I wrote this verse and made it into a card many years ago. It was a new feeling I had about winter, brought about, as I recall, by working from home and my boys grown. I no longer had to face getting my car out on snowy, icy roads if I didn’t feel like it. I was able to think of winter as a cozy time.
I just now finished this year’s Christmas cards. I put lights on a little tree outside just two days ago. And it’s balmy here today, with rain predicted for our Christmas Day, with a high of 60. My cards are late and apparently winter is, too, this year. We are in sync.
The other day in the woods a guy called out, “Merry Happy!” as he passed with his dogs. I like that. So I’m thinking “Happy Happy Merry Happy!” Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, and New Year’s. Many reasons to celebrate. Many reasons to call out cheerfully to people one doesn’t even know. It’s just too bad the holidays are all crammed in together, rather than spread throughout the winter, for even though I like winter much better than I used to, one does still long for a beach around about the end of January or early February.
Anyway, I just wanted to call out cheerfully to all of you, who make it possible for me to write these letters every Sunday morning. Without you there would be no point. Now that I’ve said that I’m remembering that I told a friend just yesterday that I would write a strongly worded letter to God about all the health troubles my friend has been facing, with aplomb, I might add, for years and years. So I suppose I could write my letters even if you weren’t out there reading them. I could send them out to the universe. Nevertheless I’m grateful for you, lovely reader, and am happy to wish you all sorts of holiday cheer, or as much of it as you can stand.
“One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the darkness as it is in its fullest influence. The once fertile forests are now bare and awaiting their rebirth. The surrounding shadows whispering to us of our natural-born powers. And the knowledge of a convergent awakening.” ― Dacha Avelin
“Mistletoe,” said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry’s head. He jumped out from under it. “Good thinking,” said Luna seriously. “It’s often infested with nargles.” ― J.K. Rowling , Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
“Jolabokaflod – noun; an Icelandic tradition in which books are given as Christmas presents and opened on December 24, after which the evening is spent reading the books: from a practice begun in 1944, when paper goods were among the most available items in postwar Iceland.” – Dictionary.com
If you’re looking for my cards or art, you’ll find all of that on my website. If you enjoy these letters, feel free to forward this one to anyone you think might like it. And if someone forwarded this one to you, you can sign up here to receive the letters right in your Inbox. Finally, you’ll find past letters and poems here.
Thanks for listening,
Kay
P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”
