Monday, December 30, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
December is the color of blue
Every month has a color
that suits it.
Now here’s where I may be showing I’m behind times. Perhaps this color thing is in place already.
Maybe some Pantone-like color choice for each month has long been in existence. If so this is the cue for me to say Oh excuse me, and whistle my way offscreen.
If a color scheme for each month hasn’t been devised, however, let’s get going.
Just as a month has a birthstone and zodiac sign it might as well also have a color assigned it as part of the package deal.
With this in mind it seems to me that December, of all its confreres, has dibs on the color blue.
Deep blue, midnight blue, cobalt blue, all shades of blue fit with December.
December is frosty blue skies, blue fingertips and mountainsides of blue spruce mantled with snow.
Its color of blue is also the aquamarine of tropical seas.
There are no coastal shores here but they're our December getaways. They're right up there with hot toddies for easing seasonal aches.
It's sufficient evidence to second the motion that December and blue go hand in (blue suede) glove.
For those who need more convincing consider blue in other December formats.
Indigo blue dusk blooms in the withdrawal of each short winter day. The indigo hue, which spreads and intensifies with dark, is a tint of blue I propose be given a name, December Sunset.
December dusk quiets the day. Vast blue shadows of snowy ground merge into chilled inky blue silence.
Night's metallic blue glitter is equally a December color.
Through frosted windows, or stamping numb toes in lined boots in the crunchy snow, we gaze up in wonder at stars piercing with light the cerulean field above our heads.
The color blue is the festive color of the December holidays. It’s a primary color we choose for gift wrap, ribbon and bows.
It’s the blue bulbs in sets of colored Christmas tree lights. They merrily twinkle or glow as if under a lampshade under a coating of new snow.
It's pale blue candles which rest in greenery on our fireplace mantels. It's designer blue, in all its range of shades, which is a current color trend in party wear.
It’s the rich royal blue of cashmere pashimas we fling fashionably around our shoulders as we step into our round of December events.
This time of year, for a multitude of reasons, can bring a person down. “I feel blue,” we say.
The holidays can trigger flashbacks to a time when we were little and life was secure, as it can appear without a doubt as we look back.
Comparisons between then and now can lead to a blue outbreak. It may be a fleeting thing. It can sometimes persist through the holidays.
At this time we remember loved ones no longer with us. Each grieves in a personal way. Loss can make celebrations going around us ring not with glad peals but dimly as from afar.
For others the season's downcast mood is a response to lack of sun. Daylight is at its lowest in December.
Those who get blue often can pinpoint what makes them react to the season as they do.
Understanding the seasonal effect is good information to have. It doesn’t automatically lift the heaviness some recognize as a constituent of this month.
We can take steps, by many different aids, to gain peace over regrets or loneliness at this time of connections and community.
One approach is to shift the word blue away from a symbol for feelings that have gone south (but not with the vacationers chasing the sun).
We adopt the tactic of using the color blue to our benefit. We utilize blue as our token of joy.
We can begin using blue to advantage by regarding it like vivid December sky. On it the clouds of care sail away. The sun beams down to warm us through and through.
Ro Giencke
December 20, 2013
Friday, December 6, 2013
Christmas letters
Oh so cold
here! Twelve below zero this morning and perfectly bright and sunny in aspect as
it gets to be when air pressure is high and all of the Arctic is visiting us.
It’s wonderful reason to be warm inside getting at Christmas letters. The seasonal wishes will be traveling over new laid snow. Upwards of eight inches fell earlier this week, blanketing everything in white.
As the addresses go on the envelopes, the sheet of stamps beside the festive cards marking our mail for postal delivery, the thought that comes is of the friends with whom we mark another year.
Christmas correspondence affirms gratitude for relationships that can make every day feel like a holiday.
It expresses the hope within us for peace, health and happiness. These hopes are universal – they don’t need passports or have certain boundaries imposed on them. This is the time, this end season of the year, to reboot good wishes for our belabored and imperfect but marvelously amazing world.
As I mentally sum up the year to make a Christmas letter not too lengthy and not too lacking I count back through the months. The year 2013 has had ups and downs accompanied by the personal growth that perhaps we were intended for through the hard stuff and the fun events.
The challenges that a year doles out require all of us to dig deep to find reservoirs of courage or perseverance. Successes when they come lift us. They’re the easy things we pick out from the sequence of days. But the ordinary moments give a balance and identity that may be the most important part of us that we share.
One year is life stretching us. It’s like a coach or personal trainer. Its aim, as it appears to me, is to keep us flexed, poised and ready for more.
The Christmas cards being readied for mailing tell me that friends and family are vital ties of human connection. These ones companion us through a year and sometimes through a lifetime. They hear our stories. They share in our joys. With understanding wisdom they place us in our hearts when situations are tough.
Every day has its routines and often its surprises. Time has deviations of pattern sometimes planned and occasionally coming out of nowhere.
We’re grateful for the rhythm of our days together at this time in our lives. There’s a natural desire to share something of this with others.
Christmas cards help in this. Writing our letters, signing our names to the holly-decorated cards, and stamping the envelopes with the special holiday stamps give us a ritual to make the most of.
If we let it, we can pause and refresh ourselves in the midst of seasonal busyness. By these cards and greetings we invite in and reiterate our allegiance to those in our lives in meaningful ways.
Words can and do make a difference. The amount of mail generated at this season speaks volumes to the value of the personal touch as only each of us can deliver it.
Ro Giencke
December 6, 2013
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