A Few of My Favourite Things and Welcoming the Winter Solstice

Tonight is the beginning of the winter solstice.  (The times vary, depending upon your location and point of view, but for various reasons, I'll mark the start of solstice late, late this evening.)  Bodhi Tree Yoga is celebrating its arrival by doing 108 cycles of sun/solstice salutations.   I will be there in spirit.  12 salutations would have me collapsed on the floor; I shudder to think what attempting 108 would do.  I will make an effort to do them, at home, in my mind.

I hope to be curled up on the couch with my knitting and spinning, a glass of wine in hand, visiting with young Mr. DD, who is scheduled to arrive by bus this morning. Young Ms. DD's flight is due in on Christmas Eve.  Once she is here, our celebrations will be in full swing.

In solstice spirit, I offer a very short list of what makes my life perfect as it is.  There are many more, but these are what make me grateful that I'm still on the planet:

• Mr. DD and the younger DD's, plus Morris and Mickey.  They rock my world, although not in equal measure, of course!
• Mr.  DD's brother, who in addition to being a great friend, is also a fantastic comrade knitter.
• Bodhi Tree Yoga and all the teachers there.  This studio not only provides a wide range of yoga and meditation classes, its owners and instructors spend much of their free time volunteering in the studio and around the community.
• Every spinner, knitter, fibre person I have met.  These people build the community I've explored for decades.
• This planet and all the wonders in it.

And, as a countermeasure to all the syrupy festive songs which are assaulting my ears these days, I offer up my favourite holiday song of all.  I love it for its raw emotion and its honesty and the wee, wee glimmer of hope I hear in its despair:

Namaste.