2022 is here. Hope you all had a great time with your beloved ones. Our Christmas lights are still on. Who doesn’t need a bit of sparkle when it's dark and wet outside.

I love how our home can be different between the seasons. Our living room is so dramatic during the winter with low ceilings and dark exposed beams. If you have been to a cottage you probably know that the windows are small and not so much natural light enters inside. We need soft, warm lighting I m thinking to soothe us from the cold outside. There are lit candles throughout the house, warm blankets by the sofa, endless cups of tea and a fire that burns almost all day. Our daily life after work and school is mainly around the fire. Here we read, do homework, eat, rest and connect. It becomes the centre of our home.

As I write a smell of freshly baked bread comes from the kitchen. It smells like heaven sprinkled with flour.

I think during winter homes rest. I find my own quieter. It allows me to recharge after a long walk, or when I am back from a day full of meetings.

As much as I try to fit so many things into my daily schedule, winter whispers to me “ take it slow “.

I bring fir branches from the garden and slowly nature creeps inside. As no flowers do not grow in the garden during winter, the foliage and dried cotton stems works so well in vases and garlands. I love the wilderness created by nature in our homes. There is a kind of raw, natural, unpredictable beauty that I deeply admire.

At night, when I come back home and it is dark, I can smell the smoke from the chimneys of our village. I feel that the houses communicate through the chimneys. They send our thoughts and conversations up in the sky.

I also believe that homes with a fire inside belong to people with warm hearts.

Winter days are becoming a bit longer. I bring more pine cones and keep them in a basket near the front door. I don’t know why, but every time I go in and look at it makes me smile.

What makes you smile when you enter your home?

Argyro