October? Already?

My life at the moment seems to swerve between looking at stuff and going ‘How much???’ and looking at the diary and going ‘Already???’

October is a gorgeous month. In school, you have half term to look forward to. The month contains what feels like the kick-off of all other Winter celebrations, Halloween, and it has a harvest full of apples, pork, root veg, brussels sprouts, and more besides for people to enjoy. It’s proper hygge season.

I’ve written already about cozy Friday evenings to hygge on and watch movies, but in my house we very often watch a film midweek, Saturday afternoon if we’re doing nothing or Sunday if the football is not a top-notch game. It’s nice to settle down as the last rays of the afternoon slip out of the sky and the fairy lights on the fire add a comforting glow to slide in an old film, as comfortable as woollen slippers and as familiar as the old blanket Nan made for you in your teenage years. These times are not for movies that make you think too much. They’re for slight hints of nostalgia, brief wisps of smoke-infused memories and marshmallow-soft comfort that coddles you, enfolds you in love and sweetness (not too sweet: sugar is bad for you!) and takes you back to the days when the world was a simpler place and you didn’t need to worry.

Pure escapism, eternal escapism is not good for a person. It isn’t possible to live in an alternate reality, to make-believe all the time. But it is good to be able to lay down the burdens of modern life and spend a little time feeling like you live in a different location, manner or life entirely. For a while, you can be back at school, living transcendentally, working in a small shop, cooking for family, waiting for a lover or living your best life in a fantasy. Real life will still be there, when you return, but the support, love and lessons a good movie teaches will be there with you also.

Autumn, Fall, is such a good back drop that I’m sure directors love to use it. These films are the ones I turn to for comfort and escape. They’re as well-loved and familiar as any household tool: worn to shape and easy to handle. But beware: this is my list. Yours may be completely different…..

Movies to Hygge To:

• Dan In Real Life: This Steve Carrell movie often goes unnoticed in Fall movie lists. It’s beautiful: set in a New England fall, it’s about a widower father who finds an ideal woman in a bookshop, only to realise she’s his brother’s new girlfriend. That sounds worse than it is. It’s a gentle comedy, warm, witty, and very sympathetic to all involved. Watch for the scenery, and the house. Lovely house.
• Dead Poet’s Society: My daughter watched this the first time expecting a Robin Williams vehicle. She’d only seen Aladdin and Good Morning Vietnam at that point. When I finally stemmed the flow of tears, she said it is a beautiful movie: but one to watch when you haven’t got an interview in two hours. I love it: yes, it’s sad, but it’s beautiful and so poetic.
• When Harry Met Sally: I know, I could put this in a list for any season of the year (except perhaps summer. I don’t think they over-egg summer) but the leaves on so many posters and DVD covers must make this a favourite Fall movie. It was one of the first movies I ever saw with my future husband, and he waited at the back of the theatre while I saw who had done the music. I knew then. I knew the way you know about a good melon.
• St Elmo’s Fire: Remember when movies had at least one great song to recommend them? And the Brat Pack were all the rage? Remember the hair? The shoulder pads? The angst at finishing schoola nd needing to find a job? Yes, me too. I’m watching this one with my daughter (newly graduated) who will never believe that Rob Lowe ever looked so young.
• Practical Magic: If it is compulsory to include at least one witchy movie in a list of Fall movies, then I’m making this one it. It’s not as crass as, say, Beetlejuice, nor as Disney Witches on a Night Out as Hocus Pocus, but a lot more romantic comedy in the style of Sleepless in Seattle. I love the elderly aunts. When I started watching this movie, I saw myself in the two sisters. Now, I see myself as a Stockard Channing/ Dianne Wiest kind of woman. Pass the margarita, darling.
• Nights In Rodanthe: Sometimes a cosy movie just has to reduce you to tears. I find crying very therapeutic. This tender love story between Richard Gere and Diane Lane is gorgeous. I love the shades of blue in the film, the house on the strand, the rise and fall of happiness. Bring the cocoa, I’ll bring the tissues.
• The Bookshop: When it’s cool outside, or gentle drizzle, and too chill to walk far, a day spent pootling in a bookshop can retore my soul. Or, failing that, this ever-so gentle but with a message film. This is a bit like Chocolat, but with books instead of chocolate, in that the village, wound up by a couple of the inhabitants, are loathe to let a bookshop stay in their space.
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Yes, films set during the war can be cosy, all be it with the proviso that at any moment they may suddenly veer off into difficult topics, and this one is no exception. It’s beautiful, with a beautifully talented cast.
• Little Women (1994): Does every generation have their own, perfect Little Women? My Nana loved the 1933 Katharine Hepburn version, Mum had her 1949 June Allyson remake. For me, the 1994 Winona Ryder version is the best. I’ve seen them all, and it is this one I return to for the setting, the music, the cast and the story. It’s just beautiful.
• The Lord of the Rings: The series opens in Autumn, with Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday on 22nd September, and I think this first part gives off the best Autumn vibes, but really all three are wonderful and make for excellent hyggering, especially if you need an accompaniment for a day’s housework.

Make yourself a pot of tea, or a large mug of milky and thick hot chocolate, add some pumpkin spices whatever you have and a sliver of ginger cake, and you have the makings of a very good evening spent well with good company. I keep the list in my planner (of course) and work my way through it at times of stress. What movie have I missed that you would put on this list? What’s your go-to cosiness?

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. Lent is a season of rituals and resets. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

IMy Christmas books are always available: Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas is a good place to start, on how to make the season cosier, happier. 

Celebrating a Contagious Christmas was written during covid year, but has useful advice on celebrating when times are hard anyway and Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas is a short e-book on keeping Christmas simpler, easier and better for you, your waistline and your budget. It even includes 25+ suggestions for self-care activities over Christmas, as simple as sipping tea, keeping a list journal or lighting a candle. Bigger is not always better for Christmas.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of summer 2025.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is by Alisa Anton on Unsplash. I like the pause it seems to hint at: the person, who has stepped out of the shot for a moment, has their book ready to read and hot chocolate on the point of perfection: they’ve lit their candle, and settled down to enjoy a fresh breeze before the autumn winds turn sharp and sarcastic. They just need… what? Their pen? A blank page to write a loved one a letter? Socks, or a throw? I love photos that drag you into making up a story.