Make it "Gezellig"
I’m just gaining back the 1300 hours of yearly sunshine I've been losing out on since moving here, it’s fine…I’m fine.
The holiday frenzy is over and no amount of leftover twinkle lights can coax me out of this dark, cold, rainy reality. The Dutch say that the solution to this sleepy, unmotivated stupor is to make it “gezellig.”
An untranslatable word with a range of meanings: cozy, gregarious, homy, snug and fun-loving. A place can be gezellig, a person can be gezellig, an evening can be gezellig. It’s less of a word and more of a feeling and apparently the key to surviving the Netherlands’ winter.
So, every candle is lit and the cozy socks are on. The pantry is stocked with Korean teas and Vitamin D. I’m making soups and baking more. The kids are roasting marshmallows in the fireplace and our mugs are full of gluhwein.
And on a cold and rainy 9am (still dark) morning in a house with little heat, I’m basking in the light of my happy lamp because it’s gezellig and it’s fine…I’m fine.
And more gezellig things:
Hiking despite the weather.
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