Hygge Timez

We are feeling the January vibes BIG TIME over here. It's cold, it's gray, the Christmas lights are gone, and the relentless wind keeps carrying huge piles of snow from the prairie and dumping them on our front porch. We're determined to keep ahead of that front walkway snow drift this year before it turns into an unshovleable 4-foot-tall hunk of ice that sticks around until June. Not that we've let that happen every other year we've lived here or anything. 

What's going to get me through this Wyoming winter is hygge. Have I talked hygge on here yet? Probably. Here's a simplified rundown: "Hygge" is a Danish word that describes a feeling of coziness/contentment. In world happiness studies, Denmark tops the charts year after year. It's not because they're the richest country, or the country with the best climate, or anything like that. It seems that they have engrained into their culture a deep love of hygge. Essentially this means that they get so, so happy about all things "cozy." This probably developed as a survival tactic to get through their 10 months of brutal winters. Relatable. 

So the Danish (and Norwegian and other Scandinavian countries) get very excited about staying inside when the weather is miserable, spending time with small groups of family and friends (or alone), making home-cooked meals, and just basking in the joy of simple things like candle-glow and cookies. Essentially they get their happiness from simple things that happen everyday. Instead of holding out on happiness until they get the big promotion, or are able to go on a foreign vacation or build their dream home, they recognize the greatest happiness in simple joys that can be found or created every day. I recommend the book "The Little Book of Hygge" if you want to learn more about hygge (pronounced "hooga"). Jared's mom got me a new hygge book for Christmas: "How to Hygge," by Signe Johansen. She's a chef from Norway, and everything I've made from her recipe section has been just incredible. On that note, me and Jack made the best chocolate muffins this week!

^^Book cameo haha. Had it out for the muffin recipe.

I've been keeping up with my goal of taking a sunset walk in the prairie most evenings, even when it's bitter cold and windy. If you bundle up every inch of your skin, it's mostly pretty nice! Occasionally we get a day that's so windy and freezing that you can feel your eyeballs turning to ice. Mostly it's worth it to get a few minutes of fresh air each day. Savvy and Jack appreciate it.

^^I really wish I brought my DSLR camera out for our sunset walk in the fog on Saturday.

^^Snow angels, always.

^^A picture I took for Jared so he'd know where we hid some McDonald's outside the hospital for him. Can you spot it behind the wall? Poor Jared had a rough week. He's in a demanding 6-week OB hospitalist rotation. Not his favorite, and the hours have been long. He finished off this last long week with a 26-hour shift from Saturday into Sunday, and then he slept the rest of Sunday when he got home, only to have to wake up early again this morning and start another tough week. We planned to have a quick dinner with him in our car outside the hospital on Saturday. He'd hop in, we'd scarf down some burgers, Jack would get to tell Daddy about his day, and off Jared would go to work another 15 hours. 

Unfortunately, right as we were pulling up a patient was admitted in preterm labor and Jared had to deliver the baby. We waited outside for almost an hour before we finally just hid his dinner (didn't have masks and Jack didn't have shoes so I couldn't drop it off inside) and drove home. I think he got to it 3 hours later. He came home so sad the next morning and has been down ever since. The baby nearly died and had to be lifeflighted to Denver. These things happen, especially with premies, but Jared took it hard since he was in charge. Anyway, two more weeks of this stressful rotation for him. Then hopefully things will get better. Prayers for Jares would be appreciated. (Also prayers for the preterm baby.) 

We'll finish off this post with this year's "Jack on the Shelf" portrait. (Last year's picture here.)We found a new Christmas tree 75% off at Home Depot the week after Christmas. We weren't planning on getting a new tree til after we move, but the deal was too good to pass up. Prelit, flocked, 7.5-ft tree for $50. We immediately lugged our trusty old newlywed tree to the thrift store and kept the new one up 10 days into the new year. No regrets.