The frosty grass crunches under my boots as I cut across my lawn. The sunlight is crystalline this winter morning. Daybreak has just arrived; its light sparkles through the branches of oaks and maples. I breathe in the cool air, and it refreshes me down to my core.
The sweet dogs that walk beside me are similarly thrilled to be outside. The noses busily snuffle in the dry leaves, looking for remnant scents of the nightly critters who have occasioned past. Racoons or possums are always a possibility, as are the neighborhood cats. It is an exciting moment when they find a particularly interesting smell.
We are on the cusp of this holiday season, yet it seems surreal. Autumn has been glorious this year. The maple trees were laden with beautiful red and orange leaves. The mornings were cool, but then the day morphed into sunny warm afternoons. All this belying the harsh winter that is certain to come.
I glance up to see a blue jay grabbing an acorn from a big old oak tree and flitting off. Acorns are an important food source for blue jays, especially in the winter. Blue jays spend the warmer months burying acorns around and about. They will only remember where a fraction are, resulting potentially in many baby oak trees. Fondly, I think of what an unsuspecting gardener this bossy bird is.
We return from our walk back to our festive house. The ornamental hawthorn trees and holly winter berry bushes are draped with twinkle lights, a wreath bedecks the side of the house, and Scandinavian stars hang delicately in each of the windows. When lit, they bring magical light to the rooms within as well as the darkness outside. My intention with our lights and decorating is to pull people inside. They say, “Come in, stay a bit, let’s share a freshly baked goodie and for the moment forget our respective to-do lists.”
My cozy home, a warm cup of tea, holiday jazz tunes, the soft alpaca throw I purchased at a darling shop in Big Timber, Montana, the latest knitting project on my lap, these are the things I bask in during these weeks leading up to Christmas.
Here is my seasonal card collection, with four notable additions for winter 2023 designs, including lodgepole pines, a blue jay, holly winter berries, and a snowy home.
I light a fire in the fireplace, throwing in some lodgepole pine cones I gathered this past summer in the Montana Rockies. They quickly snap and crackle when lit, making for wonderful fire starters. As the room warms, I curl up on the couch, soaking in the beauty of it all. The calm, the festive, the hectic, the beautiful — all memories to be stored away. This is December. Glorious December.
