Not quite three weeks past Christmas, we are moving into the heart of winter. The Julian calendar celebrates old Twelfth Night January 17th, and this is the traditional date for Wassailing in parts of England; maybe somehow this is where my lingering sense of Christmas originates. …
snow
Astonishing that our first measurable snow of the winter is coming so late, today, January 12. In honor of its beauty, its stillness, its hush– is there any time more quiet than when snow is falling?– for my first daily daily grace we will go a bit long, and share one of my favorite snow poems, from both a favorite collection and a favorite poet, the great Yves Bonnefoy….
grace of slowness
On Friday I was pulled over for doing 60 in a 40. This is part of my commute for a few months, a designated scenic two-lane road winding from southwestern Massachusetts to northwestern Connecticut….
twelfth night, or merry little Christmas
Growing up, my mother often referred to Epiphany as Little Christmas. I’m not sure where the term comes from– she was raised and educated Catholic in Nova Scotia– but it makes sense. Epiphany, January 6, is the feast of the Magi, or three kings, finding and visiting the infant Jesus, and the time between Christmas and January 6 are what make up those 12 Days of Christmas. That much I know.
Today– er, yesterday– once again in the car and on the radio I heard Garrison Keillor describing how George and Martha Washington did not celebrate Christmas back then except by going to church (how refreshing!), but 12th night, for some reason the night before the 6th, was when they had parties and feasts.
In France soon after the 25th one finds galettes des rois in all the boulangers-pâtisseries, a delicious frangipane flaky tart with a fève baked in– whoever gets the fève has good fortune for the year and gets to wear the gold (paper) crown that comes with the galette. I loved this tradition, for the delicious tart but also because it was something special after the possible void after Christmas.
Living in places where the galette was not available I learned to make it myself, and it is not too difficult– here is a good recipe, using frozen puff pastry, because. Coming on the heels of my son’s birthday, for which over many years I would have spent the days before New Years assembling bûches de Noël, it was enough! A tradition we shared and enjoyed however the galette was procured, and I saved a few cute fèves along the way. My Mexican students today described the variation there, roscón de reyes, baked in a ring. There are many Epiphany cakes throughout the world…write and tell of others you know!
It is nice to have a littler Christmas to celebrate, if you want, after the hubbub of the big one has passed. And for those for whom the holidays may be laden and heavy and sad, Little Christmas may be just the right measure of less in-your-face festivity, a chance to celebrate a little something just as the light begins to lengthen but when the winter has yet to really deepen. A ray of grace at a time of cold and dark.
So– have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Let your heart be light xo
2015 auld lang syne
2015 continued the trend of a few years now, bringing many changes and challenges on the personal and professional planes. Status quo is but a distant memory.
les collines continues to grow and expand. We are now legal beyond New York state lines, with stores carrying our jars numbering nearly two dozen– from the Hudson Valley, Berkshires and Litchfield hills down to Brooklyn. A bitter Seville marmalade, two varieties of plum jelly, wild grape jelly and quince jelly joined our flavor lineup this year. Instagram is the latest addition to our social media arsenal, delicious and somehow satisfying in its sweet eye candy potential.
Otherwise– what the universe delivers in personal challenges can only be tremendous opportunities for growth, no? Ball busting exercises that leave one either exponentially stronger, or pretty much flattened. At least we’re all clear on the stakes.
With thanks for the love and hands ups of friends and strangers, in all domains. Those who offered support, and love, from a distance or up close and personal, it all goes in the mix that is my heart.
So: we’ll drink a cup of kindness yet, for friends past and present, near and far, for auld lang syne xo
hoar frost
It is a strangely mild December. No snow yet, but several foggy pre-dawns have brushed on beautiful hoar frost….
grace, graciousness, gratitude
Closing out November on the tail end of Thanksgiving weekend. A balmy black Friday meant– not shopping!!– one more reprieve for that last garden work. Grateful for that, so needed; now we’re back to some normal late fall chilliness. The bluebirds have been around, unexpectedly, to check their houses and say good-bye til spring. Will miss their sweet beautiful blueness….
les feuilles mortes
There is a wooded trail I run that tells me the season, in case I lose track, which I can do…the sharp hill part especially, where the sleek oak leaves have now amassed, and their big acorns with them– have never seen acorns this large, or numerous, and there’s been much discussion about what this means for the winter to come. Hmmm. My vote is in: hard.
Oak leaves down, November. They are slippery even when dry, and wet, on the uphill, and with the marbles of acorns below, well best dig in hard. Something about the oak leaves of November remind me of Paris, more than any other season. …
there but for the grace
of God go I. I grew up hearing this but could not begin to appreciate until life had shown me a few things. First and foremost perhaps, as in any lesson of grace, humility….
hard freeze, first flakes, foliage, & fried green tomatoes
The season’s first hard freeze occurred over the weekend. Ahead of it, went for Concords Friday; Saturday harvested as much as I could of the tomatoes at home. Unbelievable how many green ones still there, sorry to see the season end. …
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