❄️ Brrrrr! It’s been cold in Tucson this past week! I know, I know, some of you living outside Tucson may be wondering how a city located just 60 miles north of Mexico can get cold. This week we had temperatures below freezing for 3 nights when the temp dipped to 27.4° F (-2.6° C), 27° F (-2.8° C) and 23.7° F (-4.6° C)! And our high temperature one of those days was only 48° F (8.9° C)! 🥶
Fortunately, a few years ago I read The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking and now have hygge in my toolbox for dealing with these harsh winter conditions. Hygge (roughly pronounced hoo-ga) is a Danish and Norwegian word that basically translates to "comfort and the creation of cozy and convivial atmospheres that promote well being". So here’s how I get my hygge on, to stay cozy:
Hygge kinda reminds me of the German word gemütlich which means cozy—and I do indeed stay cozy wearing all that fuzz and wool!
FYI, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Tucson was on January 7, 1913, when the temperature dipped down to 6° F (-14.4° C). Now that’s brrrrrr! The lowest temperatures we’ve recorded here at our house were 17.6° F (-8° C) on February 3, 2011 and 18.5° F (-7.5° C) on February 4, 2011—with a high of only 38° F (3.3° C) on February 3, 2011. These cold temperatures ended up causing millions of dollars of damage to citrus crops in both California and Arizona.
😉 Vintage Hygge
When I was a “youth” I enjoyed wearing flannel pajamas (especially the ones with feet!) to stay cozy. Here I am at the tender age of 5, wearing my flannel PJs and proudly holding up one of my plushie friends—a stuffed polar bear.
This polar bear was—I kid you not—officially branded the Paula Bear! So of course I had to have one. As a side note, while doing research for this post, I tried to find more information online about my Paula Bear. I found photos online of a less attractive plush polar bear named Paula Bear, and I also learned that Greenpeace has a polar bear mascot named Paula Bear…but I couldn’t find any references to this specific cutie. Ah, well. Life goes on.
I hope you all stay cozy and gemütlich and embrace your own version of hygge during cold weather!
re: Hygge clothing - My partner and kid have these fleecy cloaks that make them look like Ewoks.