Getting hygge with it

Nesting my way to the winter solstice

Pull Up A Chair is a weekly newsletter containing all the things I’d like to be chatting about if we could hang out together in real life. Every week, I start with three things I’ve enjoyed, and then write in more detail about something I’ve been thinking about. 

• 📕You, Again, by Kate Goldbeck. This book is being promoted - and raved about - as a millennial/ Gen Z take on When Harry Met Sally, which - whisper it - isn’t one of my favourite films, so it took me a while to be won over by the gorgeously autumnal cover. But as a hopeless romantic, and someone who loves connections and coincidences, this book had a lot in it that won me over, and I really enjoyed it. (Bookshop.org | Amazon - ad, affiliate links)

• 🐻 Bear Focus Timer app. Caroline O’Donoghue mentioned this bear-themed pomodoro timer app in an interview with the clothing brand TOAST last month, and as someone who’s always struggling to chunk up the deep work I need to do, I thought I might as well give it a try. I love it. The bear gets angry with you when you get distracted! You get cute little drawings after a focus session! It’s just whimsical enough but not annoyingly so! It’s available for both Apple and Android phones - let me know if you give it a try. 

• 💼 Uniqlo Crossbody bag. Never one to hop on a trend early, I’ve finally bought one of Uniqlo’s ‘ludicrously capacious’ crossbody bags. In brown corduroy, of course, because I am an autumn. When I opened it up, I thought there was no way it could possibly hold as much stuff as everyone on the internet had told me it would. And then I managed to pack inside: my iPad, keyboard, Kindle, lipstick, lip balm, two hand creams, a selection of pens, my reading glasses - in their case- and a wallet. Ludicrous. 

Over the last two weeks, I’ve published a gift guide in two sections: little trinkets, and books and chocolate. Because they take a long time to put together, I put them behind the paywall - so now it’s time to go back to my usual Sunday modus operandi and write something for everyone. 

We are less than four weeks away from the shortest day of the year; ever since my first winter in Scotland, seven years ago, I have counted down to the Solstice. Not in any sort of formally spiritual way, more out of a need to remind myself that the darkening of the days can’t continue forever. 

This weekend, as I take a breath in one of the busiest periods of the year in my day job, I’ve been nesting. I’ve built the IKEA flat pack bookcase I bought for my bedroom, and put the photos of my grandmas back up on it instead of letting them sit in a box. My array of cookbooks has been reinstated (if not yet sorted into rainbow order) on the shelf next to my kitchen. And: it’s time for Christmas trees!

I eased myself in yesterday morning by building the LEGO Christmas tree set, which was incredibly satisfying. Methodically following the instructions and watching a piece of art emerge is one of the best ways I’ve found to scratch an itchy part of my brain after a tough week of work, and it was lovely to do this smaller set start-to-finish in one go. While I’m really enjoying the A-Frame cabin build, it’s taking a while, and I’m about ready to be done with it. 

Then, as the last light disappeared from the sky outside, I opened up the box of my new pre-lit Christmas tree (I feel like I’ve made it!). M&S don’t seem to still have the one I bought in stock, but it was the ‘non-slim’ (lol) version of this tree. I’d had my old artificial tree for four Christmases, and I’m passing it on to a friend, so I still feel fine from a sustainability point of view. Because I like to skip tinsel on my trees, having loads of lights distributed across the tree is extra-important, and also putting lights on a tree is such a faff, isn’t it? Because this tree was significantly bigger than my old one, I also got a couple of boxes of sparkly ‘filler’ baubles (copper, and kitschly multicoloured) as well as going a bit spend-happy in the speciality sections of both John Lewis and M&S: London transport! A chocolate croissant! Ballerinas! Books! Hot chocolate! And a hot air balloon, to symbolise my fresh start here in Bristol. They all joined some old favourites - sparkly penguins, felt bookworms, and a couple of decorations hand-made by friends as Christmas presents over the past few years.  

 

Overall, it really feels like my tree, and it was such a treat to have the gentle light of the tree warming my soul while I made my coffee this morning, in the absence of any real light coming in through the windows. Bring on my favourite December past-time: reading in the light of the Christmas tree!

My favourite hot chocolate to sip while reading under the tree: Clipper’s Instant hot chocolate. And some perfect books: The Secret Countess, A Snowfall of Silver, and Cuckoo In The Nest. Alternatively, I can recommend opening up a seasonal embroidery kit, and putting your headphones in to listen to Alexis Hall’s 10 Things That Never Happened, fantastically narrated by friend-of-the-Substack Will Watt. 

By the end of the Christmas break, we’ll be a good 10 days past the shortest day, and maybe even starting to notice the days getting a tiny bit longer each day. So this is the time to lean into sparkly, multicoloured, kitsch. 

Speak soon,

Lily

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