Prioritising comfort

The comfort zone is my favourite place to be.

At this time of year it is customary to reflect on what’s happened during the year and to think about plans for 2025. I often follow

Susannah Conway

‘s Word of the Year workbook and this year is no exception. I plan on setting aside some during Twixtmas - my favourite time of year between Christmas and New Year to do just that.

But before we get there I have found myself dwelling an awful lot on the word ‘Comfort’ this week. If I could do a word cloud based on my week’s journaling this is a word that would stand out way more than the others.

Simply put, at this time of year all I seek is Comfort - and especially this week when I’ve been battling with a horrible head cold.

It made me wonder why we direct so much energy and time into getting out of our comfort zone, when really it makes sense that we would want to spend time there. It’s just so damn cosy 🤣

Things that have been bringing me comfort this week.

🎄Pukka Tea - specifically their Lemon & Ginger tea - which is always indispensable to me when I have a cold. I get through litres of the stuff.

🎄In-person connections. I met up with a real, live person off the internet this week and it was amazing. I was paired up with the fabulous

Jo Linney

via a book swap hosted by

Tanya Lynch

- in which we agreed to swap books in the Jolabokaflod Jolly. Jolabokaflod is an Icelandic tradition of gifting books to read on Christmas Eve and it’s such a wonderful, heart warming thing to do. Anyway Jo and I realised that we only lived about 10 miles away from each other - so we met to exchange books in person. We chatted so much and got on so well that we have arranged to make it a regular coffee date ☕

🎄I’m thrilled to report that I have finished the never-ending crochet blanket for my youngest son’s Uni room. I have added a narrow border and I’m waiting until he is home to see whether he wants it any deeper. But it’s at the pleasingly comfortable stage now where it fully covers my feet while I work on it. It’s also providing very comfortable ‘round and round’ crochet which is ridiculously soothing when you can’t deal with anything else.

🎄Christmas socks. Nothing is more pleasing that knitting a self stripe sock - especially when it’s a festive one. And I was really tickled by the size difference in these two pairs. The Candy Cane pair is for me (UK size 6) and the Holly Berry pair is for my husband (UK size 10). Both yarns are from West Yorkshire Spinners who do a brilliant range of festive yarns. In terms of leftovers I have about 40g of Candy Cane and 10g Holly Berry - so I’m thinking with a little bit of a plain red for heels/toes I might be able to eke out the leftovers into another pair for me. I do love a bit of festive thrifting.

🎄I’ve mentioned Twixtmas before - a brilliant word for those days between Christmas and New Year when no one really knows what day it is (or cares) and a cheese board for breakfast is a perfectly acceptable suggestion. We always go away as a family during this period where we attempt to live like hobbits, reading by the fire, short walks and coming back to a well stocked larder for ‘all the snacks’. This year I’m also looking forward to

The Moon Shed

‘s Winter Talisman retreat. Claire is running a beautiful, free retreat here on Substack starting on 26 December which you can take part in either offline or online - perfect if, like me you are planning some screen-free days.

The winter talisman