December Days (or, A Love Letter to December)

December Moon II, digital art using painting and photography

December days, how I love you. There is so much going on yet nothing, all at once.

Work is full and busy, on some days overwhelming. I am learning, it is satisfying, I am grateful.

Home is sanctuary and to-do list, in that order. When the to-dos threaten the sanctuary I take action and move through them as gently as I can to restore the proper order. Until it shifts again.

I sink into books, sappy movies and the magic of Christmas lights.

I obsess with all things winter: winter art, winter writings, winter music, winter activities. I am intrigued by its mystery. There is much to process, there. Stay tuned.

"Gray skies and December lights are my idea of secret joy, and if there were a heaven, I would expect it to have a lowering violet-gray sky (and I would expect them to spell gray g-r-e-y) and white lights on all the trees and the first flakes just falling..."

~ Adam Gopnik, Winter, Five Windows on The Season (CBC Massey Lectures)

I continue my experiment in movement, embarking on Week 16 of regular practice. Imperfect and consistent. I feel strong.

I navigate life with an elderly Golden Retriever who's been diagnosed with lymphoma. I am sad at the thought of her not being here. I rejoice in her tail-wagging greetings and her 13 years. I practice presence. I learn and grow into this experience along with my Love, D., one day at a time.

I practice ease where I can, surrender when I can't. At least that's the goal.

I make soup. I savour clementines. I drink water.

I use my fancy Christmas mugs.

I love.

I live.

Yes, December days, I Iove you.

With gratitude,

Stephanie

♥

Photo Pause: Winter Storm, Winter Beauty

Note: Photography is a path to mindfulness for me, a meditative and grounding practice that prompts me to slow down and notice the world around me. May these images offer you a space to pause, a respite in your perhaps busy day, and a reminder to take a moment now & then and notice what's going on in the world around you.

~~~

We got 51 centimetres in one day - that's 20 inches, for my American friends.

It was shitty if you had to commute or drive in it, really really shitty (thankfully neither D. nor I had to).

It was a crazy amount of accumulation.

It was also beautiful. The next morning, all I wanted to do was play.