Celebrating the Beauty of December

Two years ago, I’d laugh if you told me December would become a favorite month of mine. December? The month that signaled the start of what seemed like an endless string of long, dark, and chilly days? No way! The first of December usually marked the point I would begin counting out on my fingers how many months we’d have to wait until the reappearance of warm weather.

During the pandemic, I picked up an old hobby of running and when December hit, I laced up my shoes and hit the pavement outside. Something magical happened: I fell in love with December.

I won’t bore you with the details about running outside in the winter (although it’s extremely exhilarating, especially when it starts to snow) because I bet you’re not here for running talk, but journal talk. But, as I started to appreciate December more, I began really noticing my surroundings. Up until this point and really unbeknownst to me, I had some strong preconceived notions about winter and quite frankly, it blinded me. I couldn’t see past my harsh criticisms born long ago.

Last year, though, I really began to look around, and look around some more and what I found was simply amazing! Evergreen trees loomed large, snowflakes fell in circles to the ground, winter birds rejoined each other back at the feeder, owls hooted incessantly in the back yard, and pine cones – oh, the pine cones!

This year, with November and autumn coming to a fast close, I knew I needed to put together a December journal. I enjoyed my autumn journal so much, I felt immediately at a loss. What did December look like to me? I let the idea sort of ferment for a while and came up with a checklist.

First and foremost, I did not want to create a journal centered around the holidays. I knew that I would probably have a separate, dedicated journal for these celebrations, so I wanted my personal journal to reflect me.

Second, I knew I wanted to create a journal celebrating December’s beauty, but what was that? Stripping December of the holidays left it quite stark and it took me some time to really define my vision.

After a few weeks of starting and stopping, my new December journal is ready. It’s inspired by nature with a little kiss from the holidays. I am very excited to start working in it!