Are you already dreaming about your Christmas tree?

If you've given up hope for a beautiful Indian summer, you might as well dive straight into winter work. Those floor-length day dresses up to the attic and bring in the knitted sweaters and Uggs. You fill the basket with firewood and invest in cozy scented candles (why are those things so expensive?). It's just that the neighborhood might look at you a bit strangely, but you'd prefer to hang some Christmas lights in your hedge. Do you also belong to team Christmas? An army of psychologists has researched people like you (and me) and what turns out? It's only good.

1. It makes you happier
Decorating your home, lighting candles, decorating with pine branches; it all takes you back to your childhood when you experienced this period as magical. You could spend hours on the couch watching the lights in the tree, the angel hair, the ornaments. Every year, the decorations take you back to then and you feel the happiness and safety of your childhood again.

2. It helps you make friends
People perceive those who decorate their homes nicely as friendlier and more stable. Your neighbors find you more approachable and will be quicker to ring your doorbell to borrow an egg or a few Nespresso cups. It feels like you're rolling out a carpet for others with your cozy home. People feel welcome.

3. The nostalgia of Christmas brings positivity
At Christmas, you focus on the good in people. You want to do good things, think beautiful things. Unkind things you will explain in a different way and put in a context that allows you to excuse someone. The world is purer and more beautiful, so the sooner you start immersing yourself in this time, the longer you think ‘clean’.

4. People you have lost feel closer
There is more time for contemplation. You light a candle and are more consciously engaged with the people who have passed away. Although the absence may be greater, especially at this time because it is allowed to be, the deceased feels closer in your life.

So I would say: Michael Bublé on Spotify (or these ten best Christmas songs) and just start with candles and lights. I’m with you.