Our little Solstice celebration was quiet. We read to the girls, and made treats for the birdies together. J and I played a couple rounds of Scrabble after bedtime. It was not quite the meaningful evening I had orchestrated in my imagination, but these things seldom are when toddlers are involved. We did have some nice conversations with Swee about the days growing longer and lighter, even though winter is just beginning, and had not even yet begun to show herself.

We woke up this morning to a crust of ice on everything out of doors. It sparkled like glass on the tree tops as the early sun shone through the branches. We’re expecting eight to twelve inches of snow tonight into tomorrow, so like any good Pennsylvanian, I went to the store today for milk and eggs and bread (we were set on toilet paper). I had to scrape a solid crust off my windshield before getting out of the driveway as we just barely broke 20*.

I have been talking about taking down the Christmas tree, a conversation I am usually loathe to entertain until New Year’s Day or after. J is firmly in that camp this year, but I am feeling an urge for a clean sweep, ushering this very long year unceremoniously out the door and making way for light and renewal. I have a strong feeling of potential and I am itching to realize it.

He and I wrote out goals last year for the first time ever. We wrote them separately, in order not to influence each other, and then shared and compared. Nothing was off the table. Some were very personal, some were practicalities for our family, and some were definitely pie in the sky. I won’t share them, not out of shame, but because they were of a sort where we were not to be held accountable to anyone but ourselves and each other. I did, however, find it an enormously helpful exercise. I stored them in my email inbox (due to the nature of showing our house and having people in and out), but I think it would be better to put them on my vision board this year where I can see them daily. I’m looking forward to writing them out again, together this time instead of 600 miles apart as we were last December.

As the last few days of the year spiral out, our little family is taking some much needed time to wind down and draw in. I wish you and yours all the love and light that you may need to wrap things up, and then take your own steps into the New Year with intention and with purpose.