❄ Our Little Friday Letter (Friday, 7th November, 2025)

A weekly catch-up from Our Little House in the Country

🌼 Warm Welcome

Happy Friday, and welcome to our very first newsletter of November.

Thank you so much for being here this morning and for taking the time to open up this little letter. I hope this week has been kind to you, and that you’ve found some small, comforting moments of calm, joy, or peace along the way.

November is here, with its longer nights and darker mornings, and while the weather has been a little strange this week (more on that below), there’s no mistaking the slow and gentle shift toward winter. I’m so glad you’re here to ease into the season with me, one slow Friday at a time.

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🏡 From Our Little House

This week marked our return to school after the midterm break—and oh boy, even after just one week off, getting back into the rhythm was a bit of a shock to the system! Pitch-dark mornings and foggy starts took some getting used to… but we’re back into the swing of things now.

That said, the weather has been completely bizarre! It’s been warm. Really warm. I popped out to the yard earlier to muck out the pony and the car told me it was 20°C. In November! It’s that heavy, muggy kind of weather, a bit at odds with the cozy vibes I’m craving, but we’re embracing it nonetheless.

At home, we’ve settled back into our usual routines—busy school days and lovely long evenings. The darkness arriving by 4:30 p.m. means once we’re all home, we lean right into the cozy: curtains drawn, lamps on, candles lit. The kids have been playing lots of music (guitars seem to be the soundtrack of this season), I’ve been getting back into my reading rhythm, and we’re enjoying the slower pace that this time of year naturally brings.

I’ve been making a conscious effort to reduce my evening screen time (some nights go better than others!), and I’m firmly back in my early-to-bed habit—which always feels good. I’ve also decided to leave our autumn decorations up for another little while. Normally I’d have them packed away by now, but because we skipped Halloween décor this year, I’m really enjoying letting the rich autumn tones linger. I imagine by the end of November, I’ll be itching to bring out the Christmas lights—but for now, autumn is still holding on.

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❄️ Theme of the Week: Living Seasonally — The Quiet Pause Before Winter

November often feels like the quiet in-between. The blaze of autumn is fading, but the festive twinkle of December hasn’t quite arrived. It’s a month that’s easy to overlook—but I’m learning more and more just how important this gentle pause can be.

This week’s blog post, The Quiet Pause Before Winter, touches on this very idea: that November offers us the perfect moment to exhale. To let the year settle gently around us. To slow down before the season changes again.

Inspired by that post—and by my current read, The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater—I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to truly live seasonally.

Nature knows what it’s doing. The trees let go. The hedgehogs hibernate. The pace of the world quiets, if we let ourselves notice. But as humans, we so often push through. We fill our calendars, keep the lights bright, and resist the stillness that winter invites.

But what if we did it differently?

What if we chose to welcome November’s hush? To let it reset us. To use this month to rest, reflect, and gently prepare for the deeper winter ahead?

That’s exactly what our How to Winter Well calendar is about. Each day, I’ve been sharing a quiet little prompt over on Instagram—nothing big, nothing urgent. Just a nudge toward warmth, slowness, and care. If you’d like to follow along, I’ve linked the calendar below.

For me, wintering well doesn’t mean perfection. It means lighting a candle at dinner, taking a little walk even if it’s damp, reading a few pages of a comforting book, and turning the lights low in the evenings. It means noticing what I need, not what I “should” be doing.

So this November, I’m choosing to live seasonally. To give myself permission to be quiet, slow, and grounded. To let this season be what it is—an invitation inward. A pause. A gift.

I hope you’ll join me.
🕯️ Download the How to Winter Well Calendar

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📝 On the Blog This Week

It’s been a week of gentle shifts and seasonal reflection over on the blog.

🍂 Our main post this week was:
“The Quiet Pause Before Winter: Reflections on November Stillness and the Turning of the Year”
This piece is all about honouring November for what it is — not just a grey stretch between autumn and Christmas, but a deeply important season in its own right. A chance to pause, reset, and decide what kind of winter we want to step into. It’s reflective, cosy, and gently grounding.

✨ And in festive news, I’ve begun sharing some of this year’s Christmas content — soft and sparkly ideas for easing into the season:

– 20 Screen-Free Christmas Evening Ideas
– 25 Cozy Christmas Activities for Families with Teens
– 25 Festive Christmas Drinks — from hot chocolates and mulled apple juice to spiced cocktails and peppermint mochas.

You’ll find more winter reflections and slow living content in the Winter section of the blog, and a growing archive of Christmas ideas here. If you’re still soaking up the last of autumn (like I am), the Autumn section is still live too.

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🔮 Coming Up on the Blog

Over the next week or so, I’ll be continuing with our Wintering Well series while also gently weaving in more festive cheer. Think calm, connection, comfort — all wrapped in fairy lights.

Here’s what’s coming soon:

– 🕯️ The Rituals That Anchor Us (Tuesday’s blog post)
A slow and thoughtful post exploring the daily rituals that ground us — from morning routines to evening wind-downs, connection rituals, seasonal habits, and more. It’s a gentle invitation to create steadiness in the midst of festive busyness.

– 🍪 15 Christmas Baking Ideas
A delicious list of cookie, cake, and treat ideas for holiday baking days, gift boxes, or lazy afternoons by the fire.

– 🎄 10 Christmas Eve Traditions
Simple, meaningful ideas to make December 24th extra special — whether you have young kids, teens, or a quiet house to yourself.

– 🎬 20 Festive Family Night Ideas
Cosy themed evenings at home — think movies, baking nights, board games, hot chocolates and fireside chats — all with a festive twist.

As always, there’ll be a mix of real life, small joys, and seasonal inspiration — perfect for savouring in the quieter corners of your week.

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📷 On Instagram This Week

This week on Instagram, I’ve been trying something a little more consistent and grounded — each morning, I’ve been sharing a small check-in post or reel, often just a quiet good morning, paired with a gentle prompt from the How to Winter Well in November calendar.

You’ll find the daily prompt written in the little speech bubble over my profile photo, and I also share it to stories each day. But what I’ve really loved is how it’s sparked small conversations — in the comments and DMs — about how we’re each making space to rest, reset, and root ourselves this November. It’s not about doing all the prompts, it’s more of an invitation — a gentle nudge toward noticing what might support you in the season you’re in.

I’ve also been sharing a few Christmas-themed reels, quietly tucked behind the scenes. You won’t see them on my main grid (which is still very much rooted in the here and now), but they’re beginning to pop up across the feed. These are tied to new blog posts on festive family evenings, screen-free Christmas nights and more — not because I want to rush the season, but because as a blogger and small business owner, I often have to think a little ahead of the season so that content is ready when you need it.

That balance between being present and preparing ahead is something I’m always learning and navigating. So thank you — truly — for meeting me in the middle, for engaging with the seasonal posts, and for joining the conversation around slow and intentional living, even as the world starts to sparkle.

As always, if Instagram is your thing, I’d love to see you there. I’m in stories most days, and always happy to chat. 🧡

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✨ What I’m Loving This Week

This week, I want to share a book that has completely captured my imagination — one I find myself returning to night after night, curled up in the armchair by the stove, with a cup of something warm and the sound of wind outside the window. It’s The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater, and it’s already becoming a companion to my evenings. This book was first recommended to me by a lovely newsletter subscriber (hi, Anne — thank you so much again!), and then, only a day or two later, a thoughtful follower on Instagram, Cath, messaged me to ask if I’d discovered it yet. She’s been checking in ever since, and we’ve had the loveliest chats about the book throughout the week — which makes it even more special.

Though its title suggests otherwise, The Christmas Chronicles isn’t just about Christmas. It’s about the whole arc of winter — beginning in early November and following the days all the way into February — with a deep reverence for the quiet, the dark, the festive, the comforting, and the deeply human. Nigel Slater’s writing is like a warm woollen blanket: soft, textured, and woven with memory. He invites you into his world gently — a world of candlelight breakfasts, frost-glazed windows, and solitary twilight walks through snow-dusted streets.

It’s a book that is part diary, part recipe collection, part seasonal almanac — and entirely a love letter to winter. You’ll find recipes, yes — beautiful ones — from spiced cakes to slow suppers, ginger biscuits to mulled wine, and twists on hot chocolate and cider that are begging to be tried. But what makes this book so magical isn’t just the food. It’s the stories. He shares vignettes from his own life: childhood recollections of waiting for snow, walks home from the greengrocer with paper bags full of chestnuts, and quiet moments preparing dinner with soft music playing in the background. He writes about ritual and rhythm, about the comfort of routine in the darkest season. The tone is nostalgic but never cloying — grounded, graceful, and full of emotion.

Even the physical book is a joy to hold — with its textured pages, thoughtful font, and rich photographs that feel more like still lifes than food shots. It’s a book that asks to be savoured, not skimmed. And as someone who usually races through books, I’ve been trying to slow myself down — to read just a few pages each night, to allow the mood and memories to settle. I’m only 75 pages in — with many nights of reading still ahead — but I already know this is a book I’ll return to year after year.

If you’re someone who enjoys thoughtful seasonal writing, gentle storytelling, and a dose of cosy inspiration in the kitchen, The Christmas Chronicles might be for you too. I’ll link it below in case you’d like to check it out. (As always, this is an affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase through it — at no extra cost to you.) I’ve linked The Christmas Chronicles here in case you’d like to take a peek — it’s already becoming one of my most treasured winter companions.

But whether you borrow it from the library, seek it out in a bookshop, or simply light a candle and remember the mood it conjures, The Christmas Chronicles is a beautiful reminder that winter is not something to be endured — but welcomed.

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🌿 Follow Along

If you’d like to keep in touch between letters, you’ll find me most days over on Instagram — sharing gentle reminders, snippets of everyday life, and chats over coffee in Stories.

Here’s where else you can find me:

• 📷 Instagram
• 📝 Substack
• 📌 Pinterest
• 🏡 Blog

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💬 Share Your Thoughts

If there’s something you’d love to see in a future newsletter, blog post, or printable, or if you just want to say hello — I’d truly love to hear from you.

You can reach me any time by:

• 📩 Filling out the contact form
• ✉️ Emailing me at hello@ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com
• 💬 Sending a DM over on Instagram

Comments on the blog or Instagram are always welcome too. I read every single one.

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💌 Until Next Time

I hope this letter inspires you to carve out a little corner of calm this weekend — perhaps with a blanket, a good book, and something warm to sip. Thank you, as always, for being here and sharing this little corner of the season with me.

With love,
Ciara x

P.S. If you’d like to treat yourself or someone you love, you can use the code THANKYOU10 for 10% off at our little Candle Store — just a small thank you for being here.

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