Rejoice! The Winter Solstice has arrived. Now, the minutes and hours of daylight increase as our earth moves towards the renewal of spring. It's going to be cold for a while here in WNY, but we've turned the corner, in the larger scheme of things, and now we can pore over our seed catalogs and garden books and plan for the warmer days ahead.
On another level, most of us are preparing to celebrate Christmas (whether in the Christian sense or the more pervasive secular one that our consumer society has taken to extremes) and it's easy to get overwhelmed with "stuff" at this time of year.
We've dialed back our consumerism significantly here--speaking for myself, I've always experienced the most joy from giving to others and being with family. In my family, that means sharing food and each others' company, and it's a warm, fuzzy time that is eagerly anticipated.
Sadly, our adult children live on opposite coasts and are not able to be physically present for this year's holiday celebration, but we are together in thought and spirit. Thanks to the modern wonders of technology (which we have at this time anyway, though there are concerns about the future of the internet), we can also communicate across the miles.
But getting back to the "stuff"--there is definitely more stuff in the house these days. Gifts, boxes, wrappings, ribbons, we even have a small "Charlie Brown" style tree, and stockings hung over the fireplace. The comfort of some traditions outweighs the inconvenience of continuing them in small spaces. Soon, the gifts will be shipped (I always manage to be a little late) and the seasonal clutter of wrappings, etc. can be returned to storage in the garage.
Then we'll be back to our usual conundrum of deciding what is functional and what is just "stuff" and how to best rearrange our lives in a new normal.
Peace to all.
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