I can’t believe it’s December! Can you? We decorated our home yesterday, putting up the Frasier Fir and my little white studio tree. I love hanging favorite ornaments from years gone by. The above drawing was made a couple of years ago when I got this lovely sparkly bird that clips onto a branch. I especially like the long tail and beads that twinkle in the tree lights. “Twinkle” is difficult to achieve in a drawing/painting. Hence the spatter of paint. 🙂

When Christmas rolls around I have an inexplicable desire to write. I do not consider myself to be a “writer”, but words do well up and want to march out onto paper, especially in winter. My husband told me last year about how Christmastime used to be a contemplative time throughout Advent. The weeks of the advent calendar leading up to Christmas day were to be a time of reflection. Then on Christmas eve, the decorations and tree would be put up, and a period of 12 days of feasting would ensue. Something about that sounds wonderful to me. So much less “commercial” and more meaningful. I don’t feel it’s really possible to live out this way of celebrating Christmas. I imagine needing to be in a remote village in Switzerland to be able to do this right. But I try in my own way to steer clear of some of the trappings. It isn’t easy. I do love Christmas so!

This December will likely be quite different for me in many ways. I may write here about it, I may not. I’m looking forward to just letting “whatever” bubble up. I do however have an itch to post over on my Knitterly Arts blog. It has been a while and I’ve had yarns running through my fingers all along, so a backlog of catching up is due. Again, I’m just going to go with the flow. For today, I’ve got a large (20″x25″) pastel painting commission on my easel that needs some final touches before the owner sees it. I love my work as an artist and feel privileged anytime someone asks me to paint for them. Truly I do!

As we march into December perhaps we can do so with a bit of reflection, a daily dose of contemplating why this Season is even celebrated. I enjoy this Advent reading throughout the month. Let me know if you have others you like reading. And, as always…I hope you can draw each day, recording the beauties you see and experience. I’ll be back to share mine with you!