Happy International Day of Hygge! 28th February (29th on a leap year) is a day of hygge around the world.

And, yes, we can still celebrate and mark hygge even if the whole world outside has gone to pot and lost its mind. Indeed, it is incumbent on us to make sure that hygge goes on and remember that, although there are so many places over the world where hygge is the last thing they feel like doing at the moment because they can’t, hopefully peace will return and we can all hygge together again.

So, what are you doing to hygge today? Me, I’m keeping my celebrations small and very home-based.

• It’s Monday, so I’ll be watching Quiz Monday on BBC2 tonight: Mastermind and University Challenge. We like quizzes as a family, so that’s fun.
• I’m making an easy but tasty chicken hoisin stirfry, and we always eat our evening meals as a family. Eating together is the height of hygge: time to talk, share thoughts and news about the day. We’ve done this since the children were little, and it really does pay dividends in building relationships.
• I’m baking a cake to share, just because it’s International Day of Hygge. I haven’t decided between the Lemon Drizzle cake my daughter used to make all the time or a swedish kladdkaka, with some of the chocolate chips I have left over from Christmas. We’ll eat it after our evening meal, with a cup of tea or coffee. And a grateful prayer of thanks for safety for ourselves, and that others will find sanctuary soon.
• I will spend some time in prayer or meditative contemplation. Possibly as I crochet yet another shawl, this time in blue and purple, and listening to Ukrainian monks singing Christmas carols. Seriously, 14 men make such a powerful sound. I have a fondness for Latin medieval plainchant anyway, but the chords and harmonies used here are amazing. And the fact that I don’t know what the words are? That’s a good thing. It lets my brain and heart rumble on.
• I may journal a little, or list three things today I have been grateful for.
• And I will donate to some of the charities that are working to help the refugees in Ukraine. To the British Red Cross, for medical supplies, Save the Children to help the most vulnerable and to a Ukrainian charity direct, in the hopes that the funds can be put to use at once.

However you have spent your International Day of Hygge and whatever you have done, may you be safe and secure today, and may we all be able to look forward to safety and peace in the future.

#InternationalDayOfHygge #InternationalHyggeDay2022

The header today is a photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash. I chose it because sunflowers… and sun… and hope.