There’s a feeling associated with home – each doorstep has a different shade of it. Like a piece of clothing, your dwelling place conforms over time to you, and you to it.

But winter forces the questions of what home really means. Snow blankets swaths of the country. Temperatures drop to a degree incompatible with whiling away easy hours outdoors. So we jumble together in living rooms and around tables with family and friends in our own or someone else’s home. And when the smell of dinner, the feeling of a perfectly worn-in chair cushion, the knowledge of exactly where the rocks glasses and a good bottle are stored, and the like blend with the quiet, cold calm of a winter night, something special happens.

The Danish might say that in those moments, you have transcended into a state of hygge. A phenomenon recently examined by The New York Times and The New Yorker among others, hygge is pronounced “hoogah,” with the oo sounding like the first part of French number one – une – and the second part like you’re getting lightly slugged in the stomach. It’s one of those semi-mysterious words for which English doesn’t offer a full counterpart, but “cozy” comes closest. It is a condition prized in Scandinavia, particularly Denmark, and warm food, drinks, and home furnishings are the trappings – the feeling of being exultantly comfortable and grateful amid those things is hygge.

For whatever reason, a widespread and rapidly increasing interest in the concept is pushing Americans to consider their concept of home like never before, and how to make it at cozy as possible when battling the cold season. And we've got some points that'll help.

Get Organized

Lacking the roving wolves of yesteryear’s frontier, home today is mostly just a refuge from the disorderliness and stress of daily life. So focus on what that space should be for you – if you find disorder and chaos outside, make your home an orderly place. Tasks, people and problems fly at you all the time, so a sense of method, cleanliness, and lack of clutter go a long way in helping you breath after falling exhausted through that door and closing it finally behind you.

Warm Up

Warm colors, clothing, food, drinks, and a sense of emotional warmth should take up residence with you during the winter months. Fur (faux works just fine) throws and pillows, warm bathrobes, plush blankets, slippers, flannel and pajamas are the order of the season, and should be embraced (both figuratively and literally) as soon as you get in from the cold. Warm lights like little bistro lights strung sweeping from the ceiling and Edison bulbs with glowing golden filaments, twinkling lights and pine boughs adorning the mantel even after Yuletide passes are all good ideas. But even more important, and traditionally hygge, are candles. Dollar store unscented candles are fine – quantity, for once, is more important than quality. Their warm flicker in a dark room lend a heaviness of peace and wellbeing, as does a well-built fire in the hearth. Of course, lacking a functional fireplace, the tinkle of a radiator warming up is very cozy as well.

Be Sociable

Stop spending “connecting” with people who aren’t actually there via the cold blue of your phone and focus on those who are: roommates, family, friends, significant others. Hygge comes from gathering and sharing an experience together. These people, and the pastimes you join in, should be those that allow you to be most yourself – this is how the inner peace and warmth comes to match that of your now-curated home. So, whether it’s cooking, mixing drinks, making art, writing, reading, or being lazy and watching TV – whatever the pursuit of our inner and inscrutable mandates, that’s what this space is for.

Deck out the Table

Going out for steak and Scotch is fantastic. But in your own kitchen, amid the heat of the oven, you bond with the food as it changes from a pile of raw ingredients into a meal, not to mention bonding with whoever is there with a bottle (or two) of wine while you cook. Slow cooking is an especially good bet – roast something hearty in a Dutch oven for hours and it'll fill your entire space with rich aromatics. And once on the table, it falls apart into its own sauce overwhelming palates in the best way possible. As for the all-important liquid side of the meal, think mulled wine, hot apple cider, or stuff that warms from the inside out, like whiskey or dark rum.

Freeze, Then Thaw

Finally, hygge takes joy in the juxtaposition of the warm safety of home and the frigid wilds outside the door. Whether you’re facing the blister of skyscraper wind tunnels or the deep and profound freeze of a cloudless night in the middle of nowhere, consider spending some time out there. When your nose starts to burn and your fingers shine from the chill, you know you’re alive, staring down a sensation that links you and every man who has rubbed hands to keep blood in his fingers. Then retreat back inside your space, feel blood rush to your cheeks, and sink into the comfort of finally closing the door on the world for tonight – the comfort of coming home.

How to Warm Up Your Home the Danish Way