However imperfectly I observe Advent, there is still a build up in these last few days before the Big One. A sense of anticipation and a long list of things that need to be done. I’m waiting for our groceries, and anticipating an afternoon in the kitchen, hoping that the boys will do the tidying…
Christmas is slowly coming into the home. We are not a get-the-tree-the-day-after-Thanksgiving family. We are also not a thou-shalt-wait-until-Christmas-Eve-and-respect-the-twelve-days-of-Christmas either. I go more off of feeling, which means that the decorations don’t really come down until after my eldest’s birthday in the first half of the month. Even then, it’s a slow process. Bring the…
Very little to say today, except that the weather has been magical: cold and wintery and frosty. The little pond is frozen and the children have played and played. I walk about to keep warm, feeling grateful for my warm boots and my flask of hot tea, trying to mull over what I’ve read about…
One reason that I rarely use social media for my blog is that I don’t like how it feels to come up with posts that resonate with people. You probably know what I’m talking about: the ones designed to get you to leave a comment or to share, often through sharing some statement (or truth,…
The temperature dropped yesterday – just enough to have a slight hint of frost on the meadow near the woods, and to make me glad for my gloves and thick coat. Reading in the woods while the children play isn’t the warmest of activities. The growing cold and the growing darkness both leave me with…
The weather could not have been more different yesterday, with the blue skies replaced by a thin fog that lingered all day. Fog is a funny thing. Sometimes it feels dark and gloomy, but yesterday we had the kind that makes everything feel brighter, partly from how the sunshine is refracted, partly because of how…
We had a beautiful blue sky this morning, and the sunshine is what I noticed most as I bundled the kids outdoors after breakfast. Before I moved to England, I knew the days would be short in the winter, but I didn’t realize how low the sun would stay in the sky. Even at eleven,…
In a recent newsletter, I wrote: This Advent, I am recommitting to time in nature. We have finished school for the term, and my goal is to take my children for a walk in the woods to start our day – each day. We will probably miss a few days, and that will be ok….