It’s time to transform your home into a winter home. It’s time for the sights, sounds and smells of winter.
Winter is a season of transformation. It’s about hope and light in darkness and cold. Winter invites us to slow down, reflect, and create a space that nurtures both body and spirit. Turning your house into a cozy winter home is more than just decorating. It’s about engaging all five senses to connect with the beauty and magic of the season. From the soothing crackle of a fire to the comforting scent of cinnamon and pine, a well-crafted winter home sets the stage for warmth, introspection, and celebration.
For those who embrace a nature-based spirituality, the symbols of the season—like evergreen branches, mistletoe, and the Yule log—carry rich traditions that can inspire your home transformation. By weaving these symbols into your space and activating your senses, you can create a sanctuary that honors the quiet power of winter.
In this blog, we’ll explore how to turn your home into the ultimate winter home, engaging in sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Along the way, we’ll incorporate seasonal and pagan symbols to make your space not only cozy but spiritually meaningful. Let’s dive into the magic of winter and transform your home into a haven for the season.
The Sights of a Winter Home
We can start our winter home by appealing to the sense of sight. Decorating your home for the holiday is more than a ritual. It’s about embracing the beauty of winter that’s all around us and capturing these sights within your home.
You can consider themes for your winter home decor. Themes like the concept of the Scandinavian hygge, which embraces minimalism, natural decor, and rustic farmhouse styles and plaid patterns.
Decorating Your Winter Home with Colors of the Season
Use color schemes like deep forest greens, silvers, light icy blues, white and red. Imagine the colors of nature you might see. Evergreen trees covered in snow, holly berries, etc. Use nature as your color palette.
Natural Seasonal Decor
If you are looking for a way to decorate your home without breaking the bank, try to emphasise natural decor. Plan a family gathering in a forest and collect pine cones, berries, and anything else that you see that stands out to you. You can also use dried herbs and fruit.
You could hang a garland of dried oranges and pine cones, or decorate with birch logs and branches.
The Symbols of Winter
Some symbols of winter include holly, mistletoe, pine trees, etc. One of the biggest symbols is the Christmas tree. Decorate your tree with ornaments and dried fruit.Â
Hang wreaths from the door for good luck. Decorate with statues of animals such as deer, reindeer, and wolves.
The Sounds of a Winter Home
Think of the sounds you might associate with winter and the holiday season. Christmas music will be playing at every department store. You can play all the classics in your home. Find a playlist that you can loop through when everyone is at home.
Think of other sounds. The sound of winter rain, the crackling of a fire, the wind outside. And consider the absence of sound as well. This is a time to be still and reflective, so going outside and listening to the gentle quiet of this time of year can be grounding.
Bells are associated with winter as well, so set some up in your home and ring them once in a while.
The Smells of a Winter home
Smell is important this time of year. You want to bring the familiar smells of the season into your home. This can bring on feelings of nostalgia and everyone will associate the smells of the season with comfort and family.
Natural scents
Pine, cedar, eucalyptus, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, these are all scents that correspond to winter.
You can burn incense, candles, use diffusers, etc. You can also use simmer pots. Simmer pots are a great way to permeate the smells of the holidays throughout your home. Just take an array of natural ingredients. They could include orange slices, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, rosemary, peppermint, vanilla, cranberries, star anise, and many other items. Add water, bring the pot to boil, then reduce the heat to low.
You can enjoy these simmer pots for a few hours each day. Add fresh water every day and keep an eye on it to make sure to keep adding water when necessary.Â
Some incense you could burn is frankincense and myrrh. These are some smell based correspondences that are associated with winter as well. You should check out Mythologie Candles for some seasonal scents.
The Tastes and Flavors of a Winter Home
The tastes of the holidays people remember most of all. This is the season to bake! This is a time to indulge in the harvests that you have. It’s important to eat healthy throughout the year, but winter invites some minor indulgences and festivities that allow for some seasonal extravagance.
Baked Goods
All sorts of baked goods are on deck for this winter season. Fresh-baked breads, pies, pastries, etc. are all appropriate. Using the season’s harvest, you can open up some preserved fruit and make apple or cherry pies. Or pumpkin pies and carrot cakes.
Roasts and Hearty Stews
Prime ribs, turkey, large roasts, and hearty soups and stews. There’s nothing more comforting than a nice bowl of stew on a snowy winter’s night to warm the soul. If you have hunters in your family, maybe you have a freezer full of deer meat or wild game. This is the time to turn this meat into hearty meals that will warm you up in the cold winter.
If you aren’t a hunter and you are looking for some game meat to stock up on, I like to use D’Artagnan Foods. I like them because of their meat and poultry, including cuts and game meats that can be hard to find in a grocery store.
Root Vegetables
Root vegetables can be kept in cold storage for most of the winter, so they will be in season this time of year. Carrots, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, as well as potatoes and sweet potatoes. These vegetables are all widely available, but it’s best if you can grow them or if you know someone who grows them locally.
Warm Drinks
Warm drinks like hot cocoa, mulled wine, and hot apple cider are all very soothing this time of year. These warming drinks can be soothing and provide a source of comfort for this cold season.
Be sure to check out my blog on how to use natural remedies to ward off the cold and the flu during this season as it’s very common for people to catch seasonal ailments at this time.
The Yule Feast
We can’t forget the yule feast. This is a time when families come together to celebrate one another’s company. Large meat dishes, yams, mashed potatoes, green bean casseroles. They’ll all be adorning the feasting table. But what’s more important is the family and friends around the dinner table.
The touch of a Cozy Winter Home
Warmth and comfort make up the sense of touch this winter season. The warmth of the fire, the comfort of sweaters and throw rugs, they all give your winter home a winter’s touch of comfort.
The Emotions of a Winter Home
As you consider the sense of touch, consider your emotions during this time. Consider doing some journaling to reflect on what feelings and emotions come to you as you prepare for the holiday season.
Spend some extra time meditating and reflecting.
Symbols of the Season in your Winter Home
By putting all these senses together, and by incorporating the various symbols of the season, you can capture the meaning and the magic of this time of year. Evergreens symbolize eternal life, mistletoe represents healing and protection, and the yule log represents light in the darkness.
Winter is the season of hope, light, and renewal and rebirth. It’s a time of stillness and silence. The sun is gone, especially in the far north. But it will come again and warmth will one day return to the land. But in this time of darkness, you can turn to the people in your life for comfort. That’s why the importance of family and friendship is emphasized in winter.
In ancient times, family was a source of comfort during a time when people literally depended on one another for their survival.
Check out my article on how Santa is associated with the Norse god Odin and the season of Yule.
Conclusion
By exploring the five senses and making them part of your winter home this year, you can embrace the meaning of winter. The magic of this season is in the symbolism that surrounds it.
Winter is all about stillness, silence, hope, light, and the promise of renewal. Your winter home should be a beacon of hope in the darkness to those you love. It doesn’t matter whether you celebrate Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah or all of them, or none of them. The theme of the season and the true reason for the season is family.
So what sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings do you associate with winter the most? What are some symbols that you use? Let me know in the comments.
And check out my article on Yule and Odin for more winter symbolism, and my blog on natural remedies.
