Hello everyone, I’m back! I said I would be!

I hope you all had a great break, a good relax and a hyggely time over Christmas and New Year with your tribe. I need to do a catch up post sometime soon on the books and films I watched that I want to share… but it’s the 4th of January, I’m in work, the Boss has a pile of work as big as your arm for me to do, and I’m grabbing a fast half hour to share my word of the year with you.

I love the idea of choosing a word to live by, or to build up in your life. In past years I’ve had Hygge as a word, contentment, relax and create. This November I started thinking about what I was after for 2019, and I figured that I need to actually appreciate the happiness in my life. So much of social media and mainstream TV is about unhappiness, anger, discontent. I can’t deny there’s just reasons for it, there’s a lot of knife-edge diplomacy going on in the world, but I can’t live in a home full of tension 24/7.

I’m a hyggely person, so I thought and pondered, and a picture came to me. One I must have seen nearly twelve years ago and loved enough to borrow, and one that has been an unofficial picture of heaven for me ever since. It’s from Posy, a sadly defunct blog run by Jane who was a whizz at writing and photographing life as it was. I still reread her blog now and again when I need a happiness boost, and I highly recommend following her on Instagram.

The post itself was called Heaven, and I can quite see why, but Jane titled her picture Bliss. Bliss was a big thing to Jane on her blog… wedded bliss, bliss with the family, blissful time spent crocheting. And this picture has all the elements I’d need to be blissfully happy.

• Books (look at the red shelves! What a use of colour!)
• Warmth: here, the fire, but any source of warmth will do.
• Nature: The bulbs on the mantelpiece, the flowers in a vase.
• Light: I love that the light comes both from the window and from the lamp in front of the bookcase.
• Crafts: Jane’s blankets are a thing of beauty, whether she bought them or made them. Her whole style is eclectic and charming, still is. I love when her posts pop up on Instagram with a curtain or a do-dah that she made or bought in her blogging years and it makes a burst of remembered happiness pop inside me. I love having something to do around me.

In fact, the only thing missing from this picture for absolute bliss (and I’m sure Jane would agree) is a pot of tea or a large mug of coffee. Otherwise, winter or summer, rain or sunshine, this picture does sum up bliss for me. Bliss, in this context, meaning “A State of complete and utter happiness: Heaven-like. Perfect happiness; great joy.”

So 2019 is the year I will recognise, own and name my moments of bliss. As a security blanket against the nastiness the world is throwing around. In my house, at least, there will be a chance to slip off your shoes, snuggle down and spend time in pleasant idleness. I might take a photo… but more often than not I won’t. I’ll just make a mental note, or a line in my journal. But my heart will have marked off this as a time of bliss, and the memory of that feeling will be enough to cushion me against the dark days of the worst of human nature with its tribalism, insults, disregards and bitterness that (I fear) lie ahead for us wherever we are in the world. The nastiness will still be there, but for one blissful moment I, and my tribe, can breathe and smile easy before we go out and carry on with the work of making the world a kinder, gentler, happier and more tolerant place.

Do you choose a word for the year? What’s your word this year? I’d love to know. You can get in touch with me either by commenting below, popping over to the Facebook page for this blog, following me on Instagram or Twitter or, if you’d like to share your bliss and hygge with others, joining The Hygge Nook on Facebook.

I have a massive favour to ask….

I don’t monetise my blog. I don’t run adverts, take sponsorship for writing posts or use affiliate links. I want everything I do on this blog and in my hygge life outside to be truthful. If I promote a book it’s because I’ve read it and like it, if I  point out an item it’s because it’s impressed me on its own merits and not because the publicist has talked me into it. It does mean I don’t run giveaways and I’m not chasing followers, but the drawback is that I need to find a way to support myself.

That’s why I write books. My thoughts are that if I ask you to buy a book not only does it support me, and let me keep writing as an independent writer, but you get something back for your bucks. I’ve written several books, some on hygge, some on Christmas. If you like what you read here, or in the Hygge Nook, and you’d like to support a struggling writer, would you please consider buying a book? Ebooks give you the best value, since for 2 or 3 pounds you get the whole content of the book without paying the extra for paper production, but I’d be a pretty poor writer if I didn’t appreciate the beauty of a real book in the hand. If you buy just one book, it all adds up in the end to support me, and I’d be so grateful.

I’m working on my new book, Enjoying a Self Care Christmas: Hibernation for Humans which should be out in the next few weeks, but until then you’ll have to live with my back catalogue.

I have three Christmas books,

Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas was released in September 2017 and is available again in paperback and ebook version. It looks at keeping the Christmas season warm and cosy, with ideas for activities and routines to keep Christmas happy.

A (Hygge) Christmas Carol is my look at Dickens’ immortal classic and the many lessons we still learn from it today. It contains the full text of the book as well as hyggely thoughts on the story.

Enjoying a Self Care Christmas is only available in ebook version. It’s about keeping Christmas simple enough and healthy enough to keep you sane in the process.

My other books are hygge related, 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way  was my first book, and is available in Paperback and Kindle version. It’s a simple look at ways to feel more hyggely in life and at home even though we’re not Danish and don’t have it in our DNA.

How to Hygge Your Summer, in Paperback and Kindle form, has lots of good ideas for the summer months. I strongly believe that hygge is so much more than throws and warm drinks.

Happier is my fourth book. It’s about how I boost my own happiness levels. It’s full of hints, tips and ideas for you to use and adapt to suit your own situation. It is available in ebook and paperback version from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

If you buy any of the books through the links on this page, I get a couple of extra pence per copy, in Amazon vouchers which go towards buying more books to review for the blog. I’d really love it if you’d support me monetarily, but I quite understand that cash is tight for many people, and I just love having your support via reading and commenting as well.