I intended to write yesterday, on Solstice, but as is way too common during the holidays, I ended up fluttering around all day, attempting much and accomplishing little. The busyness and consumerism of this time of year gets to me every single holiday season, and I always envision quiet, simple Decembers full of crafting with evergreen branches and candles, exchanging simple gifts of food, plants, DIYs, and books, and allowing the false hubbub to simply flow around our quiet home while we contemplate firelight. I have yet to create this ideal December, but I intend to, one year, perhaps when I no longer check email daily or need to drive anywhere and fight the crowds heading to shopping centers.
Simplicity, community, and authenticity call to me more than ever this time of year, maybe because the opposite is so militantly pervasive. I suppose one could argue that the holidays create more community time than other times of the year with people getting together to celebrate, but so much of the buildup to big days are isolating, and generally it’s women doing the majority of the labor. We can all choose at what level we want to participate in the bows and whistles of the season, to a certain extent, but we are community creatures, and it is hard to resist the priorities of those all around us and not mistake them for our own.
Earlier this month I read Alice Water’s We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto, and every word resonated so deeply. The Slow Food Movement encompasses not just how we eat, but also how we think about our world and how we live in it. The book was a warm reminder that there are many of us who want to shape a different reality where the main value resides in quality instead of quantity. If you feel alone in trying to implement sustaining values in your life and in the world, I hope you know, you aren’t alone. The unsustainable drive to want more, at the cheapest prices, as quickly as possible, needs to be challenged.
This all has me thinking about how we collectively move forward, because the only direction we have to go is toward the future, whether that creates feelings of excitement or dread. Humans have a story-line, and we each choose what to bring with us, what to learn from, and what needs to stay in the past. Things are moving so fast that I understand the need to look at the past and try to recreate it, but that has never worked, and it won’t now. Blindly trying to mimic the past means recreating the past mistakes. Instead, we can intentionally bring the best with us and adapt it to the present moment. Personally, my intention for next year is to craft and cook more, create more communities in my life and others’, and to get clearer on how to follow my own compass and resist the busyness and consumerism that would happily devour us all.
By the way, it’s probably obvious, but these words are written solely by me, not AI. In fact, the built in WordPress AI has underlined words in this piece that it thinks are too complicated for readers, which is ridiculous and depressing because what if everyone starts following those suggestions and writing gets dumbed down and people lose their ability to read words like ‘forward’ and ‘present? Those are seriously two of the words that are underlined by AI. I do not know how to turn off the AI suggestions that are automatically on here now, so if anyone wants to give me a tech lesson, I would love to hear your expertise! (Expertise is now underlined too. 🙄)
Happy Holidays! I wish for you peace, joy, health, and fulfillment in the final days of this year, and throughout 2026. See you there! 🌿✨
Excellent post! I agree entirely.
As for AI (don’t get me started LOL).
To get rid of AI on your post:
When creating a post there is setting symbol on the top right of the page. Click to activate and there will be a section added on the right with several ways to add to a post.
One of the options is “Improve with AI”. Click to open it and you will see “Write Brief (Beta)
Show issues & suggestions”.
Click the black dot to place it on the left and the AI will be turned off. 🙂
Oh thank you!! I will try that right now!!
Hello Kristen Ann,
I’m so glad I made it here, and enjoyed sitting with you moment in these shared ponderings. You already know how much I feel the same.
I agree we cannot go back to the past, but we can use our best intentions forward. I’m glad you are not AI! I’m glad that someone else, “magickmermaid” had tech suggestions for you!
Sometimes when I am feeling particularly at a loss for the intensity of the pace of life–now (and have been) driving my child all over the world for her extracurricular activities–I watch a slow video of someone who is living in Mongolia and doing basic mundane things, like laundry and heating up the water for a bath for their children (because they have frozen pipes everywhere!).
I find that sinking into the mundane helps me. I have a Rosemary Gladstar video to watch soon (I’m part of one of her groups, but I can’t even manage to be there live for all the calls in 2025 because of being overcommitted). I’m hoping to get to it later today before do the New Year’s Eve experience we try to create for our 6 year old daughter.
Rosemary’s energy (She’s basically a plant, herself.) always feels so nutritive and helps me sink into my senses and my body. I find a lot of physical movement helps me, too. I very much enjoy your blog and whenever you share what you are reading, researching and/or creating!
Wishing you that slowed down, more present, and truly peaceful (even if idyllic) New Year, 2026! I figure that even if we only get glimpses of that life we crave, we can sink into them fully and make them last the most (and stick out in our minds more!). Here’s to our success in our ultimate challenge to live good, meaningful life on our own terms! Much Love, Ka
Thank you for your lovely comment, Ka! It’s so reassuring to hear (well, read) that others feel the same and have the same visions of a good life being slowed down and present. I love your imagery of sinking into those moments fully. Perfectly said! Also, saying Rosemary Gladstar is basically a plant herself is so spot on too! Ha! I’ve never thought of that but you are so right! I think my 2026 goal is to be more of a plant myself, but one that can dance, cook, and do crafts :). Love to you and your little artist family!