to shave my underarms? I know, TMI.

ROSEMARY: Sherry before dinner...that's so civilized. I saw that in a movie once...;-)

RHYS BOWEN: Winter, what's that? Oh, you mean snow and stuff. I may well experience a tiny bite of it next week when I'm in Colorado Springs. But being a total wimp, we escape to Arizona for the winter where we enjoy blue skies, the pool, desert sunsets, eating outside. Having grown up in England in a huge house with no central heating I could not wait to escape from winter. Even California is too dreary and wet. I don't mind crisp mountain snow and hot chocolate and big roaring fires, but when we were home in December it seemed that every time I wanted a big roaring fire it was a spare the air day.
But we do make soups in the winter months, and I have oatmeal for breakfast. And Irish coffee is good any time!

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm with Hallie and Rhys, there isn't enough appealing about winter to make me want to endure the pain. Yes, the snowstorms that hit New England looked spectacular in photos. And I wished I could be there--for about a day. Otherwise, it's a Key West winter all the way for me--where we whine a little if it drops below 60...I'll stop yakking for fear I'll get stoned:).

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I've got a pair of snowballs with your names on them, Rhys and Lucy.
I'm laughing at all the Uggs - my pair is tan. We New Englanders know Uggs are for wearing inside, not outside! What do I miss about winter? Definitely the stews and soups. I love winter root vegetables in almost every form. I'll miss what I think of as December snow; when it falls in fat flakes and everything looks so beautiful covered in white. Of course, by mid-March it's all gritty and lumpy, and I can't wait for it to finish melting.
I miss our woodstove fires, even though keeping them stocked is a P.I.T.A. Ro, maybe I'll try to think of myself as Ma Walton next time I'm hauling boxes of wood upstairs. And I'll miss my cold bedroom, which necessitates sleeping tucked in close to Ross. You know which state has the lowest divorce rate, right? Massachusetts. I'm convinced it's because New England spouses have to stick together for body heat.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We had our little Texas experience with real snow over Christmas--it lasted almost a WEEK! And boy, was I tired it... But I do love our fires, and playing outside with the dogs on a crisp day. And I adore soups. The first nip of autumn in the air and I'm making some kind of hearty soup. Wait, I take that back. The first thing I do is get out the fluffy down comforter.
One more thing--bare trees against the backdrop of winter sunsets.

ROSEMARY: I was about to add that like Ross apparently, my hubby also generates a fair amount of heat but Hallie would say TMI!
Besides, body heat seems to be a distant second to - UGGS! What about the rest of you..what will you miss?

She claims not to be adventurous - but we don't believe her for a minute. Make sure to stop by tomorrow when the adventurous Dana Cameron visits. She'll be giving one lucky commenter a signed copy of her lastest, Seven Kinds of Hell.