Gettin' Hyggae Wit It

One of my favorite words, aside from serendipitous ... or Paris ... or sunny Saturday morning ... or fireman ... (don't worry, I'll stop) is "hyggae."  It's a Danish word that, when loosely translated, means cozy.  However, hyggae is much deeper than that.

Hyggae refers to a sense of intimacy and comradeship.   The long and dark winters of Denmark mean plenty of food and wine filled evenings amongst friends and family.   Instead of being stressful, fussy dinner parties,  they're actually quite the opposite.  Homes are lit by candles in order to hide the dust and people come around to relax, drink, eat and enjoy each others company.

I like to think of it as how family dinners should be  ... if families weren't so INSANE.

Never before did I know how important a sense of comradeship was until after I slid backwards down the icy hill of death yesterday.  I was hovering between absolute fear and the sheer comedy of that particular 30 seconds.  Kind of like when you see someone trip and then start jogging to cover it up as if they fully intended to go for a little run in the middle of their workday.  While wearing a suit.  Maybe they pull it off in the end, but you saw that split second "oh SHIT" moment in their face.  I can only imagine my "oh SHIT", frantic steering, braking, "I'm going to TOTALLY!  HIT!  THAT!  BMW! face probably looked like the funniest thing anyone has ever seen.  Myself included.

Anywho ...

My neighbors called yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to come over for dinner.  "OHMYGAHYES!!!"  I screamed into the phone, grateful after MONTHS of no human contact (or like 3 days).  I traipsed lightly on the ice, while Fisher ran slipping in circles around me.  "Whatever you do, DON'T make me break this bottle of wine or you're going straight back to the Humane Society."

Wine was poured, candles were lit and we were commiserating over the ice and having to stay home when one of my neighbors busted out with "I killed a tree today."

"Wha?" I asked, confused.

"I tried to drive down the hill and totally slid, running SMACK DAB into a tree."

"Oh my god!  Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I feel like such a jackass, I'm from Chicago!  I should totally know how to drive in this!"

"THANK GOD!"  I responded and raised my glass.

I, in turn, told them about my day, my ditched car, the look on my face when I thought I was going to crash into a BMW and how I had to walk uphill, slipping the entire way, past a crew of construction workers.  We all cracked up, clinked our glasses in a show of non ice driving solidarity and had a great dinner.

As I was walking back home, I noticed the warm glow of my neighbors windows, the quiet snowy streets and twinkly white Christmas lights on outdoor trees.  And I realized there is no need to be anywhere else when you've got hyggae right in your own 'hood.

(P.S.  That was, until Predo had to go and post pictures of MEXICO on his blog.  I am now going to jump off my roof.)