a winter walk

Today around 4:00 I was talking to my sister on the phone and telling her how stir crazy my kids were. The three of us were going nuts, cooped up all day, fighting, screaming, wrestling, annoying...all of it. I told her I didn't really want to take them anywhere because it felt risky. Meltdowns were many and it was just easier to stay inside.

But Annika told me I had to get them outside. And because Ivar is a hard sell to get outside when then weather is 74 degrees and sunny, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

So I told them both, "Kids! We are going to go on a winter walk! It is a very special walk because we each bring a flashlight and shine the light on our path!"

It totally worked. They had their boots on in record speed. Ivar even went and found a sock since he had taken one sock off earlier this morning. We were out the door, down our lane and even three cats joined in the adventure.

I kept trying to get Ivar to turn around, hoping it would be a short walk (it was windy!) but he wouldn't hear of it. He wanted to make it to the end of the road, which is a decent hike for these kids. When we got to the end we turned around to head home and when we got back in the house all moods had simmered, attitudes had adjusted and the kids played like best friends this evening.

I'm here to say Winter Walks are magic. And will be taken much more frequently now that I know.

Hi-ooo-gah!

Have you heard of this before? The word is actually spelled Hygge, but pronounces Hi-ooo-gah, and is a Danish mindset that the cold should not just be survived, but rather savored.  My friend Katie shared the article and I love the concept. To really sink into winter, not try to wish it away. To use this time to intentionally slow down, cuddle up, to stay put, to reflect and to be still.

I've read the article three times now, and I love it. "Hygge may be the best example of one people’s power of positive thinking, promoting as it does a mindset that life should be savored, not survived, and that comfort, beauty, and internal and external warmth are the keys to a rich existence on the frozen tundra."

Hygge is a reflective time, apparently lasting the whole winter. It is about candles in windows, quilts piled high, hot drinks, crackling fires and sharing kind community with each other. They even try to avoid divisive issues during the dark season.

It's making the decision to slow down. To be still. It's a shift, because I think I've been led to believe that business is a virtue. That to be busy means you're important and making life count. In college we used to rattle off all of the papers and tests and group projects we had to do, a sort of competitive one-up game that led me to believe being busy was important. But I'm realizing now that being busy is not not a virtue. And it certainly does not make you important.

Our stove is helping us find our Hygge this winter, and it is awesome. We all seem to congregate in that room now. The practice of building a new fire, turning over a log, or adding new logs has become a daily practice in paying attention, keeping watch, tending and as a result, staying warm. We have gone many days in a row without turning our furnace on and this little stove has quickly become the heart of the home.

I believe in this hygge thing. My whole perspective has shifted from merely getting through this cold (and it's been terribly cold!) season to now enjoying what it means to hunker down, slow down and quiet down.  So go make some tea, light a candle, get yourself under a quilt, pull out a Little House book and sink into the season of Hygge.

wintertime

+Today is the first of December and I have already made three different kinds of cookies. I even went to a workout class at the ymca, and came home and mixed up my all-time favorite sugar and spice cookies. Might have to slow down on the baking a bit...

+I recently was telling my friend Rachel about The Christmas City Express in Duluth and felt compelled to tell the world about it once again. If you have a train enthusiast in your family, it really is worth the drive.

+It was 37 degrees on Saturday and our whole family acted like it was springtime. Rory got his chainsaw out, Ivar started making snow castles from his sand toys and Elsie asked to play with her little sand box on a chair in the driveway. I sat in a camping chair and marveled at how 37 feels balmy.

+We had our first suppertime candle lit Advent lesson. The kids weren't really into it. I ended up reading a kids book about baby Jesus and we sang Joy to the World. Mostly I bribed them with a cookie if they sat still for the story. We'll keep working on this all month long. Might have to keep baking those cookies after all.

+We went sledding the day after Thanksgiving at my mom's house. It was so awesome. Ivar laughed so hard and Elsie was fearless.



+And finally, on Sunday night on our way for hamburgers and grocery shopping we got a flat tire. We're not sure if we ran over something or what, but we had to call a tow truck and it was quite exciting for the kids. But we realized a few things while waiting in our warm car on the side of the road so close to home: we didn't have winter gear in the car. We didn't have extra hats or mittens or boots. We haven't even thrown in an extra blanket in the back. We usually will create a winter survival kit, but for some reason this winter felt so early that we haven't pulled it together. We were grateful to be close to home, able to wait in our warm car for the tow truck and to have a nice neighbor to come and pick us up. But we took it as sort of a nice reminder. I found this list and now will spend this week getting our cars winter-ready. Hope this is a helpful reminder for you too!

so thankful

We started out our Thanksgiving day watching the Macy's Day Parade which was sadly full of interviews with NBC actors and not very many balloons. Which made for boring television for Ivar and Elsie. However, we did catch this OceanSpray commercial where the turkey slips off the tray and splashes into the bog and it struck Ivar as hilarious. We were taping the parade so we could rewind and watch it again and again. And again. And again again. Every time the turkey splashed into the water Ivar laughed harder and longer. Ah, that boy loves slap stick.

Then we drove to my mom and dad's house for the feast. Sonna read an essay she wrote all about what she is thankful for and it was lovely. We all ate until we were stuffed full. 

After lunch we played three rounds of all family hide and go seek. Which might be my favorite new pastime. Surprisingly, there just aren't a lot of places for grown adults to hide in a house. And between the running around trying to find a spot to hide and then staying still for the minutes it takes to be found, this is one hilarious game. One round I was hiding behind the christmas tree with Elsie (a definite liability) and watched my mom cover herself with a purple sleeping bag while sitting upright on the couch. Oh it was so funny.

You've got to play hide-and-go-seek at your next family gathering. You've just got to.

We slept overnight and I got to watch Little Women with my sister and mom and nieces and daughter and it was awesome. We woke up early this morning and had swedish pancakes, went sledding, played board games and even got our christmas trees. It was a great Thanksgiving and left me feeling very, very grateful.

a homemade christmas wreath

Somethings in the air this season. I'm feeling really crafty. And creative. And ready to play. So on Tuesday during Elsie's nap, I took Ivar outside to gather pine branches to make a Christmas wreath. 

I have made a wreath one time before, when we lived out in Montana. It was at the Advent Retreat at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp and though I remember having made a wreath, I didn't remember the technique at all, But I did remember that I thought it was easy enough that I boasted I would never have to purchase a wreath again. 

And I'd say that again. It is pretty easy, but it is also very prickly. 

I didn't have a wire base to built my wreath on, but I did have two wire hangers from the dry cleaners. Keeping the hooks as they were (so handy for hanging later!), I just bent the triangles into circles and then used wire to tie them about an inch apart to provide a bit of a wider foundation.

I also didn't have green floral wire. But I did have white string. I started by tying my bottom most layer and then adding more and more. By the end, I was able to tuck little pieces in strategically so that I covered up the white string. The wire would have made it a whole lot easier, but it turned out great! And for the bargain price of zero dollars, I'd say this was a great afternoon project.

 ...and check out this sweet picture from that Advent Retreat in Montana. We lived out in Montana for a winter while I wrote my masters thesis and Rory wrote his weather software. Annika and Jedd lived in the cottage at the Bible Camp and we lived in the nurses cabin. It was a dreamy six months, living on Flathead Lake, sharing most suppers with Annika and Jedd, and spending my afternoons and evenings with my adorable nieces. What a dream! And seven years later I am so glad we lived so fully and so freely before we started a family. What a sweet season to have shared.