Is anyone planning on "wintering"?

[user746016]

I'm taking down some of the decorations but have decided to keep up some fairly lights and candles and some of the decorations that are more wintery than overtly christmassy. It always feels so bare when everything comes down and it makes the house look cheerful in the cold dark months.

I have also planted some indoor bulbs which are doing well so will hopefully provide some glimpses of spring.

Lots of fires, cosy blankets and books to see us through.

Any other nice ideas to keep the winter feeling cheerful rather than bleak?

I'm doing exactly same thing - I'm keeping the warm white lights in the fireplace, even when everything else gets packed away later. Also lots of candles, blankets, my favourite winter scents. I've kept back food and drink presents to have at the weekends and also some bath/hair/beauty products to open and use in Jan for some self care. My poinsettia is still going strong too.

Our decs are coming down today though the nativity set stays up until Candlemas as the kings only arrive tonight! (I'm not particularly religious but I love tradition.) I'm sort of glad it's got properly cold now and we can have the fire on in the evening which I find really comforting to look at besides the warmth!

I feel it always looks a bit stark and bare once the decs are down. I'm not one of the people who sees taking down the decorations as "getting rid of the clutter".But like another poster we have some Chinese new year decorations which will go up mid Jan until mid Feb (later joined by some heart shaped fairy lights for Valentines). Husband's birthday is end Jan so it's nice to have some cheery decorations around for that. After that we have a decorative break until Easter, but once the days are lighter I feel more cheerful anyway.

I keep fairy lights up all year to add some cosiness even through summer

This thread has inspired me to go and get some hyacinths and what not. I too all the decorations down on Thursday as it was the only full day I had free before tomorrow and the house just feels bare and cold without anything to replace them.

Our fairy lights have been up since the first Christmas after we moved in. So 11 years now.

Thank you for the gardening tips, much appreciated

I've kept the fairy lights that I put in our fireplace this year. They make me happy

There’s a word for it?

I’ve always got my candles, cushions, fairy lights. My house is just so cosy and old, roaring fire, big inglenook and fairy lights on the oak beam. Its the type of cottage that people would pay a lot to stay in it. Rural, quiet, cosy.

but if i do that id have no where to live!

Love this thread! 🤗I decided this year to embrace winter and rather than rush to put the Christmas decorations away leave the less Christmassy ones out and rename them "winter decorations". I didn't realise it's a thing but great to know there are plenty of like-minded people who are doing the same. I love the warm glow from Himalayan rock salt so have a string of globe LED lights and a lamp which I only used to have on in the evenings but have had them on all day to combat the greyness outside. When I watch TV I also light the HRS tealight holders and the whole room looks so cosy.

I've got a garland which I didn't put out this year as I've favoured the HRS string, but I might get it down from the loft after all if I can decide where to put it. It's frosted greenery, pine cones, red berries and LED lights so really wintery 🙂

@Zephyry if you want bulbs to bloom inside in winter, you need to buy forced bulbs or force them yourself. Bulbs need an extended period months of cold before warmth to stimulate them to bloom. You can either buy ordinary bulbs and stick them in the fridge or in a dark garage or shed if you live somewhere cold enough in September. You can also buy forced bulbs online or from garden centres. The indoors bulb kits they sell in supermarkets with planters etc have ready forced bulbs in or you can buy preplanted pots of forced bulbs in bloom in supermarkets and garden centres for a few pounds.

If you want to grow bulbs in pots outside to bloom in the spring, I suggest you try lasagne planting. You plant large, late blooming bulbs like tulips at the bottom, then things like daffodils and hyacinths that bloom earlier above them, then small, early flowering bulbs on top of them eg crocus, dwarf iris, snowdrops. You can even plant winter flowering pansies on top of those. The trailing ones are best as they are low growing so the small bulbs can still grow through them. It’s not too late to plant spring bulbs outside now if you can find any left in the shops and you do it asap! They will just be a bit late blooming. Ideally, you want to do it in November.

Have fun gardening!

One of my quiet pleasures at the moment is definitely checking on my various bulb lasagne pots to see their progress. Snowdrops and crocus coming up first, muscari, daffodils and tulips go follow. Good tip re trailing pansies @Miepmiep - will try that next year! Thank you.

One thing I've continued is to have the TV set to a fireplace on Youtube when I'm not watching it. I know it isn't real but it still makes me feel warm and cosy anyways!

I'd love to see a picture of this, it sounds so lovely

I was thinking of doing that, using fireplace videos that don't have Christmas decorations in them, obviously. I do like having them playing over the season. But then, I also like seeing the various Google Photos on our Chromecast screen, when it's not Christmas and New Year.

Threads like this fill me with joy 😊 We keep some lights out and have lots of candles and blankets to add cheer, plus we light the woodburner. I like having one room very cosy but the rest of the house cooler.

I have some little led candles that look realistic I've put them up the stairs so they come on about 4pm and go off at 10pm, they look lovely, I was worried it would look crap but it's cosy.

Little fairy lights dotted about and candles, I love to light a candle put the lights on and drink a cup of tea really early in the morning before it's light.

@ginandheels if you can find Cool Wave trailing pansies, they will bloom all year round if you live somewhere mild. Most of mine are flowering heavily in London but my pelargoniums and nasturtiums are still flowering too this year 😂 I had my last strawberry ripen in December! The weather has been confusing this year… You should still get a good 10 months out of Cool Wave in colder parts of the country.

We'll take down the Christmas tree and various other Christmas decorations tomorrow, but will leave the fairy lights, nativity sets, greenery, and Christmas cards up until Candlemas (2nd February).

Blankets, candles, hot chocolates, winter punches, hot water bottles and home made comfort food are all part of our colder months anyway. As are fire pits and chilly walks, for that matter!

Fairy lights outside in the garden are an all year thing for me anyway. I love looking out at them in the winter but I also love them in summer when it's a warm midsummer night and we can still be sat out in the garden chatting then the fairy lights switch on.

Similar with blankets, candles, lamps etc rather than the main light. They never get put away. If it's dark outside then I've got a candle lit and a lamp on, always. It definitely helps the house feel cosy.

@ssd I think Beechgrove Garden (on iPlayer) is a good programme for learning about gardening. When I first started gardening I researched flowering evergreens, or evergreens or different shades that would suit my soil and aspect and filled my garden borders 50% with evergreens so it didn't look completely bare in winter. I then filled all the gaps with bulbs so I had a succession of snowdrops and crocus at the start of the year, then daffodils, then tulips and alliums around April and May, then summer flowering bulbs. The evergreens and bulb combination did me really well for a couple of years and then when I felt more confident I started putting more plants in. I get a lot of joy out of my garden and it definitely connects me to loved ones that have passed away. I'd encourage you to give it a go!

I really want to try. I remember picking my mum crocuses and snowdrops on the way home from school, I'd love those in my garden. Is it too late to try to plant them?

Brilliant thread op!! I've taken my tree and decs down today 😞 but left out things that aren't obviously christmassy. We always have fairy lights in the living room and along the cabinets in the kitchen all year and candles, This year I've got stag cushions and cushions and throws in neutral/white colours then as we go into spring I'll add floral cushions and pastel colours. I'm glad it's not just me who does this dh thinks I'm mad 😅.

Your home sounds beautiful we definitely need pictures!! 😁

We do wintering but not necessarily with decorations, we have strings of fairy lights strung about all year round, and the blankets are always hanging around because they get dragged outside for spring/summer evenings.

But we do use January/February to nurture mind and body.

All of the Yuletide decorations put away here, with much reluctance. 🎄

We have a very pretty mannequin in the corner of the dining room decorated with fairy lights. This stays out all year long and I use seasonal flowers etc as the Wheel of the Year turns.

I am missing the lights of the mantel and dressers. We used to have some beautiful Morrocan style lights which lasted a good while but couldn't be repaired.

Can anyone here recommend some light strings that don't look as though they're supposed to be on the Christmas tree please?



I like the ones on the bendy copper wire. They stay in place on their own plus the tiny lights don’t look as traditionally Christmassy