Month: November 2021

What does cozy mean to you?

A hot beverage on a cold day certainly makes things more cozy in my world.

As I am writing this I am coped up in my apartment with my daughter that is sick. She’s been ill since last Wednesday, no, she is not dying. First she had the winter vomiting disease (not fun!) and then it turned into a sore throat and fever. We took a Covid test yesterday and are waiting for the result. What does this have to do with cozy? Well, it’s not fun to be sick, but we are making the very best of the situation. (After the winter vomiting disease left us we are doing so much better, anything is manageable after that.)

A Christmas themed tray that I usually serve seasonal fruit and nuts on during the winter. The house pictured on the tray looks like the traditional houses in my region Dalarna (Sweden.)

It’s 8F outside, the world we see through our window is white, not so much snow yet, but frost. The frost is building up with new layers every day due to the cold. Everything is white. This past Sunday was the 1st of Advent, when you traditionally start decorating for Christmas in Sweden. They light up our town with beautiful decorations starting on the 1st of Advent. I haven’t seen what it looks like yet this year, since I am at home with my daughter, but I cannot wait to see the decorations as soon as she gets well.

I carried our Christmas decorations up from the storage unit in the house next doors, and we washed some Christmas themed tablecloths (we never have tablecloths the rest of the year,) and rinsed of the decorations in warm water (they were a little dusty.) My daughter thinks that the ritual of opening the boxes of Christmas decorations is magical. I think it’s rather cozy to transform our home to match the anticipation for Christmas. I am a minimalist, and I don’t overdo the decorations, but I do appreciate some Christmas feeling. 

Santa in my window
Advent lights in the center of my kitchen window, a very important Nordic Christmas tradition. Everyone have Advent lights. Greetings from Jack Frost on the outside. Yesterday the frost stayed on the windows until 2pm, the sunset was at 3pm..

My daughter told me a couple months ago that she don’t believe in Santa (or the Easter bunny) anymore. She did last year. She also said that she would be very disappointed if I didn’t pretend that he was real, she wanted to keep the magic even if she knows that Santa isn’t real. So while I was hanging up the stockings (not a Swedish tradition, but something we brought with us from the US,) I reminded both of my children that it is not allowed to touch the stockings, because if they do the magic disappears. My daughter kept a straight face and swore that she wouldn’t touch the stockings. LOL. 

Santas helper filled the stockings last night. Kids still haven’t noticed..

We haven’t decorated the Christmas tree yet, but if my daughter have enough energy today, or tomorrow we might do that. We were gifted a beautiful artificial tree last year, it’s going to be perfect for many years to come. Spending time with my family anticipating the holiday season is definitely a cozy time of the year for me. We are expecting more snow this weekend, and I believe the colder weather is here to stay, making things even cosier, as we bundle up with more layer of clothes. 

One of our Christmas themed tablecloths. God Jul = Merry Christmas.
Hot chocolate is a cozy treat on special occasions at our house.

This week I’m linking up with my friend Terri’s Sunday Stills, and the theme for the week is Cozy. What does cozy mean to you? While reading Terri’s post and some of the other participants post the appealing word got an even wider meaning to me. Still, the deepest meaning of the word in my world, would be stress-free time with loved ones. Tell me in a comment what cozy means to you, or write you own post about it. Feel free to leave a link to your post if you choose to write a post about it.

Love,

Maria

Weekend Coffee Share – You are lucky it is a virtual coffee chat!

Welcome to the weekend coffee share. Can I get you a cup of coffee? Or tea? This week I also have some blueberry soup to offer. I felt like having some myself today. It’s cold outside, around 15F. I know it’s probably going to be a lot colder soon, but in the beginning of the season the cold always feels colder, if you know what I mean. Blueberry soup is perfect for cold days, lots of vitamin C and energy. Hot drinks and hot soup is something I consume a lot of during the winter. So far today I’ve had hot coffee, hot tea and hot blueberry soup, not to forget the bean soup I had for lunch.. LOL. The days are shorter, colder, and darker now. The sunrises and sunsets have been very colourful all week. What’s the weather like in your area?

Blueberry soup and cheese sandwiches, made out of homemade bread and locally produced cheese.

On Monday morning I took a long bike ride before work. The world was frozen, but not much snow. During the day it snowed, and the ground had a fine white cover all around in time for my ride home. Next week we are expecting more cold and beautiful weather 10-17F most of the week. I hope we get more snow. 

More than half of my daughter’s school have been down with the winter vomiting disease, teachers and students alike. Good thing this coffee chat is virtual. My daughter became ill on Wednesday morning, at school. I had to leave work quickly and get her (it was really bad timing to not be at work this week..) She was very ill. I’ve lost count on how many times she vomited. She also had a high fever. She started to get better mid day Thursday, after about 30hours of misery. She’s been weak today as well, but no vomiting, or fever. She is still contagious (until Sunday,) but so far neither her brother, nor I have fallen ill, we’ve taken all the precautions we can to stay healthy. 

Due to this unforeseen illness my plans of a big Thanksgiving celebration for my daughter had to be cancelled. Thanksgiving is very important to her. She usually celebrates with her dad and his side of the family. We are going to make a turkey and pumpkin pie for Christmas instead. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this week: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful time with your family.

Frost on my kitchen window early this morning.

Given that things are progressing in the right way the rest of this weekend (my son and I stays healthy,) I am planning on decorating for Christmas on Sunday. I’m looking forward to that. I can’t believe that it will be December in just a few days. When do you usually decorate for Christmas? 

Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Love,

Maria