I wish that for all of us in 2008 - to make the ordinary, extraordinary, to make our visions real, to not hold back or to get caught up in living someone else’s dream or decor vision. To take the time we need, to not worry or fret if things take a little longer or change shape. To not try to live off other’s expectations and abilities but only our own. To live hygge.

So then, have a very Hygge Holiday - however you celebrate it.

xo

My mum’s Advent Krans in progress. Taken by my mum.

In Danish homes, Advent is celebrated with the arrival of the season’s first decoration-a beautiful Advent wreath of evergreen boughs that holds four tall, white or red candles. The wreath is hung above or set on the dining room table. On the first Sunday before Christmas, one candle is lit, and the most festive and celebrated season of the year begins. On the second Sunday of Advent, the first candle on the wreath and one more candle are lit. The ritual continues Sunday after Sunday until on the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles are lit together.

My mum, like most Danes, has always made the Advent Krans (she goes on walks for all the greenery and hand makes the candles) before the first Sunday of December. It was always hung above our coffee tables as that’s where everyone gathered (Sunday is a huge visiting day for Danes - even more so during the Holidays) and lit every Sunday until Christmas to celebrate each other and the countdown to Christmas.

The photo above is my mother’s Advent Krans in progress which she’ll have done by tonight* so she can begin her countdown. I must confess to being a little envious of my mum being snowed in, with access to trees and making her Advent Krans. Having literally just flown in a few hours ago and having been gone every weekend for the past month, I haven’t put mine together in time for tonight.

But despite an upcoming move I’m going to try to make one (more like Liselotte’s with a tray and votive) so that each Sunday I can lit mine, relax, and enjoy the simple beauty of this tradition. Because being in Los Angeles I often feel so removed from the Holidays so this photo is a reminder that participating in them doesn’t have to be hard.

Growing up, Easter was the second biggest holiday after Christmas; it was the most days off school, we had the largest dinner and friends always gathered at our house. For our family, it had less to do with religeon and more to do with celeberating family/friends and the arrival of Spring. It was always a fun holiday, filled with creativity, good food and games.

In the Danish national church version, the various Easter festivals are marked by the choice of readings and not, as for instance in Catholic countries, by imitating and dramatising the Gospel stories in the liturgy. The festivals celebrated are Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

The last residue of the old holiday legislation, which prohibited any kind of event that might disturb the service on church festivals, was removed in 1991. That is why various kinds of public entertainment are now permitted, just as certain shops may open. Easter allows five consecutive holidays and as a number of schools also give the children the remaining three days in Holy Week off, it can amount to ten consecutive holidays. That is why most Danes regard Easter as a holiday. A national survey in 2000 showed that 48% of the Danes attached particular importance to the family spending time together during Easter and 37% regarded it as a holiday; only 10% mentioned ‘attending Church’ and ‘the Christian message’ as the main feature of Easter.

For many, myself included, Easter is a symbol of the end of Winter and they therefore use their Easter holidays to begin Spring and Summer by opening up their holiday home, gardening, planting window boxes, etc. Easter symbolosies a new beginning, just like Spring. We all get a little hopeful at this time of year.

Read the rest of this entry »

I love February though not just because it’s my birthday month. I love it because it’s such a hopeful month to me; you feel as though winter is just almost over and spring is on the way, colours of pink, red and white dominate and tulips and robins start poking around. What’s not to love?

Well, there is the commercialism of a particular holiday that’s not to love, isn’t there? I saw Valentines day things in December and it made me really bitter about hearts and chocolate. That is, until I saw the lovely little Valentines notes that Ulla and Melkorka have made for everyone for free. And then I thought that perhaps this year would be the first year to celebrate Valentines.

I’ll actually be on a plane that day (leaving on the 13th and arriving into Copenhagen at 8AM on the 14th) and then checking into a hotel followed by sight seeing so I don’t really have anyone I know to give Valentines to. So I’ve decided I’m just going to randomly hand them out! To the flight crew, people in the row behind me, the taxi driver, the front desk clerk. I’m not sure how this will be taken but we’ll see. There just has to be some way to incorporate these lovely cards into the day….!

During the holidays, I normally don’t give or receive gifts. The reason isn’t because I’m all bahumbug but because, for me, there’s something very awkward about feeling the pressure to give or receive something just because it’s December and it’s something we’re supposed to do. I don’t like feeling forced to participate in that and wouldn’t want anyone I loved to feel the same.

Instead, during Christmas I focus on spending time with friends and family, writing notes and sending cards. It’s the rest of the year that I focus on giving the unexpected gift.

The unexpected gift is something I give when people least expect it. For instance, a friend who has been sick I get them a massage and another who is often of her feet might get a pedicure. I’ll see a box of chocolates and know a woman who’d love them just as I know my book-loving friend might love something I just read. If a friend has been stressed I’ll look after her children for a day or I’ll offer to take her out for coffee and cake to just listen (the gift of time is always underrated). There are other friends I hardly get to see so I’ll take them away on a trip or send them on a plane to visit me and there’s my girlfriends at the store for whom I bring in treats once in awhile because there’s nothing like unexpected cupcakes to make girls swoon! Then there’s people I don’t know but whose blogs inspire me so much that I’ll send them something from their wishlist as a Thank you for posting.

In giving the unexpected gift, there is less pressure for both the giver and receiver and there’s more time to enjoy the act for both say in June than on December 23rd. For me, this became really important after I began to feel more and more stressed about the holidays and how commercial I felt they had become. I didn’t want to keep complaining without doing, and so I decided to stop buying and instead, start enjoying the time. I’d make it up in September by doing something personal for someone else instead.

What I’ve noticed about giving the unexpected gift is that the person that receives it seems to acknowledge it and enjoy it a little more because they don’t feel as though they have to “compete” or buy something back. There’s no “ok, they got me this for the holidays – now what do I give back?” The unexpected gift seems to have less strings attached and, to me, that’s what a gift is all about.

I love holiday movies - especially listening to them whilst trimming the tree, wrapping gifts or doing some baking. I didn’t grow up with TV so it’s not the TV specials I look forward to but just a few movies - even though most of them aren’t technically holiday. Even so, I keep them tucked away with my holiday trimmings and pull them out when the tree comes out.

Here’s my Holiday DVD Lovin’ List:

Meet Me In St. Louis: I get a little misty every time every time Judy Garland sings “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Such a beautiful movie, a wonderful musical, and somehow Christmassy with a few wintry scenes.

Eloise at Christmastime: I thought this children’s movie would annoy me but somehow, the story of a girl living at the Plaza hotel and taking a day to go shopping for gifts, well, it charmed me.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A classic although I didn’t see it until about two years ago. I’ve been in-love with it ever since.

Elf : My favourite part? “I’m in a stooooooore! And I am siiiiiinging!” I love this movie with it’s charm and wit and the complete way in which Wil Ferrel commits to being elf. Plus, I have a slight crush on Zooey Deschanel in this role. And the soundtrack is wonderful.

Anne of Green Gables: Not holiday but both this and the sequel have holiday moments in them. And they’re charming and sweet enough for the holidays.

The Bells of St. Mary’s: Again, not a holiday movie but I seem to have only ever seen it during the holidays. Although, one of my favourite scenes in a movie ever is with the children as they practice for the holiday play!

Little House on the Prairie: So, their first Christmas in Walnut Grove is not a movie nor can you get it on its own (you can rent the whole first seasons via Netflix though!). But it’s still worth it, I think, to get the first season just for the Christmas episode. If this doesn’t make you feel the spirit, I don’t know what will.

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! : Classic and just fun to listen to.

Image by Anna Maria Horner

I have quite a few girlyfriends that I’m making little things for Christmas. I’ve been thinking about how to wrap up the gifts in a unique, pretty way but was coming up blank. Luckily, the lovely Anna Maria Horner designed and shared these wonderful dress tags!

This evening’s been spent printing, colouring, and writing notes on them followed by adding beautiful ribbon to tie them onto each of the boxes. So simple, so fun, so personal!

Still shopping? Still pinching pennies? Then hop over to Holly’s wonderful site, decor8 where she’s lining up goodies left and right with discount codes galore. Stationary, Tables, Prints - oh my! It’s all there, laid out lovely like.

I’ve been reading her site for awhile now {and especially loved her stint in Germany} because it’s always given me ideas for my own home as well as helped me to discover brands, stores and people I perhaps wouldn’t otherwise. I love the interviews she has with designers and artists, especially Pamela Barsky’s and Jennifer Sbranti.

My favourite part? Her City Shopping Guide on the right hand side - has so many cities including the two I’m living between at the moment and one I’m going to next month. She lists things you won’t find in any travel mag - love that!

Every year so many of us complain how commercial the holidays have become yet we tend to bring it into our homes, our gifts, our way of being. It’s hard to say no when every store, commercial, card and tag saying yes.

I’ve forgone the Holidays for the past three years; no decor, no gifts, no celebrating although I did send cards so it wasn’t all bad. But this year I find myself ready to embrace the cosy feeling that the holidays can provide. The question however, has been how with all the commercialism abound.

Country Home editor, Danny Seo has the most wonderful little blog, Simply Green. He’s been posting Christmas ideas already (although in fairness he had to get ready for a magazine shoot) and his use of greenery and objects around the home got me thinking about how I wanted to do my home; simple, organic, and of course, cosy.

I translated this into the theme of having a lille hus holiday in which decor would have to be simple, pretty, artful and seemingly found 100 years ago (although there’d be some exceptions, naturally). Ideas have included: popcorn, Yo Yo or Felt Garland strung on a tree, traditional paper ornaments, wooly animals, carved figures, stitched linens, stuffed sewn trees (and look - Little Birds has a pattern!), lots of fresh greenery and of course, candles.

As for gifts, I think I’ll stick to my tradition of giving “the gift of time” or perhaps supporting my artistic friends and purchasing gifts from them. How much of this I’ll get done I’m not sure but at least having a plan helps. All I know is that I don’t want to complain about how the holidays have become a frenzied material mess if I’m not doing anything to keep them simple.