I’m writing this in my “garden office”, watching my ducks huddle together with their bills tucked into their wings, and thinking about how this time of year holds so many of us in its complexity. The lights are twinkling, carols are playing, and hearts everywhere are feeling… well, everything.

You know that moment when you’re surrounded by holiday cheer, and suddenly you feel like you’re in a snow globe that someone just shook? Yeah, that one. I see you.

This week before Christmas has a way of amplifying everything.

The joy feels more joyful, the quiet feels more quiet, and the complicated feelings get really comfortable making themselves at home in our hearts.

Are you figuring out the family dynamics that feel like an emotional obstacle course? Or are you carrying grief that feels heavier against the backdrop of celebration?

Maybe you’re feeling out of sync with the “magic of the season” everyone keeps talking about. Or wrestling with the gap between your Pinterest-perfect expectations and your very human reality.

Or maybe even more likely, you’re simply feeling everything, all at once, and wondering if that’s okay (it is).

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that your heart is allowed to be a complex landscape right now. 

• You can love the lights and still need to sit in the dark sometimes. 

• You can cherish traditions and still feel the ache of what’s changed or missing. 

• You can be grateful and grieving, joyful and tender, present and remembering – all at once.

I think of it like my ducks in their winter huddle – they know instinctively that the best way through is together, sharing warmth while the cold winds blow. Each one brings their own energy to the group, and somehow it all works.

This season doesn’t demand perfection from you. It doesn’t even need you to feel any particular way. But what it does offer is an invitation to be present with whatever is true for you right now.

So, if you’re feeling like you need permission to do the holidays your way this year – consider it granted. If you’re wondering if anyone else is feeling this mix of emotions – we are. And if you’re looking for a sign that it’s okay to take care of yourself differently this season – this is it.

The winter solstice teaches us that even in the longest night, light persists. Your feelings – all of them – are like stars in that darkness. 

They don’t have to make sense to be sacred.

As you move through this week, please know that there’s space here for all of it – your joy, your tears, your laughter, your sighs. You’re not alone in this dance of December emotions.