"...so cold it was silver..."

--Patty Griffin, from Someone Else's Tomorrow.

I listened to my Melancholy Day playlist today as I braved a frenzied, pre Christmas Oklahoma City. I had to drop off some work, run a few errands, and buy a couple of last minute gifts--all under a misty, ash-colored sky. Don't get me wrong, that's my favorite kind of sky.

I love these first moody days of winter. Where autumn is mellow and magical, winter is mysterious, stubborn, and deliciously unpredictable. My world becomes a curious new planet when flashy fall foliage gives way to bare branches that stand out like black lace against a marble horizon.

It makes sense that we should celebrate Christmas in the stark black and white of a December landscape. It's a time of year when nature fights beauty with all its might--a time when it would be easy to believe that the world will never be lovely again. But somehow the radiant, bare-bones splendor of winter catches us by surprise and reminds us that beauty is alive and well every day of the year.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

First Things First

It doesn't feel like Christmas this year. I can't put my finger on the reason. Is it this erratic Oklahoma winter--the now warm, then cold days that make deciding what to wear a daily gamble? Is it the fact that I'm recently unemployed, relying on a weekly severance check and a little freelance copywriting to pay my bills? Or maybe I've become irrevocably desensitized by the Christmas decorations that start showing up in shopping centers a week before Halloween.

It's difficult to find the magic in all of the muck.

That has become a trend in my life. It's a year round affliction that goes way beyond the holiday season. So, in the interest of reconnecting with the little things that make up the miracle of a well-lived life, I'm adding my voice to the blogosphere. I'll document my observations, my passions, and the things that inspire me from day to day.