Where did the December go?

I made some salt dough bird ornaments. As a reminder of peace, stillness and home.

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.”

― Hamilton Wright Mabie

Oh, dear December. Full of light, stillness, peace, love and gatherings with our loved ones. Full of hope, of magic, of stories and prayers too. Our December was magical, filled with family time, some sick days too but surrounded by people we care for and people who cared for us in those days too. We've arrived to my parent's countryside home few days before Christmas. Between those hills and valleys I have been seeking and finding simplicity, calm, peace and slower pace of life. That beautiful countryside always provides dose of calm from nature walks but also from bringing the outside in. Making wreaths, gathering evergreen branches and berries and making decorations for some sweet and cozy home corners. The house was wrapped in cinnamon, brown sugar, cacao and homemade bread. Ribbons on handmade salt dough ornaments, bringing hay under the Christmas tree, putting tiny bells on evergreen branches, flickering candles and family hugs. I simply love that old-fashioned nostalgia Christmas time shines on us. In December, my peace was intertwined between frosty paths, finding tiny animal footsteps frozen in muddy trails and baskets full of pine twigs. It truly was a beautiful month of saying farewell to this year and yet another magical Christmas. It truly was all the beauty sweet simplicity of holidays can give to us.

What I've been doing over these winter days?

First part of December we've spent in our city apartment. We visited city advent and watched twinkling lights in strangers' windows during our evening walks. We would put on warm winter jackets, gloves on our hands and hats on our heads and head towards the town square which was filled with Christmas melodies, big Christmas trees and huge lights. It was beautiful to watch my little one's eyes as he absorbed all those lights and to see the glint of that sparkling miracles in his little blue eye. Also, the first part of the month was filled with making some more decorations for our apartment. I made a paper star that I placed in our living room window. I decided to add beautiful ribbons to my Christmas decorations. Ribbons in brick red, powder blue, brown and ochre. After looking at my Christmas tree delighted with the addition of those colors, I decided to get some fabric and sew some ornaments for my mom and sister. Few tiny fabric winter houses with embroidery details of flowers and evergreen branches, with stars and twinkling lights. And of course, I decided to add those ribbons on them too. After that, I pulled some fabric again and made a stocking for my little one. With embroidered pine branches and first letter of his name. Some tiny bells and one ochre string for final touch. One of my favorite seasonal rituals in the winter is making my own festive gifts and ornaments. This Christmas I felt called to make some bird ornaments. And after some searching, I decided on salt dough solution. I made them simple, white and with some tiny red and blue pattern. Birds always represented peace, stillness and home to me. All that effort, time and hope that the nest will survive under the wide tree branches and provide a warm shelter for its offspring. That's what home means to me, safe heaven, warmth and love intertwined. So I made a couple of them, some for my Christmas tree and one bigger for my gallery wall. For me, this season is filled with anticipation, and taking time to make and craft. I also think the best gift you can give others is actually the time you’ve taken to make these gifts.

I made these for my mum and sister.

And I added some ribbons on my old ornaments too.

Second part of December we've spent at the countryside. Wherever I directed my gaze, I saw valleys still filled with autumn shades, small groves with bare branches and a few tall evergreen trees, hills with cows grazing calmly and gently, pastures with round patches of marsh flowers and tall green grass. December days were filled with my early mornings. With gratitude journaling, making warm ginger tea and taking morning walks. With making Christmas cakes with my mom, sister and my little one too. We've really enjoyed that time together. Filled it with some childhood stories and a lot of laugh. I was so grateful for those family mornings and for winter magic appearing on our doorstep. Fog would slowly scatters away from orchard, over meadows and my mom's garden too. Berries poking out between evergreen groves, cones on tall pine trees, dry grass blades swaying with the wind, seeds in bird feeder swinging left and right. Cups of tea neatly resting on the kitchen table, honey jar in the middle ready for some toast bread, baubles resting on the Christmas tree. Candles flickering, little lights twinkling.

Beautiful landscape in front of us on our evening walk.

Morning walks were an essential part of our days at the countryside. Some days we've walked through swaying dry grass, and some days there wasn't bitter wind that danced across the fields. On our morning walks through the low meadows we've met floating clouds of fog that embraced our bodies as we passed through it. It was wonderful to observe that whiteness around us and to see nothing more than a few meters of meadow soil ahead of us. The most beautiful thing for me was to see the branches of tall trees slowly rising above us. In these pieces of fog, the light was fading fast and you could see, here and there, a light movement of dancing grass in the meadows. On some days you could really meet that cold Winter. Even in thick jacket, scarf and wool socks, she touches your bones. We decided to return home after arriving to the edge of little forest. On these walks filled with silence you can see many wonders if you look for them and observe the tiny details of nature. Bleached grasses entwined with cobwebs, some tiny dark purple flowers waiting to be captured by the frost, birds sitting on naked branches, almost motionless in the cold morning air.

On few really cold winter days I found myself thinking about crawling into bed earlier. And then I would start to remember how much I loved, as a little girl, to sit in silence in front of our little dark stove in the room where my sister and I slept. I would sit so still, with my knees drawn to my stomach, my arms wrapped around them, simply watching the fire, the colors, listening to its crackling. An even now, just writing about it, I remember exactly that feeling of peace, slowness and comfort that I felt as a child on those winter evenings. And I really think that I'm reminded of it so often, because in waking on these paths I find the comfort of peace, slowness and solitude. But I am even more convinced that in that memory I find a thread leading to my current way of life. The life in which I want, in which I try to enjoy mundane moments of life, in creating and practicing simplicity, in slowing down. Sometimes I feel guided by this memory. This life is giving me a chance to truly live with more presence and love, to embrace all the generosity my soul and heart can give me. And with all this, I decided to gift myself three gifts this Christmas. My first gift was embracing silence. To simply surrender to the sound of rain on windows and roof. To mist curling in the tree tops and floating above the valley. To spent my mornings in silence and gratitude. To feel blessed for the gift of silence. And resist not to fill that silence. Second gift was togetherness. To embrace all the moments, to carve them in my heart and keep them inside forever. Third gift was to seek inspiration for slow and intentional life. And in that inspiration to give myself time to think about ways I can really love and see beauty in the mundane. To carve some time to read more books about parenting, about giving simplicity to my child, about getting to know my own self and find some healing ways I would love to implement in my life. All that Christmas time was filled with me reminding myself that our lives are often mirrors for one another. That when I am mindful and intentional, I'll remind and spark that in my husband and in my child too. I reminded myself that living authentically and leading with my values and my truth carves a path for healing and embracing slow life for my family too.

What I found/thrifted/bought/created?

• I really haven't bought anything much this month. My husband and I have decided that we will not give gifts this holiday season, but instead to really focus on family and the moments we spend together. We decided to buy few picture books because we always prefer them to toys for our little boy. We bought Slow Down and Be Here Now by Laura Brand and The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day by Katie Cotton.

• Instead of buying some toys for him, I made him a little mouse out of scrap fabric with sleeping bag too. And some tiny wooden peg fairies with their leaf homes.

• Also, after year of trying to find some great cloth napkins with simple pattern I found them. And I love them and hope to cherish them for quite some years.

What I've been reading/watching/listening to?

• Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne is a book I already read three times. Third time was in December. This is the first book I would recommend to all parents who seek ways to simplify and make relaxing space for their children. This is wonderful book that inspired me to really declutter toys and to make some better decisions about buying new ones. He even suggest a list of toys that he considers as valuable ones for children and for years of play to come. This books is a great that simplification is key to a better, more centered and calm life.

• And I'm still reading The Danish Way of Parenting. It describes a Danish way of parenting as focused on respecting play, allowing children non-adult-led activities, being authentic and honest towards your child, avoiding labels and emphasizing positive aspects of people, respecting child's experiences and demonstrating empathy, avoiding punishment and creating healthy, cozy and loving family environment.

• Also, every morning I read few pages of some book after my gratitude journal. So through December and now I read Life is Worth Living by Fulton J. Sheen.

Some beautiful words I found and loved this month:

“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”

― C.S. Lewis

Little suggestions:

• A story about welcoming New Year with no resolutions.

• Where did the November go? Read it here.

• More on embracing and creating simple and slow home.

• Read more about my gratitude journaling.

• More on gifting the little ones.

• Seeking some inspiration for creating simplicity in your child's world. Read more here.

• Also I've been writing some tiny tales over on Substack, on my page Notes from Meadow, so you can head there too.