Gezelligheid is the new black

Darkness has arrived. We will be trapped in the winter time for a while. No need for rolling your pretty eyes now -  I'm no Sherlock. Today in the morning I actually had to google "when does the time change in 2019". Why? To double check if my mobile device is right. That goes on the top of my seasonal fugue state that has been initiated couple of days back by a scary call I received in the middle of the night. Who be this? Who callin' me in the middle of the night? Something awful has happened?! Nope. It was just 7 a.m. alarm clock that rang upon one liminal dawn. One morning that, instead of offering rising sun, decided to go for dressing in pitch black. 

Fun fact:  apparently hygge is a Danish cultural translation for joie de vivre.  Relativity - ain't that a bitch.  Let's give it all to the rainbow diarrhoea and the indisputable glory of the warm blankets, puppies, coco, pantofels, books about self-realisation, new hobbies like knitting or carpentry,  quality ME-time and - obviously -  YOUR time for writing a memoir. Yet, there is something slightly suspicious, rather revealing and wonderfully protestant about making a benefit out of the dark side. Gezelligheid* is the new black. 

We hide from the outside world and enjoy the inner warmth. 

We grow from the inside. 

We make our house gezellig. 

We cook comfort food and invite people over. 

We talk about how great things are - changing seasons, nature's marvellous circles. Ach!

Yes, I see you drifting away, dreaming of your gezellig house being photographed and photos being published in magazine distributed in places that serve coffee but never sugar.  There is just this little, tiny, petit thing. 

We drink more and we drink more at home. 

We buy all these books and end up hooked up on the Netflix binge. 

We buy a lot of made in China crap to make our house gezellig. 

Overall - we buy a lot of crap. 

We cook more and we gain weight. 

We can then enjoy new form of activity (goat yoga perhaps?)

We need something to read to bring back our self esteem. 

We invite our friends over but nobody eventually comes (it is raining or windy or cold outside)

We cry to Otis Redding "These Arms Of Mine" and we wait for the spring to come. 

Me? I truly love winter and gezelligheid. That is why I decided that - also for this coming winter -   I'm going back to Zanzibar.

From my gezellig bed - I wish you a wonderful Sunday and good night! 

* Dutch for cosiness. Although  - they would tell you that there is no English word that would give it justice. Hygge or not.