Happy New Year, one and all! This time of year can be a bit bittersweet–the excitement of the holidays is over, Christmas decorations are carefully put away, visiting family leaves. Maybe you did everything you wanted to this Christmas, but chances are you didn’t. As I get older and hopefully wiser, I have tried to let go of “The List” of Everything To Do At Christmas Or It’s Not Really Christmas. Instead, I lit 300 luminarias in my boyfriend, Brett’s, backyard and invited our friends, family and neighbors over for a meditative labyrinth walk.
I’ve wanted to do this for several years, and now that I have, I know it will be an annual event. Not because everyone will count on us doing it, or because I feel pressure to have a unique holiday party, but because it’s a grounding, soulful, quiet haven of an activity to do during a time of year that is typically over the top in excess and stress. So I wish for you in 2011 what I seek for myself: a year of illumination, of grounding, of meaningful stability, of peace. Let there be Light!
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That’s a lovely tradition to start. Good for you for letting go of the “list.” I had my best Christmas ever the year I stopped celebrating it.
Nice application for luminarias; so cool to see our tradition get used further and further away from New Mexico! I share your wish as well; I look forward to forever leaving behind the psycho-busy-ness of ’08 and ’09!
Hi Jenny,
Just wanted to say how I have enjoyed your blog during this last year and that I’m looking forward to following it throughout 2011. This post was particularly outstanding – great wishes and contemplations for a new year. Happy New Year!
Maybe we’ll meet up with you at this year’s SF Flower Show.
So lovely and peaceful — a great idea to share with friends and family. Happy New Year, Jenny!
Beautiful!
Thanks, my friends! I wish you all lived closer so you could come to this now-annual party.
Ed, I’d love to meet up with you and your lovely wife again! Let’s make another lunch date at the flower show.
Jenny…love the labyrinth walk. Never done one…looks beautiful! Happy New Year and keep up the good work on your website. It is really cool and informative. Love the air plants!
Gorgeous!
I’m still jealous. An acre?!? I’d go nuts.
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