December always put me in a kind of slower sleep mode. The kind where I go straight home after work. Soaking up the sun on the good days, snuggling all day long on the stormy ones. 

Where I was last year still struggling with the lack of space in the tiny house during winter, when the walls felt too small, and the wind and the shaking house drove me crazy…somehow this year I just love it! (The house, I mean. Not the shaking 😉 )Coming home from work, lighting candles, starting the fireplace and curling up with the dogs. Puzzles, boardgames, reading, writing.. I’m totally into it. Although I’m still making a few prayers on the stormy days.

The one thing I didn’t know about Portugal

That brings me to the one thing I didn’t know about Portugal: winters are just damn cold. Not outside, no. Outside is perfect. But inside the houses? Ice cold. The kind of humid cold that just hits straight into your bones. I go literally outside to warm up, it’s the world upside down 🙂 

I go to work wrapped like a snowman, wearing a full thermal outfit under my clothes (no kidding), go to restaurants with 4 layers on. I sit in friends’ houses wearing a beanie indoors. Fleeces and bodywarmers are the most used items in my wardrobe. My style has slightly shifted since my fashion days in Belgium. 😅 My car is packed with sweaters and we‘re constantly investing in blankets.

Thank god I have a little fireplace now. It’s without a doubt the main reason that I not only love to be home, but actually want to stay home. Perfectly fine right where I am 🙂

What changed during my Portuguese winters?

I think the biggest shift this winter is that I stopped fighting the season. I stopped wishing it away, stopped trying to live like it was still summer. Instead, I let winter be winter. Quiet, inward, slower. And in doing so, my relationship with comfort completely changed.

Comfort used to feel like something extra, a kind of luxury you gift to yourself. Now, it feels essential. It’s the layers, the blankets, the fire, the choice to be home and stay home. It’s the listening to my body when it asks to rest, to say ‘no’ to things, even when they sound fun. Less noise, more quiet.

And another thing? I no longer feel the need for more space, literally. No more wishing for extra rooms, more storage, more, more, more. I find myself being okay with the tiniest little space during winter, and finding that peace feels soooooo liberating.

2025 was a year of letting go. Of settling in. Of redefining what home really means. No bigger, no better: just enough. Warm, imperfect, and mine.

And okay, maybe I’m not in total peace on the stormy days… but hey. Who really is, right?

Wishing you all soft, warm and cozy holidays. Obrigada ❤️

Elke