Usually, I get home from my parents after Christmas and I become the most Type A version of myself. Lists, lists of lists. Plans. Goals. A sense of driving myself into the new year with force.
This year, however, we stayed with them longer. (They live just out of town, and we could drive over every day in 10 minutes, but there is something wonderful about waking up in a house full of family.) Rather than staying 2 nights, we stayed 5 because my sister was staying longer this time.
This delayed my usual post-Christmas make-room-for-all-the-gifts tidying which usually triggers the list-making, goal-setting Sarah. Since we’ve gotten home, I’ve tried hard to keep it that way. I have not done things on my list for this week. I have sat down. I have read. I have worked out. I have knit. I have made soup.
Three of us went snowshoeing on the Assiniboine River yesterday. It was our first time this year to strap on the snowshoes. Man, we have got to do that way more often. Because, people, winter is wonderful when you get out of the city. Seriously. Leave the city and notice the way winter turns everything into a minimalist sculpture, into an artistic expression of line and colour, into a space in which we can all breathe.
Make this season a gentle one as you transition from 2013 to 2014. Kindness is not just for others. Give yourself space. Give yourself air. Give yourself joyful pastimes. Give yourself room.
Handmade Homeschool 
Happy New Year to you! What a lovely way to start 2014 – gently. As we embark on our homeschool journey, I feel the need to make gentleness the primary goal of our “school” at home (for learning and the enjoyment of it stops when the stress and busy-ness builds). Wishing you and yours a most beautiful and gentle 2014.
Happy New Year! The snowshoeing sounds wonderful!
What a wonderful way to start the year. You know, I’ve lived my entire life in a cold climate, and I’ve never been snowshoeing. You’ve sparked the interest.