Here's when the tiny snowball of the holiday season begins rolling down the hill, faster & faster, gaining momentum as it grows larger & larger, and we chase it hard, never quite catching up. I've always loved this betwixt and between time, when Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas/Winter Solstice are still ahead, but the last couple of years I've found I'm not the holiday elf I once was. Glittery abandon has given way to rustic restraint, joyous tackiness yields to cozy simplicity. Much of that is Linda's tasteful influence and discerning eye, but some is my own need for peace and gentle calm. The week before Christmas is crazy busy and stressful for me at work, with so many loose ends to tie up before I walk away for a week. This year I get the gift of being off three whole days before Christmas proper, which will thankfully allow for baking and wrapping and relaxing.
I'm not chomping at the bit to start decorating. Ordinarily the Winter moose dishes would be on the shelves before the Thanksgiving plates had fully dried, but they're still tucked in their hot pink totes. Not one light string, no tree has emerged from hiding yet. Saturday is the Forest Farmers' Market at the local Extension site, and we usually find inspiration there, so by this time next week, the Fall decorations will be safely stored and the shelves will wear some hints of the season. It's been an odd year, and part of me wants to see my family get past this holiday season and move steadily into a new year, not linger over days fraught with memories and heartbreak. So I think we'll deck the halls with flickering candles and serenity, woolly decorations and soft quiet, pinecones and the belief things will be better, evergreens and hopes for the future. After all, this is the season that draws darkness close around, thick and black like a woolen cloak; when we think we might suffocate in the sheer depth of the darkness, that cloak is flung aside and the light returns, bathing us in radiant promise. Darkness passes, and isn't that what we all celebrate this time of year, no matter what holiday we call it?
9 comments:
My tree is up and going to try to do all my shopping this week...not because I so organized...hand surgery and cast scheduled for next week... :( I'm a Buddhist, but I love decorating for Christmas for the grand babies. It brings comfort and joy to have traditional holidays, so why not??? ...besides...isn't the tree, the yule tide log and lights pagan tradition??? hahaha ...just luv it!!!
We just put our tree up last night (cut it down from our woods) and I'm working on decorating it. I don't know how much more decorating I'll do, though. I have a few crafts I want to try out, but I'm not chomping at the bit to get them done!
That sounds perfect. Every year I do less and less in the way of holiday decor, and I love the simplicity. I only wish I'd done that when my kids were little and the holidays were always so stressful.
I love the beauty and simplicity of 'less' and enjoying more of what the season is all about.
I'm not decorating at all this year...I just don't feel it in me.
Perhaps a lovely candle and some wonderful incense whipped up by me will be my 'thing to do.' I have been thinking of stopping somewhere where they sell live trees and picking up some sprigs to bring that lovely scent into the home?
Let's just be easy and at peace through all this shall we, and enjoy the serenity?
In Blessing,
Akasa
I put up my tree the weekend before Thanksgiving! I tend to get a little excited this time of year :)
Great blog!!
Some years I put up nothing,. some years I put up some. More and more, I am leaning away from the glitz, back to the woodsy, candles, berries and holly kind of thing. It feels right to me.
I was saying to my son today, that I love this time of year, because I can burn candles all over the house. He looked perplexed. lol It was a snow-sky looking day all day here...and I did light candles . It was so peaceful. Played low music and rested my soul some.
I do less and less at Christmas with each passing year, until I fully expect that one day I will do nothing but light a candle. I do love your last few sentences and the images they conjure. Lovely post.
Your words, oh my, some portion of how I feel, but could not find the words.
The descriptions of darkness.....perfect to get the full impact.
Great word smithing, good solid keep it simple, feels so right to me too.
Thank you dear heart for sharing.!
Beautiful post. I guess we are still in the joyful tackiness phase. And the family arguments whether to put the tree upstairs or downstairs, or decorate it with simple white lights or multicolored. Angel or star on top? Hope you enjoy decking the halls this year Ashling.
Post a Comment