Warning: this blog post has more exclamation points than I utter during the rest of the entire year.
For those who were living under a rock when this word took the world by storm, hygge (huu-geh) is a Danish word (as is Jul, for Christmas) that means cozy, fun, and satisfying. Vi hygge os means “we are amusing ourselves together” – except it’s opposite of robot-speech. To say something is meget hyggeligt (mile huu-ge-leet, drop the t if it’s plural) is to say “it’s a lot of fun” or “very cute and cozy.”
When I first started writing this blog, I might not have thought I’d be the one to say this, but I love Christmas. If the featured pic of me-as-Mrs.-Claus isn’t proof enough, please indulge my running mania a bit, before I go on to the apologia and the deco-rama of this post.
I usually go on a streak called “The Twelve Runs of Christmas” – every day from the 13th–24th, or any twelve days. It’s to run the remainder of the annual goal, so that any distance done between Christmas and New Year’s is a bonus (or remedial). Some runners do it by running 1, 2, 3, all the way to 12 kms (78 km in total) in any order that they see fit. This year I will surely do the any-twelve-days-1-2-3… series, because I’ve been super-consistent with my training this year. I don’t have any catching-up to do.
One of those runs is the 10K Santa Hat run, which is a route I saved on Strava. You don’t need to know me to use the map, but you can message me if you do want to join us. Conspicuous Santa running is a way to bring joy to the world!
Another run I go on is for the Christmas Bird Count, which is 8-11 kms along the Canal and through Pointe-St.-Charles. The point is to cover a territory and report all the birds I can see. There are a lot of pigeons, especially around the grain terminal, but sometimes I see a black-backed gull or a pair of ravens, or a woodpecker makes an appearance.
The ghosts of Christmas Past (apologia)
I did not always love Christmas. When I was a teenager, I went embarrassingly sideways about “crass commercialism” blah blah blah, and can take the blame for putting a snide damper on a few Christmases. It took awhile for me to outlive that. We all know by now that most families fight around the holiday dinner table, and that could be anywhere from routine-but-unstoppable bickering to outright spews of vitriol. In my family, all of that seemed to cascade down to me. Like, the eldest was the Black Sheep and I, the youngest, was the Scapegoat. If I was stupid enough to reply to any of it, others would pile on — my job really was to take it as earned. I don’t know why families do the things they do, locking each other into roles of no escape. So I started going home only every other year.
The bigger societal-level story is that we all want Love and Family at the holidays, and are constantly reminded of it by the festive shopping spirit and all the romantic movies. And it’s nice to be in a relationship and visit their family over the holidays. But when one after another “Lonely this Christmas” came around again, I was left wondering how the hell did this not get fixed this year? Shouldn’t I be well ensconced in a situation by now? This is not what Christmas is about.
No, it’s not. Whatever people say, Christmas is not about family or food or ostentatious gifts or whatever; you can have these any darn time you want. Christmas is about this: a cosmic inflection point in the year imbued with cosmological meaning. It’s about our place in the universe.
It’s been that way across virtually every culture since time immemorial. As early Christianity spread, it merged by syncretic process with widespread winter solstice celebrations. For the past 2000 years and in the long arc of justice in this world, the Christmas message of humility, inclusion, and hope has been most worthy. Obvs I have thoughts about this, but if you don’t already know what I mean, search “Lego Christmas Story” or go read the four gospels. The important part is, Christmas is a time to accept who and where you are, and welcome who you’re with, and be satisfied with all that you’ve done in one journey around the sun. And be hopeful about us all rising to be more loving, peaceful, and prosperous, despite our bickering human nature.
When my disappointing experiences seemed so insurmountable, but were mostly quite small and undeserving of such grief, this cosmic/baby-Jesus theo-philosophical outlook around Christmas helped rehabilitate my perspective. It’s like, lift out of yourself and look at all that’s striving to be wholesome in the world. Take joy wherever it presents itself.
Even if times might be hard now, endure. Time just heals stuff. It does. At Christmas, take the pause and wallow in it.
Finally, Christmas really is nostalgic! There’s a retro appeal to it that absolutely gets me. That might be the part I try to emulate the most. For one example, I have a few cherished sets of vintage lights:
The spirit of Christmas Present (deco-rama)
So now’s the time when people start to really get into it, but some people start early. Fair point: It makes perfect sense to acquire the ingredients and start baking in November. Fruitcake requires a month to be ready. Baking is not something you want to do for three days or three weeks straight. I will never make gingerbread from scratch again…
Still, I have a hard rule: No one should start decorating in October. Damn it, Janet, that’s Rocky Horror/Hallowe’en time! November is still too early, even the stores should be sparing at first. It dilutes the holiday. It bugs people. Chill!
I never start decorating until the First Sunday of Advent. Most years, it’s the first Sunday of December, but depending on what day Christmas falls, it could be the last Sunday of November.
So this post is a rough sequence of my decoration efforts. And who knows, maybe if you’re a bit Grinch-like, or just don’t have that much energy to throw it all up in one day like some other people do, this inspiration could work for you.
–> Check back as the month proceeds, because I’ll add new pics as I bring stuff out.
First Sunday of Advent
The first thing I do for my decorations is put up the star lightbulb in the kitchen. It was a lightbulb I bought in Denmark back in 2015, and as it’s designed for 220V circuits, that means its 40W is more like 20W, but with its spiral filament, it’s nice and decorative without frying your retinas (as we tend to do with bare bulbs).
I put a wreaths on the front doors (outside and inside), hang a beribboned sleighbell on the outside door handle, and cut cedar boughs or use discarded Christmas tree boughs as filler for my planter box:
Usually I get cedar bough cuttings from squirrel activity —they chop off fronds for their homes, but then just drop them to the ground. (I wish they wouldn’t do that, because the tree needs them more than they do!) If I’ve got enough, I put them on the mantelpiece, along with a cute birds-and-squirrels light string I got from IKEA. (If you do the same, remember to mist them when you go around watering the house plants.)
I don’t go all out with the lights yet, but start with one set of lights both indoors and outdoors. The season should have some build-up to it; the neighbourhood deserves to have a show of variety to interest them.
So here’s an example you can steal (I’m doing something different this year): use tomato cages as frames and plant pots as bases, add toile or plastic sheeting as ribbons (along with real ribbons), and turn them into a light-frame Christmas tree:
For indoor lights, first I drape a white light strand across the bay window, because it’s a start (you’ll see, it’s coming). I also start with a temporary decorating of the bunny pen for the first week, using either of these:
Finally, I hang five glass ornaments in the front bay window, and put the seven-pointed Nordic star in the upstairs window.
Second Sunday of Advent
This is the day I hang the light garland over the front porch and along the Virginia Creeper vines:
It’s also when I put old Christmas cards to use. I know people toss them out, but if they’re the least bit nice, I can’t bear to; this is a vanishing art form. I’m incredibly lucky in that I have a garage door with a window that lets me display them like so:
Then, upstairs, I put a 14-bulb (12 visible from the street) vintage light string around the frame of the bedroom window. Several of the bulbs are bona fide vintage TwinkleLites, so they flash on and off, like lights did when I was a kid, and some of them even make a chime sound (bliss!). This is the room in which I do 90% of my reading, so I’m up there every day to enjoy them. It’s hard to hold off until the 8th to put them up, but the fact that these bulbs are in limited supply, and I burn out about 6 or 8 per season, helps me hold off a bit.
The Christmas tree arrives
This is also the day when, if I haven’t already, I go buy my Christmas Tree from the folks at Atwater Market. Last year, I got my first tree in a decade (I have a mini table-top one I’ve always used), and it was gorgeous. When I dismantled it in the spring, I saw how much work goes into making these beautiful trees: worth every penny. When I get a tree, I don’t start decorating it yet. It’s been outdoors the whole time. Time to acclimate it by first bringing it into the garage, getting it into its pot of water, and letting it breathe in the calm and cool.
Then when I do bring it in during the week, I’ll take the bunny area away and start by putting on the two strings of lights and the star. That way, my TV nights never go without Christmas lights. And Miss Willa gets her giant toy…
Third Sunday of Advent
Today, I get up on a ladder outside and connect the multi-coloured mini-light string to the front porch garland, and then drape it along the vines to the eavestrough of the garage. Back in the day, it was a single vintage C7 lightbulb string doing this job. In a few years, when the mini-light replacement bulbs start running out (you have to test and replace the burnt-out ones at the beginning or end of the season), I’ll get a set of vintage-style light strings with LED bulbs in a ceramic finish. But here, finally:
I also change a light fixture or two using an E26 to C9 adapter from the hardware store, and use a red, green, blue, or clear C9 Christmas bulb:
Obviously by now, one must get out the decorative and scented candles. I already have a candle habit…as do all Danes. And like the Danes, or anyone who takes IKEA (Swedish for common sense) seriously, I put a festive red candle lantern on the front steps, to light up whenever guests come by.
Crafts this week, if not already
While you can buy anything you want for Christmas in stores, I still feel it’s mandatory that somebody has a hand in making Christmas decorations. Every year I seek out something in the stash to transform, and this is the week to do it.
Paper cut-out decorations are easy to make and hang – I made these lace “cookie” paper things on a Cricut/Silhouette machine, and turned them into a garland with gold thread:
Last year, I finally found the true purpose of some miniature picture frames I’d been given, and some bits of random art I’d hoarded with the Christmas cards. I combined the two, and now they’re tree ornaments!
That’s plenty to do today and for this week. Remember there’s still a lot of baking! You can make the dough days in advance and bake them fresh when you need it.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Today I bring out the decor for the kitchen, the top of the buffet, and the dining table. Honestly, if I’ve had guests before today, this would already be done. The kitchen is the place to be.
This is also the day to bring out the rest of the decorations to hang around the house, and do whatever else is not done. Though I’d have hung most ornaments on the tree already, there are so many, there’s always something.
Christmas Eve
Today’s the last of the getting ready for whomever is coming by for the main event — including Santa! Hang the stockings by the fireplace.
So here’s my beautiful tree:
And now, it’s time for music and food and egg nog (with or without cinnamon whiskey) and knitting and movies and being cozy.
Between Christmas and New Year’s
Some people go shopping on Boxing Day, but not me, I’ve had my fill. I read a book.
Around the 29th/30th we all have a day or two of Fake Normality, which includes, for anyone the least Scots-inclined, the special housework called Redding the House for the New Year. No, you absolutely do not take down the decorations! It’s meant to finish up and dispose of old things and settle accounts, and clean the slate for the new year. Really give the surfaces and dark corners a good look-see: dust, vacuum, clean, scrub, and polish; put your stuff in order and out of the way. Also, make your annual donations — they’re important. Then you can go revel in your favourite New Year’s fashion. Hopefully a house party. House parties are best!
New Year’s Day is an international day of peace-at-home (and in the park). For the remains of the week after, people begin to rouse out of the holiday distraction and torpor, but it’s not over until…
Epiphany!
Epiphany is January 6th, the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and it used to be celebrated more than it is now (read Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, for instance). It’s the day when the magi (the Three Wise Men) arrived from far away, bearing gifts for Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. It still is the Christmas celebration for those in the Orthodox Church.
Epiphany is when you take down all the Christmas decorations and put them away until next year. And once that’s done, Epiphany can (and should) be the day you take the first steps on your New Year’s Resolutions.
I first pack away the holiday food dishes and tins and still-good candles and table accessories. They go into a large round can, because they’re odd-shaped items. Then it’s taking down the light strings, garlands, and ornaments hung around the house (indoors and out). Finally, do the same for the Christmas tree.
After everything’s wound up and packed away and/or stacked on the Christmas storage shelf, I hustle the Christmas tree out into the back yard and put it into a wooden support there (preserving the metal stand against rusting). For the Christmas trees I find on the sidewalk in my neighbourhood, I bring one or two back and prop them up in my front yard. I’ve seen the parks people having the same idea, because it’s nice having extra trees around until spring. It’s a wildlife-friendly tradition I’d like to see become widespread. The birds really do take shelter in it whenever they’re at the feeder or just doing little birdie things. When spring comes and the tree dries up and turns brown, I chop the branches off and turn them into mulch, or send them to the compost.
There is one Christmas decoration I leave out until the Spring Equinox, as it’s a bit of a Nordic tradition: the seven-pointed star, lit in the upstairs window.
And it’s now when I change the Danish star-shaped lightbulb in the kitchen to a heart-shaped one, and put a garland of hearts across the big window. I’ll take them down the morning after Valentine’s Day.
Leave a Reply