A Simple Kind of Joy

This season is about many things for many people. Though the air is frosty, a spirited and festive feeling runs as a steady undercurrent between friends and family, even in the smiling faces of strangers passed in grocery store isles and downtown sidewalks. This feeling seems just right for the fewer hours of sunlight we are allocated this time of year. A shared joy is a brightness we find within when it isn’t abundant from the sun and the sky. The celebration of baking, countertops coated in flour and sugar, young ones vying for a lick of the whisk or spoon, handsome pies and cookies crowding the counters, these are the tangible backbone of our celebrations. It’s the extra-special feeling we get when we savor every holiday bite, tradition wrapping us in a cozy blanket of memories and flavors that bookend year.

Every celebration looks different, with different intentions threaded through the days. One thing we all have in common, and can all celebrate together, is how giving brings us all closer. I’m not talking about gifts, per se. Gifts are fun and can be thoughtful, but they create unnecessary pressure and add to the consumerism, detracting from the soul of the matter. Instead, giving can be as simple as offering a genuine smile for the stranger next to you in line, leaving a note of gratitude on the doorstep of a good neighbor, recognizing the stress of a store clerk is not anger, but a need for patience this time of year. These are things we can give simply and freely. They cost us nothing and can bring us all closer to communal peace at a time when the rest of our culture pushes for excess.

However you celebrate your winter season, I wish you the happiest of days and the coziest of nights. My wish for you is that we can all take a collective breath and center ourselves deeply in the people around us who matter and the good food put on the table between us to share.

-Jenn