Slow & Simple Moments | 12.24

In the middle of winter, when nature sleeps silently, preserving its energy for the seasons to come, the modern turn of the calendar year feels almost out of place. When is new year really New Year?

Dec 29, 2024

Welcome to Rediscover · Reconnect · Re-Emerge. If you find the fleeting changes of modern life wearisome, maybe even overwhelming, join me on a journey, a path well-trodden, as I share heartfelt and often nostalgic reflections on living slowly, simply, and in tune with the seasons.

In this series, I share some of the things I’ve been getting up to, places I’ve been, and other beautiful and special slow and simple moments from the past month.

Suddenly, as if in a flash, the calendar year is drawing to a close. Where once it was January and the whole year stretched ahead of us, like a newly laid path waiting to be trodden, now, all that lies behind. We have trodden that path, with all its twists and turns, and somehow, we find ourselves, once again, about to start a new chapter. For some, it has been a hard year, one they may choose to forget. For others, the opposite is true, and they leave behind a year of success and celebration. I suspect that, for many of us, it was, like every year, one with its own ups and downs, its own peaks and troughs; yet amidst it all, here we are, on the one hand, looking back, and on the other, looking forward, but ultimately, still journeying together.

I am always careful to write that it is the calendar year which is drawing to a close. I say that because although we align with the Gregorian Calendar now, that which begins on 1st January and ends on 31st December, until 1752, our Julian Calendar meant that New Years’ Day was on 25th March. To confuse matters further, the traditional Celtic festival of Samhain on 1st November also marked the beginning of a new year, and in Anglo-Saxon England, the new year coincided approximately with the Winter Solstice and was celebrated on 25th December. The academic year is generally considered to begin on 1st September, and the liturgical church year on Advent Sunday.

Perhaps the question we might ask is, when is new year really New Year?

The new year will mean different things to different people. For many, it is simply another date, whilst for others, it offers an opportunity for a fresh start, and perhaps even an opportunity to make those dreaded resolutions we hear so much about. As important as New Year is, I like to focus on the smaller, often micro changes we can observe in the natural world. In the middle of winter, when nature sleeps silently, preserving its energy for the seasons to come, the modern turn of the calendar year feels almost out of place. Perhaps we are content to gently find our way forward.

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December 2024

Like it or not, December is dominated by Christmas. The period of waiting and expectancy to be found in Advent, is so easily eclipsed by the festive celebrations which begin so early, I fear many are weary of Christmas before it even begins. Perhaps we might return to the Christmas of our ancestors, the traditional twelve days of Christmas which began on 25th December and ended on 5th January? Interestingly, 5th January 2025, Twelfth Night, marks for many, the end of the Christmas holidays, just as it did in the Middle Ages. Despite the busyness of this season, I have been seeking pockets of stillness, happy to shun the hustle and bustle of the commercialised world in favour of something slower and simpler.

Here are some of my slow and simple moments from December. I hope they might inspire and encourage you to seek out your own in the months to come.

Baking

One of the things I love about Christmas, is baking; not just the traditional bakes, but something a little different too. Each has its own link to the Christmas celebrations of the past. I love the way in which these things offer us such a tangible link to those who came before us, however outdated they seem by modern standards. As well as decorating the Christmas cake made a couple of months ago, we also enjoyed traditional mince pies, some little spice cakes, spiced biscuits, and a white chocolate and cranberry bundt.

I wonder if you too have been baking this month, or perhaps, more importantly, eating?

Getting Outdoors

It’s tempting to retreat indoors at this time of year, especially at Christmas, yet in this season, perhaps more than any other, I crave time spent outdoors, especially when daylight is limited. Now we have passed the Winter Solstice, we move ever onwards towards the light; to the return of spring and eventually of summer. So the wheel of the year turns once more. As you can see above, we had a deliciously foggy walk along the canal on Boxing Day: nourishment for the soul.

Have you managed to spend some time outdoors this December?

Winter Sunsets

Despite the fairly grey and benign weather of late, we have nevertheless been treated to some glorious winter sunsets these past few weeks. Everything looks woefully dull, but then suddenly, almost at the eleventh hour, nature throws us the most amazing display of orange and pink. Somehow, amidst the deep winter gloom, nature reminds us that we can still seek the light.

Have you had any beautiful sunrises or sunsets this month?

I look forward to seeing which slow and simple moments January will bring. Why not let me know in the comments some of your special moments from the month of December.