winter bits :: making merry- the in between

The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is, as far as I'm concerned, best taken at a snail's pace.  Nowhere to go, nothing big on the agenda.  Just a whole lot of fireside reading and tea drinking,  puzzles, catching up (sort of) on the newspaper, playing board games (Clue!), a whole lot of movie watching, and, new to us, setting up and engineering a very old train set.  There were some great family and friend visits as well, but really we just sort of hunkered down.  Papa worked New Year's Eve and so she and I just had a simple little 'hurrah!' hours early and then went to bed.  We talked ever so briefly about the idea of setting intentions for the year ahead and when I asked her if there was anything she'd like to do more or less of in the coming year, she told me she'd like to drink more water and volunteer more with a local nonprofit called Bounty and Soul, which we have been aiming to volunteer with weekly for the last couple months.  They provide fresh produce (along with free yoga classes, recipes, nutrition education, etc) to families in need and have been working hard to make a dent in the food insecurity in our county.  I told her I thought both of those things sounded great.

I've yet to give much thought to any intentions of my own for the coming year. Well, I am aiming to hydrate more and commit to stretching/doing yoga for at least a brief period each day, and so far so good on both counts.  Beyond that though, I don't know.  I'm not really a 'pick a word for the year' kinda gal.  I think it's a nice idea and all, but I think it's just that, at this point, I feel like I know.  I already know what I want to work on and do more of and bring into my life.  I already know what doesn't serve me and what I'd like to let go of.  I am becoming more and more familiar with what my 'work' in life is, both in terms of honing my character just so and also simply accepting myself where I'm at.  I suppose I just no longer want to make lofty resolutions.  But I can hang with 'drink more water' and 'move more'.  Reckon I'd like to write more letters as well.  It's the little things, right? (but speaking of writing down thoughts on how to approach the coming year and such, here's something real pretty that a friend of mine wrote)

New Year's Day we made the traditional southern meal of black eyed peas and collard greens, with collards picked right from our (very cold) backyard.  As it has in so many places lately, it has been really, really cold here.  Highs steadily below freezing, lows in the single digits, and wind chill even lower.  The wood stove is a very hungry beast these days, and we're watching as the wood pile dwindles steadily (so thankful for the big stockpile of wood papa prepared for us earlier this year!).

Happy 2018 to you and yours.  Wishing you a year of health and happiness and goodness all around.