🥶 The ultimate winter life hack

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

❄️ PSA: You might see some snow in the Boston area today! It’s looking pretty unlikely to be more than a light dusting, but regardless, be careful during your commute.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• The Supp is up 

• Boston’s best dining secrets

• A lot of rizz

Up first...

MENTAL HEALTH

Hygge has entered the chat

Imagine if winter in New England was even colder and darker. Well, considering that’s what Scandinavians deal with while being some of happiest people on Earth, they could probably teach Bostonians a thing or two. Enter: Hygge (pronounced hoo-ga), the state of being that gets Scandinavians through the darkest of days (literally). We chatted with some hygge experts about how the magic happens. 

Here’s what we learned: 

🕯️ Hygge probably isn’t what you think. In the U.S., it's usually branded as staying cozy during the winter months by buying candles and wool socks (we love our capitalism!) to snuggle up as a respite from the weather. But it’s really much more than that, said Mari Corbett, the Finnish owner of Villa Hygge, a boutique hotel in N.H. Hygge is an ever present, almost effortless mindset in Scandinavia, she said.

🧠 And that mindset comes from Scandinavian culture. Scandinavian people have a different perspective on getting through the day, said Brooke Black, who moved from L.A. to Denmark in 2020. There, the idea of finding joy in the present is baked into everyday life. For example, even unpleasant tasks like going to her town dump are made enjoyable in Copenhagen with free coffee and complimentary toys and candy for her children.

🧣It’s really about the little things that recharge you. Or as Corbett puts it, “recharging your own mental energy.” A hygge moment can be as small as drinking your morning coffee, hugging a dog you see on the street, or bringing a snack along on your morning walk. It’s about finding ways to make your daily routine spark joy in you, she said.

🔥 And yes, that can technically include candles and wool socks. Think of it this way: The item won’t bring you joy, but candles, wool socks, knitting, and baking can be a vehicle to get you to that joyful state. Given how cold the winters can get, Scandinavian people tend to lean on cozy things to recharge during that time of year, said Kerry Lavin, director of the Scandinavian cultural center here in Mass. 

🌲 Want to practice hygge for real? Here’s something to keep in mind: “You can buy the candles, but you also need to enjoy lighting them,” Corbett said. That is, you can’t force what gives you a hygge moment, you can only identify it and seek it out. Also, hygge should not involve screens, Black said. A big part of hygge is feeling present in your body, and you probably can’t be present if you’re on TikTok. Sorry.

QUICK QUESTION!

🎁 What’s the WORST holiday gift you could possibly receive?

TOGETHER WITH JOHNSON PAINT

Turn your home into an IRL Pinterest board

🏠✨ Is your space ready for a glow-up? Get all the DIY inspo you need at Johnson Paint’s Shades on Newbury. This full service design hub is your go-to for blinds, shades, shutters, and drapery — all custom-made to fit your style (and those wonky Boston spaces). Check out the full lineup of Hunter Douglas window treatments, designer fabrics, and wallpapers, or speak with a pro today at the Newbury Street center to get one step closer to that Insta-worthy home of your dreams.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

💰 Ladies and gentlemen, we have a Supp. The $3.1 billion supplemental budget (which includes much needed funding for emergency shelters and money for state employees) has finally been passed and signed by Gov. Maura Healey as of Monday night after several days of partisan drama. After lawmakers failed to pass the bill during their formal sessions, House Republicans used a loophole to block Democrats from holding informal sessions until more than 100 Dems showed up in-person on Monday to vote on the bill. 

🚃 Green Line riders, listen up! In some good news, the shutdowns on the Green Line trunk, E line, and B line are officially O-V-E-R. As the MBTA driver on my shuttle bus said this morning, “Hopefully, things are gonna be a lot speedier now.” However, for GLX and D Line riders, the shutdown isn’t quite over: Evening shutdowns on the GLX are still on through Dec 10. Plus, from Dec. 11 to 20, the D line from Riverside to Kenmore will be shut down and replaced by shuttle buses. 

🗳️ Gen Z isn’t vibing with the 2024 presidential election. The Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics just dropped the results of their youth poll of 18 to 29 year old voters, and based on these results, it doesn’t look like they’ll be breaking any records for voter turnout next year. The poll found that they’re less likely to hit the polls in 2024 compared to 2020 (especially Republicans and independents) and just 35% approve of President Biden, with most voters who say they’ll vote for him citing, basically, no better option. Yikes!

🎁 Boston’s best kept dining secrets. The Globe just shared its list of Boston’s best holiday dining secrets, and some of them even surprised us. If you’re looking for a holiday meal that just has something special about it, whether that be unique seating opportunities (dining in a hot tub), exclusive experiences (a place gives you a gift card for a pre-roll if you order a specific desert), unique entertainment (a waiter that will do the splits upon request), or off-menu items, this list deserves a read.

ONE LAST THING

Another word of the year

“Rizz” is officially the Oxford University Press Word of the Year. And the consensus seems to be: If you’re on TikTok, you definitely know what it is, and if you’re not … There's a lot of confusion and fear about what it means and how it managed to stay so under the radar. 

So, since we care about you, we’re going to give you the quick and dirty on rizz once and for all: Rizz = charisma. Rizzing someone up means flirting with them, platonically or otherwise. W Rizz means good rizz, L Rizz means bad rizz. And if you have any other questions, please refer to this Globe article.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, for the foreseeable future, we are putting all conversation of rizz on the B-Side on a hiatus. Class dismissed.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

😎 Thanks for reading! Unfortunately, I think we might have manifested this one last week. Well, they’ll try again next year.

💜 Special shoutout to today's sponsor, Johnson Paint, for supporting local journalism and empowering Bostonians to design their perfect home. 

🍲The results are in … The restaurant you all want us to try for B-Side Certified is (by a hair): What a Soup with 23% of the vote! And as a soup girl, I am ready.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].