A Calm Christmas on Winter Solstice

This December, I’m slowly making my way through Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year by Beth Kempton (2019), and in Chapter 9, Kempton encourages us to consider a vision for the year ahead with intentionality.

Today was a slow-to-rise day, a day that started with a bit of a Netflix binge to get a few more episodes of the latest season of Virgin River in, sipping coffee and nibbling pumpkin bread in bed with the dogs asking for one little bite – and we did share with them. We have finished our stocking shopping and grabbed the last few items we needed from the grocery store, so now we are home and happy to be in for the day.

On this Winter Solstice, we got out into nature by taking the dogs on a walk down their favorite trails in their Christmas sweaters, since it is cold here today on this first day of winter. The time outdoors on the day when the Earth finally has its eyes closed all the way is a gift, especially since it is a Saturday when we are both off work and can amble leisurely in the greenery. Tomorrow, the eyes of the world begin springing back on their way to wide-open life again, a little at a time.

This is my day to think about my One Little Word for 2025 – it’s decision day for me.

As my One Little Word for 2025 continues to knock, I haven’t fully given it the time to visit me and chat with me in some sort of a job interview like I’m looking to hire as I normally do with the words I choose. This one just came to me and continues to rise to the top.

This will be the first year I haven’t chosen an actionable verb and will instead take an adjective if I choose the one I think will become my word. And I’m not abandoning PRAY – it still begins my day each morning as I drive to work. No radio, no audiobook – – my car becomes my prayer chamber, and that is an established habit that will not take a detour in place of a different word.

I will have a challenge for myself, too – an actionable verb I do weekly to go along with my One Little Word. More about that in a later post.

What’s your word for 2025 going to be, if you know yet? I love how people and their words choose each other.

Photo by Mareefe on Pexels.com

The Zoo Crew Nonet

the zoo crew parades into the den

at first light, ready to go out

for their second morning walk

after the deer have left

the yard for the woods ~

now they’re ready

nose to ground

to sniff

tracks

Something Fast and Dangerous

Photo by Frans van Heerden on Pexels.com

it all happened so fast

thirty yards to our left

in the woods

along the edge of the driveway

in the rural countryside

in the early morning

where anything is possible

where most won’t walk without

a wildlife safety gun

** (but I do) **

as I was walking the dogs

a rustling of underbrush

and a flash

something fast and dangerous

*** (not a deer) ***

running through the trees

me in my work heels

in sudden panic

my sled dog team kicked into

high gear

jolting me into a

sprint

holding on tight

praying whatever it was

would keep going the other way

*** (it did) ***

making me wonder:

is it time for a wildlife gun

or at least a fire extinguisher?