Our Little Friday Letter - Friday, 16th January, 2026

💌 A Warm Welcome

Happy Friday, and welcome back to Our Little Friday Letter.

This is our very first Friday letter of 2026, and I’m so glad you’re here, joining me in this little cosy corner of the internet this Friday morning. If you’re reading this with a cup of tea or coffee close by, that makes me smile already.

How have you been? It’s been a little while — just over a month since I last sent a newsletter — and I’ve really been looking forward to settling back into this gentle rhythm again.

As I mentioned before Christmas, our Friday letters are moving to a fortnightly rhythm for the foreseeable future. The reason is a simple one: I want to give this space more time and care. When you open this email on a Friday morning, I want you to find something meaningful, thoughtful, and quietly useful — something you can carry with you into the weekend ahead, and maybe even into the week beyond.

I’m incredibly grateful to each of you who takes the time to open these little letters, to read along, to click through to the blog, to reply, or simply to pause for a few minutes in a busy day. It truly means more than I can say.

Thank you for being here, and for continuing to make this such a warm, thoughtful place to land on a Friday.

🏡 From Our Little House in the Country

Since we last spoke, it’s been the Christmas holidays here — and oh my goodness, what a lovely, restful break it was.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were wonderfully busy, especially with my little candle business and Christmas markets, so by the time the holidays arrived on the 19th of December, we were more than ready to settle in for a cosy couple of weeks at home. And honestly, it was just glorious.

On the 21st of December, my husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary — which still feels slightly unbelievable. I don’t feel old enough to have been married for twenty years, and yet it also feels like yesterday. We marked the day with a really special trip into Dublin on the train: a beautiful long lunch, a wander through the Christmassy city streets, and a glass (or two) of wine in places we wouldn’t usually visit. That evening, we came home to celebrate with our two kids by the Christmas tree, and it was just perfect. So perfect, in fact, that we said we might make this our little anniversary tradition — a lunch in the city in the run-up to Christmas.

Christmas itself was wonderfully low-key. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, and on Christmas Day it was just the four of us. We went to Mass, headed out for a lovely hack with the pony in the crisp winter air, and then came home to one of those slow, easy days that feel like such a gift. We opened presents, watched films, stayed in our pyjamas, and didn’t sit down to Christmas dinner until later in the evening. It was relaxed, cosy, and exactly what we all needed.

And really, that set the tone for most of the holidays — quiet, unrushed, and full of simple pleasures.

We’ve been back to school and normal routines for a couple of weeks now, and I won’t lie, it was a bit of a shock to the system once the decorations came down and the evenings were still so dark. But slowly and gently, we’re finding our rhythm again. There’s no rushing here this year. No harsh resolutions. Just a soft return to everyday life — cosy meals, early nights, plenty of rest, and lots of time together at home.

I’ve found myself reading more, heading to bed early (I’m usually the first one tucked up each night), and easing into the new year without pressure or fuss. We’re focusing on warmth, comfort, and being together — whether that’s watching something on TV, listening to music, or all doing our own quiet thing in the same room.

So all in all, things are calm and steady here at our little house. We’re all well, in good form, and easing into the year with a focus on balance, gentleness, and taking things one day at a time.

❄️ The Theme of the Fortnight: Leaning Into Winter

Over the past couple of weeks, a very clear theme has been quietly threading its way through everything I’ve been sharing — here, on the blog, and over on Instagram — and it’s this idea of wintering well.

Winter asks something different of us. The shorter days, the cold mornings, the long dark evenings — they all shape our energy whether we like it or not. And I think where many of us struggle is when we try to resist that reality. When we expect ourselves to move, live, think, and feel exactly as we do in lighter seasons, winter can start to feel heavy, frustrating, even exhausting.

But what if, instead of resisting it, we softened into it?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much pressure we place on ourselves at this time of year — the urge to reset hard, to push forward, to “start fresh” in ways that don’t always align with the season we’re actually in. And winter, in its own quiet way, keeps reminding us that rest isn’t laziness, slowness isn’t failure, and gentleness isn’t giving up.

When we lean into winter — when we accept the darkness instead of fighting it, adjust our rhythms instead of forcing them, and create warmth and sanctuary around us — something interesting happens. The pressure eases. The internal resistance softens. And what once felt like a battle becomes something we can move through rather than push against.

Nothing stays the same forever. Seasons turn, light returns, energy lifts — but to reach the other side, we have to allow ourselves to fully inhabit where we are now. Winter doesn’t need to be rushed or endured. It can be lived with intention, comfort, and care.

As you head into the days and weekend ahead, my gentle invitation is this:
notice where you might be resisting the season — and see what happens if you loosen your grip just a little. Light a lamp earlier. Go to bed sooner. Rest without explanation. Let winter be what it is, and meet it where you are.

✍️ On the Blog Lately

If you’re newer here, or if you’ve missed a post or two over the past few weeks, here’s a gentle round-up of what I’ve been sharing on the blog lately. Everything has been very much rooted in winter — in rest, rhythm, light and dark, and finding softer ways to move through these quieter months.

The Art of Wintering at Home
A reflective piece exploring how winter invites us to turn inward, to rest, reset, and find comfort in the quiet rhythm of home. Inspired by books such as Wintering and How to Winter, this post looks at nurturing both body and soul through the darker months.

Letting Go and Leaning In
An invitation to pause, exhale, and gently release what no longer serves you. This reflective post explores how acceptance, gratitude, and soft renewal can help us move forward with more calm and clarity.

20 Intentional Ideas for the New Year
A gentle alternative to strict resolutions. This post shares 20 realistic, thoughtful ideas for stepping into the new year with more presence, purpose, and joy — one mindful choice at a time.

A Year of Seasons
A quiet reflection on the rhythms of nature and the lessons each season offers us. This piece looks at how paying attention to seasonal cycles can bring more meaning, balance, and awareness to everyday life.

A January of Intentions, Not Resolutions
A slower, kinder approach to beginning the year. This post explores setting intentions that align with peace, purpose, and seasonal rhythm, rather than pressure or perfection.

Why Winter Teaches Us to Rest
Winter reminds us to pause and restore. This post reflects on the lessons nature offers during this season and shares gentle, practical ways to embrace rest through slower routines and mindful rituals.

Winter Mornings, Winter Evenings
Dark mornings and early nights can make winter feel long, but there is beauty in the slower rhythm. This piece explores how to embrace winter’s light and dark through cosy routines, gentle pacing, and intentional rituals.

Seasonal Rhythms for Winter
A guide to aligning daily life with winter’s slower energy. From gentle movement to cosy rituals, this post looks at how to shape your days in ways that feel supportive rather than demanding.

Creating a Winter Sanctuary at Home
After the sparkle of Christmas fades, home can feel quiet and bare. This practical yet soulful post shares ways to create a warm, nurturing winter sanctuary using light, texture, candles, and simple rituals.

A Gentle Reset for the New Year – Free January Calendar
A calm, pressure-free way to begin January. This post includes a free printable calendar with 31 simple daily ideas — small, doable prompts to help you reconnect with yourself, your rhythms, and the season ahead. (You’ll also find a direct link to download the PDF there.)

Download the free January Calendar here

If you’re craving more winter-inspired content, you can also explore the Winter Archive, where all past and upcoming winter posts live together in one place.

And as always, you’ll find all of my seasonal and slow-living reflections over at ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com, if you feel like a quiet wander.

📖 What I’ve Been Loving Lately

One lovely thing I’ve been enjoying this week is a new book that arrived at our door just today: The Wheel of the Year by Fiona Cook and Jessica Roux.

At first glance, it’s simply beautiful. The illustrations are rich and atmospheric, with a colour palette that feels deeply seasonal — earthy, moody, and very in tune with the natural world. It’s the kind of book you want to leave out on the table and dip into slowly rather than read cover to cover in one sitting.

The book explores the idea of the “wheel of the year” — a way of marking time through the seasons using key points such as the solstices, equinoxes, and the cross-quarter days in between. What I particularly enjoyed on first flick-through is the sense of rhythm it offers: how people, historically and across different cultures, have noticed change in the natural world and shaped their lives around it.

While some of the language and traditions explored won’t align with everyone’s personal beliefs (and that’s absolutely okay), I found the book most interesting as a cultural and seasonal reference — a window into how humans have long tried to live in closer relationship with the land, the light, and the turning year. There are also lovely practical touches scattered throughout: gentle reflections, seasonal notes, and small ideas that invite awareness rather than instruction.

For anyone interested in seasonal living, nature’s rhythms, folklore, history, or simply beautiful illustrated books, this is a really interesting one to explore. You can take what resonates, leave what doesn’t, and enjoy it as a thoughtful companion to the quieter months.

I’ll share a link to the book below if you’d like to have a look yourself.

📚 Where to find the book

If you’d like to have a look, I’ve linked The Wheel of the Year below. I bought my copy from Amazon as it was good value and available for next-day delivery, but you may also be able to find it through your local bookshop or library if you prefer.

The link below is an Amazon affiliate link, which simply means that if you choose to buy through it, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the time and care that goes into this little letter and the work I share here — thank you, as always, for supporting in whatever way feels right to you.

Amazon link: The Wheel of the Year by Fiona Cook and Jessica Roux.

💬 A little note…

I’d love for this section to become a shared space. If there’s a book, author, creator, podcast, film, piece of music, or even your own work that you think might align with the gentle, seasonal tone of this letter, feel free to reply to this email or send me a link. I can’t promise I’ll feature everything, but I’m always happy to take a look.

🌿 Our Little House Elsewhere

If Instagram is your thing, that’s where you’ll usually find me most days. It’s very much my little check-in space — often a quiet coffee or tea moment, a thought for the day, sometimes a prompt from the seasonal calendar, and always a bit of gentle conversation.

Lately over there I’ve been sharing reflections on winter rhythms, rest, light and dark, and ways to move through these colder months with a little more softness and ease. What I love most, though, are the conversations — the comments, the DMs, the little exchanges that grow out of shared thoughts. If you ever feel like saying hello or adding your voice, please do. I always read and reply.

You’ll also find me over on Substack, where I publish my podcast, Seasonal Notes. We took a short pause over Christmas, but we’re easing back into the rhythm now.
Season One is all about winter — wintering well, rest, rhythm, and seasonal living — and the next episode will be landing very soon. You can listen directly on Substack, on the podcast page on the blog, or via Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I’ll pop all the links below.

If you enjoy quiet inspiration boards, seasonal imagery, and slow living ideas, you can also follow along on Pinterest, where I save and share things that reflect the seasons as they unfold.

And of course, everything always comes back to the blog at ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com, where all posts, printables, and podcast episodes live together.

Here’s where else you can find me:

📷 Instagram
📝 Substack
📌 Pinterest
🏡 Blog

💌 Stay in Touch

This little letter is very much a two-way conversation. If something here resonates, if you have a thought to share, or if there’s something you’d love to see in a future newsletter, blog post, or printable, I’d really love to hear from you.

You can simply reply directly to this email, send a message via the contact form on the blog, email me at hello@ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com, or say hello over on Instagram — whatever feels easiest.

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.

Thank you, as always, for being here and for taking the time to read along.

🤍 Until Next Time

Thank you so much for being here, and for spending a little part of your Friday with me. That’s it for this fortnight’s Friday letter.

To those of you who’ve been reading along for a while now — thank you for your continued kindness, support, and thoughtful presence here. And to everyone who’s newly joined us over the past few weeks, a very warm welcome. I hope you find this a gentle, comforting place to land.

I also want to say a heartfelt thank you for the beautiful Christmas and New Year messages, cards, and emails I received. Every single one meant so much, and I felt very grateful reading them during the quieter days of the holidays.

As you head into the weekend and the days ahead, I’m wishing you calm moments, small comforts, and a little ease wherever you can find it. Take things gently, meet yourself where you are, and know that it’s enough.

Until next time,
Ciara