Greetings on this winter solstice.

I wasn’t going to decorate much this Christmas. We knew there would be no entertaining, we would have no guests, no informal gatherings inside. So, a tree, yes, but no ornaments, just lights. I wasn’t going to make my own cards. I wasn’t going to decorate that wall coat hook thingie that requires a ladder and lots of patience. Somehow, as I approached December and short days and a holiday without friends and family to celebrate with, I just thought I’ll let it all pass. It will mean more next year then, I told myself. 

But then I began to dabble into all those things and realized I needed to, as they say, keep Christmas going. Maybe we needed as much as we could get in this time. A way to stay cheered somewhat amidst the horribleness of the pandemic. Lights and greenery and red poinsettias, despite knowing not one guest will enter the house all season. We just needed them for us. So a weekend was spent decorating all the corners and then some, and a cheery white theme took over the tree and made me a willing participant in it. I painted about three dozen cards I had no intention of beginning but then couldn’t stop. And then because I had no envelopes for the various sizes, I made envelopes out of scrapbook paper I almost never use. It has kept me busy!

I did cull the ornament box, the household decor, the lights; I picked and chose and refined, so that helped keep me fresh and interested. For instance, the little white lights that come with our tree looked just fine by themselves. I looked at that other box of a dozen strings multicolored lights and just didn’t have the energy. So I just did white ornaments to go with white lights. And it looks wonderful.

I took this picture to meet a challenge for an art group I am in: metal, string, photograph.

Then again, there were ornaments that I just love and wanted to enjoy another season. Hey! that might solve my what-to-do-with the- mantel question. Good enough.

Some of my favorite ornaments still got a place to show off their talents. Love the cat, don’t you?

And now, the wrapping and shipping and creating and mailing and distributing and hanging and standing on ladders is done, and I am looking at a week to enjoy the Christmasy surroundings I’m so glad we have. I have many books to read.

Solstice means daylight here from 7:55 am to 4:20 p.m., indeed a short day. A northern latitude, the western edge of the time zone: a location that gives us those really short winter days and long long summer days. Here’s something to brighten your day. I absolutely promise you it will make you feel oh so good.

and in case that wasn’t quite enough, here’s more.