Winterlong
WINTERLONG
I hate winter. I hate everything about winter. I hate the snow. I hate the cold. I hate coats and hats and mittens. So the Danish philosophy of hygge is not one that easily resonates with me. At least, not until I read The Little Book of Hygge.
As I was reading, I spontaneously remembered my very first apartment. It was a two room apartment above a store in the heart of the village of Westbury. I furnished it with an assortment of hand-me-downs from my parents’ apartment. Mostly Danish Modern.
Since the kitchen was the larger of the two rooms (the second room being the bedroom), there was ample space for a comfy old easy chair with worn orange upholstery. It fit perfectly in a corner with an equally battered end table, a ginger jar table lamp, and a three shelf bookcase that held my then-tiny library. It became my special reading nook.
The apartment faced the street, so I could sit almost anywhere and look out at the main road of the village anytime I wanted. This was especially pleasant to do during the Christmas season when strings of lights adorned the lamp posts and store windows. This was a time before chain stores dominated the village landscape, when the stores were still all Mom & Pop stores, each with its unique personality. There was a local movie theater, a pizzeria, a delicatessen, and next door to me a card & gift shop that played Christmas carols from a speaker outside.
One day I heard what sounded like a parade going down the street, so I went to a window to see what was going on and it was indeed a parade. A little parade going down my little street. I poured myself a cup of coffee, sat down at my kitchen table, and watched the parade. It never happened again, which just made it more special.
Although I only lived there for a few years, and that was decades ago, I still remember it fondly: the street, the stores, the sleepy village atmosphere all seen from my little perch on the second floor, and most of all, my hyggekrog with its comfy chair, soft light, and favorite books.
Perhaps hygge is not such a strange concept to me after all.