Friday Letters: Raking Leaves in December
For the ones living in a different season than everyone else.
I just came in from a trek out in the blustery, very-autumnal-feeling December air this morning.
Fall colors have come late in North Texas this year, as they usually do.
Friends from Canada, New York, and Colorado have been posting pics of their snowy woods and neighborhoods for weeks now.
I’m over here reveling in the fiery crowns of our red oaks and basking in the leaf confetti swirling above me on morning jogs.
Not quite the quintessential December Norman Rockwell painted in my imagination as a child.
But this season is still beautifully a gift. Even if it’s wrapped in orange and red instead of a diamond snowfall.
Always a Season Behind
This isn’t easy for me to admit, but most of the seasons of my life have felt like they arrived later than everyone else’s.
Like I’m always a season behind, and can never figure out why I’m raking leaves while everyone else is building snow forts.
And I generally enjoy raking leaves—until I realize that it’s snowing everywhere else.
Life is like that. Seasons vary around the globe just as they do in our personal lives.
But in real life, I can’t pack up and escape the season I’m in for a vacation in the snowy woods—just because I’m tired of the leaves.
I have to stay here and tramp through them every day, until the season changes.
And the seasons do change. Even if I’m never the one posting the snowy woods pics, one day—in a month or so—I’ll wake up and all the fiery leaves will be gone.
Winter will settle in and I’ll begin my own fresh season.
Permission to Enjoy What You Have
But there’s a big chance I will miss the beauty of the one I’m living right now if I’m not willing to get out there and dance in those leaves.
To accept that it’s okay to relish an autumnal December that isn’t quite the Hallmark Christmas kind.
To enjoy the ever-present Texas sunshine and stop pining for the snowy woods that aren’t mine.
I can survive this season or I can enjoy it to the hilt.
Because if four decades have taught me anything, it’s that those who live with joy are those who simply give themselves permission to ENJOY life—just as it is.
So maybe you’re raking leaves while the world is building snow forts.
Maybe your season looks late, or weird, or just not what you pictured.
It’s okay. Truly.
Give yourself permission to enjoy it anyway.
To find wonder in your offbeat December, in your not-yet dreams, in your right-now life.
And when you do, drop me a note or leave a comment.
I’d love to hear what your current season looks like—and how you’re choosing joy in it.
But pardon me for now while I slip back outside for another romp in the leaves...
Veritas et gratia,
Kristy 💐
P.S. We’ll wrap up our final Advent reading this Sunday… thank you for following along this season! xo