“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” Hamilton Wright Mabi
Here in my small area of the world we are buried deep in the cold, frigid snow of winter even though the solstice doesn’t officially happen until tomorrow ringing in winter. We are awaiting the shortest day of the year. It is a time to hunker down before a fire, and sleep long and deep dreaming about spring that will appear before we know it. The seasons roll on, and I have been savoring each one learning from them all their hard and joyful lessons with gratitude.
Gratitude was my word for 2013 and something I continue to learn to practice more and more each day. As part of my gratitude 
practice I linked in with Laura@ShinetheDivine for her wonderful Gratitude Quilt. Here is my contribution:
I am grateful for all who have been in my life and are now passed on. For those still in my life, gracing it with joy. And for those who are about to leave this world and my life. I thank you especially for all the light and love you have given me. I am a better person because of all of you. And I am blessed!!
This winter my mantra is silence… I continue to work on my physical and spiritual well-being as I get ready for the unknown next steps in my life. I know I am becoming stronger, better…wonderfully thriving! In order to do these things though I must go inward in silence and contemplate to acquire knowledge and wisdom.
“Silence is a source of great strength.” ~Lao Tzu
With winter coming, I am thrilled not so much for the weather, but for the knowledge that we will be seeing more light with each new day. Those in the Southern Hemisphere are entering into their hot, hot summer. Perhaps a week or two there would help me get through the freezing months ahead.
So let’s see how folks are celebrating the new season….
Christienne@Sho’ Nuff Sistuh’s Guide to Organic Gardening is remembering and dreaming about her garden, and wishing all our gardens have a wonderful slumber to wake again in spring. I will be dreaming along with her.
If you have not been following along with Andrea@igardendaily, and her daily wreaths, you are missing some great ideas and wonderful history. In particular I loved this meaning behind wreaths as it goes along with my feelings for the solstice:
In Pre-Christian or Pagan times much importance was placed on the Winter solstice. It was viewed as a time of death and re-birth and the passing of the shortest day of the year called for much celebration. Evergreen wreaths were a part of these celebrations as a sign of ever-increasing light and the promise of Spring.
For Jason@gardeninacity, winter is the time to pause for breath and mentally garden. He is contemplating the changes he wants to make with such lovely plants (and favorites of mine) as white Bleeding Heart, Great Merrybells, hardy geraniums and Phlox paniculata ‘David’. Sounds like heavenly plans to me.
Derek@A Student Gardener is closing up shop in his zone 3 Winnepeg garden. He has grown so many gorgeous new flowers in his gardens this past season and has finally had a chance to clean up the garden except for the rudbeckias. I am not sure if he finally decided to leave these for the birds. They will love him if he did.
Celebrating the arrival of winter, Pam@Pam’s English Garden did a wonderful retrospective of her gorgeous gardens. I am not sure which part I love the most, but her new pond is to die for and I love her veg garden area. Mosey over and take a peak. Pam says :
I greet the seasonal change with joy, celebrating in several ways — usually from my favorite chair by the fire in the den: I pour over photographs of the past year to see what worked and what didn’t, I list my New-Year gardening resolutions, I plan for the new gardening year, I purchase or borrow new gardening books to help with my planning, and I just sit and watch the winter birds.
A perfect winter to do list Pam!
Though the season has started with a nasty flu for Holley@Roses and Other Gardening Joys, she is celebrating the views of her garden from inside her house. I know I designed many of my gardens so I could enjoy them from inside the house too, even the winter views. Holley says that the glimpses from inside are just as important.
For a gardener that can’t go outside, being able to enjoy blooms and beauty from inside the house is both a Celebration – and a Lesson.
I know what you mean Holley.
Beth@PlantPostings is contemplating the two sides to the holiday season:
The busy, hectic, shopping, wrapping paper, and rushed to-do list side of our days. And the hushed, simple, powdered sugar-coated, stripped-down-to-the-essentials side.
Indeed I agree with Beth that every miracle of the season is a gift from the glittery ones to the simple little ones.
In her usual fashion, Loredana@Blogging Away has crafted a lovely poem for us to celebrate the season. She invites us to light a candle as she celebrates the light of the season. I concur with Loredana that light is such a powerful symbol of the season bringing us peace, love and hope.
Karin@Southern Meadows is celebrating the season in grand form. Read about her 3 unique Christmas trees, her gorgeous Advent wreath and St. Nicholas Day. Her post brought back such beautiful memories of putting out our shoes on St. Nicholas Day. And I must get a tree for my wildlife.
I hope you enjoyed this retrospective of these wonderful blog posts. Feel free to click through and read the entire post…you won’t be disappointed.
I leave you with a wonderful poem of the season. Please join me in spring for the next Seasonal Celebration. It will start March 1st.
The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper
So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!
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Next up on the blog: The end of the month brings a special Christmas post and the last Wildflower Tale.
I hope you will join me for my posts once a month at Beautiful Wildlife Garden. See my latest post.
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