02 December 2015

A Hyggelig Advent

We lived in Norway for a couple of years in the late 1990's and it was there that I discovered the joys of advent and the concept of "hygge" it is difficult to translate, often the meaning is listed as "cosy" or "homey" but it is more than that. I love this Norwegian phrase "Nu er det hyggelig" (Now, it's cosy! - usually uttered after lighting the woodburner and a couple of candles, before snuggling under a quilt with a hot chocolate to watch your favourite film)

I think coming from the North of Scotland with long cold dark winters, I embrace the concept of hygge quite well, for me it is all about making the house warm and inviting,  baking cakes and home cooked family meals, long brisk country walks, and then home for tea and crumpets in front of a roaring fire, a little bit of knitting or quilting, watching a film snuggled under a quilt...

Jasper is very good at hygge!
I also adore advent, the start of which usually triggers my hyggelig inclinations. I like to clean the house and make it all warm for winter.

Waiting for the Christmas Cactus to flower
lighting the first advent candle

This year in addition to the real tree, which will go up later in December, I have an advent tree in the kitchen.

 I put it up on first advent Sunday and I am having a lovely time adding one decoration per day from this basket of lovelies, all appropriately Scandinavian!

Our advent calendar is of the strictly chocolate kind, I am afraid there would be a revolt if I suggested otherwise!

I have noticed all over blogland, that there are lots of different creative advent calendars around and some very clever people making things from them. I was very interested to read Karen over at Cornflower's idea of having a creative advent, each day she will draw a ticket out of a hat with a current project on it and then work on that for a few hours. I have a few neglected projects that I would like to work on, I will try and do a little each day on one of them throughout advent.

My long term WIP Remember When 
My Current Knitting project
Hand Quilting The Welsh Quilt
I will also continue with Bonnie's Quilt Mystery each week and my current Embroidery project when class ends on Monday. It deserves a post of it's own, it is a stunning design by Jenny Adin-Christie!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced and Esther

9 comments:

  1. Gosh, I just wish I could work on projects for several hours every day of Advent!

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  2. All your photos are beautiful and I love your description of "hygge" - I feel as if I know the feeling but had no word for it :)

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  3. Very nice! I enjoy Advent too. Nice to know what hygge means, even if only approximately. The term has been used as a name for a yarn and also as s name for a sweater in the knitting world recently.

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  4. How nice to find another quilter from the UK to link with via Crazy Mom Quilts. I have just written down the Norweigian phrase, we are about to acquire a 6'3" Norweigian son in law and it will so impress him if I can come out with it after practising saying it for a bit! Your Advent photos remind me I must get cracking with writing cards...not long to go...
    Kind regards,
    Sue

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  5. It's all very HYGGE here :-)
    xx

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  6. I love the concept of hygge and wish people in the UK embraced it more! We used to have a very simple wooden advent tree in New Zealand which I loved but we don't now we're back here ....... must remedy that for next year!

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  7. Anonymous6/12/15 08:19

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  8. I think if you live anywhere that gets gales you get the concept of hygge - we've been listening to the wind whip around the house this past week as we snuggle under quilts and watch the salt lamp flicker and it's been perfect and definitely "now it's cozy"!

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  9. What a fun read! The dutch word 'gezellig' resembles hyggelig, as well in sound as in meaning, so I guess they have a related origin...

    A very hyggelig christmas to you!
    Ilse

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