Thank you deeply, my very dear friend.

Zero worries in the slightest. December is so often a jam-packed month and it’s likely safe to say that few amongst us spend as much time online during the year’s final month as we’re apt to for much of the rest of the calendar.

I too have read similar things regarding how quite a few English words have Danish origins. I do not speak or claim to understand Danish, but at times when I have listed to it being spoken (for example, in movies) I have instantly picked up on certain linguistic similarities between the two languages.

I find the subject of linguistics as a whole to be wildly fascinating and have spent many a happy hour deep diving the subject on Wikipedia, other sites, and through no shortage of YouTube videos. (If you are a fan of the latter, I cannot recommend the a channel called NativLang highly enough.)

How right you are regarding hygge and the fact that it absolutely does not need to break the bank – or even, in plenty of case, cost a penny.

To me, one of hygge’s greatest appeals and most enduring qualities is the sense of days long past, before much of the technology of today’s world was present in the lives our ancestors and people took immense joy in the simple pleasures of the seasons, each other’s company, and finding ways to keep their spirits up no matter how chilly the weather became outside their door.

I am a huge proponent of simple, earnest living with an eye to tradition and love embracing hygge the whole year through.

Many thanks again, sweet Sanne. I hope that your winter holiday season was a terrific one and that 2022 is off to a positive start on your end.

Huge hugs,
🖤 Autumn

Yule sounds much like a Scandinavian tradition, Yule meaning “jul” in Danish, in fact I’ve heard the English language have 300 Danish words back from the Vikings. E.g. yule tree is juletræ in DK. And also pronounced much the same.

The Danes have invented hygge due to the long cold and dark winter. And hygge is just lots of candles, gathering with loved ones, eating, perhaps gaming and listening to nice music, definately talking and laughing a lot. Hygge is more a feeling than being expensive, so it is easy to adapt for everyone.

And now we’ve gained 1,5 hours more daylight, yipeee! 🙂

Have a lovely day, dear Autumn. ♥

Thank you deeply, lovely Hilary. I truly appreciate not only your supportive words here but that you set aside some time to read my posts in full. That is such an uplifting and encouraging thing to be told.

Having run various websites of my own for over 17 years now, many of which involved writing many tens of thousands of words per month, it was only natural that I extended my passion for writing to my current blog. I get that not everyone has the time for longer blog posts though and do try to keep some of my entries below 2,500 words for that very reason.

With others though, I happily let the word count run free, so to speak, and as there are few topics I can joyfully talk at length about than The Wheel of the Year, it’s a safe bet to say that many of my posts on this subject will be many paragraphs long. 🥰

Many heartfelt thanks again, sweet lady. I hope that you and your family are savouring a relaxing, beautiful and very happy holiday season.

🖤 Autumn

Thank you sweetly, lovely Meg. I adored hearing about the treasured seasonal decor that you put out each year.

Thus far, in the five years since the arson house fire that we experienced in October 2016, the majority of my/our seasonal decor focus has been on Halloween. Next year, however, if at all possible, I would like to work on growing our Yule + Christmas season decor a bit more – including by adding an artificial tree to our lives again.

Time shall tell, but as I hope/plan to make some festive decor pieces before then, that alone should help us to have more to put out in future years.

Big thanks again & the very warmest of hugs coming your way.

🖤 Autumn

You are tremendously kind, sweet Annie. Thank you very much on both fronts.

I hope that you and your loved ones are experiencing a relaxing, joy-filled festive season. (I’m happy to report that we are doing just that on this end – even with the bone-chilling temps that came calling especially early here this year.)

🖤 Autumn

That is a wonderfully supportive and meaningful comment, Carol. Thank you deeply.

I hear you big time. My family has scaled back over years and we never put any pressure or expectations on one another to give gifts at Christmas (or any other point in the year, for that matter). Some years we’ve done a Secret Santa amongst each other, which automatically helps to lessen the financial impact of the holidays by reducing the number of gifts one needs to buy or make to just those for a single individual.

Gift-giving and receiving can certainly be a marvellous aspect of December, but there are plenty of others, too, and one need not spend a cent (let alone break the bank) to have a meaningful, memorable and very happy holiday season.

Warmest festive wishes in turn to you and yours as well.

🖤 Autumn

Thank you deeply, dearest Sheila, on every front. I so adore hearing about when you worked at that Christmas store. I suspect it would have been a job I adored and gotten a lot out of the experience from as well.

It’s terrific that you sold a wide range of festive season offerings there, including Yuleballs. Just as it is that you were/are keen to continually learn more about traditional aspects of the Yule season (same here all the way).

I hope that you and L have been experiencing a peaceful, immensely happy holiday season and that it soon tumbles into a great 2022 (complete with an early spring) for both of you.

Oodles of hugs & festive wishes,
🖤 Autumn

Thank you deeply, dearest Debi. So much of what helps to make life interesting and multi-faceted is that we do not all march to the beat of the same drum – be it when it comes to our faith/spirituality, fashion, tastes in music and movies, favourite time periods or countless other things.

The holly bushes around your property sounds magnificently lovely. We do not have any at our current house/yard, but are fortunate that a bevy of hearty evergreens and enchantingly pretty birch trees call our (literal) backyard home. Both of which are timelessly festive in their own right, too.

Do you have any ivy? We’ve lived (some) past houses that did, but alas, none here either. I absolutely adore ivy and daydream of living in a house one day where lush ivy snakes up the walls.

Thank you again very much, my treasured friend. You are often in my thoughts and heart during this enchantingly festive time of the year and I hope that you + your loved ones are experiencing a tranquil, abundantly joyful Christmas season.

Warm hugs from uber chilly BC (it was -28C/-18.4F when we got up today),
🖤 Autumn

Thank you abundantly, sweet Ann. What a supportive, meaningful comment (compliment!).

It warms my heart to connect with you (and your awesome blog) again during the holiday season – just as it does to do so the whole year through.

Thank you very much as well for every kind, lovely, uplifting comment you blessed my blog with throughout 2021. They are appreciated beyond measure – as is the beautiful gift of your longtime friendship.

🖤 Autumn

Thank you deeply, sweet Celeste. I’m touched to know that the suggestion of gathering up and documenting treasured family recipes in one spot struck a chord with you.

Before the arson house fire that we experience in 2016, I had several notebooks (started back in childhood around the age of 8 or 9 years old) of my own recipes that I’d invented or adapted over the years, as well as both notebooks and some scrapbook pages documenting beloved family recipes.

It was a blow indeed to lose all of that information in one swift fell, but thankfully I have a lot of my own recipes in my head still and have been able to obtain some cherished family ones again in the years since that fateful event. (Perhaps I’ll scrap some of them again as time goes on.)

Save for being colder than usual for our area at this point in the year, all has been radiantly lovely (literally in some cases, as we’ve sunshine here two or three times recently) around these parts during the festive season and I hope the same is ringing true on your end as well, my friend.

🖤 Autumn