Three balls of yarn sit on a wooden floor, the colours are cranberry, smoky brown and peach speckled with green and purple. There is a small mug of coffee and a lit candle to the left of the yarn. A stuffed toy gnome with a wild and woolly beard sits at the rear of the photo. The objects are sprinkled with fairy lights.

Not Letting Anything Ruin The Magic This December.

/ Knitting, Mental Health Awareness / By

We’re almost in the second week of December so the Holiday Season is in full swing. It came around quickly this year, didn’t it? Where did 2021 go? After this year and last, maybe we all need to stop for a spell and look for the magic of the season.

Past Holiday Seasons

This time of year has always been my favourite. Ever since I can remember, December always seemed to hold a certain magic not present in any other month. Maybe the darker nights and fairy lights casting a cosy glow on their surroundings? Maybe the tinsel decorations hung from every available surface and square inch of ceiling in the living room (it was the 80s in the UK after all!)…. Perhaps it was the smell of the freshly-cut tree in the corner loaded with baubles and plastic icicles, and if I was lucky enough to find one, a foil-wrapped chocolate decoration.

In our household, we celebrated Christmas but with only a loose religious affiliation. We attended church on Sundays and the midnight service on Christmas Eve, but the big day itself was more about family togetherness and the giving and receiving of gifts. And the food, don’t forget the food.

So now, in adulthood, why is it different?

Where Has The Joy Gone?

The nights are still darkest in December. The livingroom is still cosily wrapped in a blanket of fairy lights and candles. Christmas films play perpetually on the television. Our tree is artificial now but still adorned with colourful baubles. We even have a wood-burning stove and a proper crackling fire. So the magic should still come too, right?

Why does it appear instead to have been replaced with anxiety and panic?

I’ve been contemplating this over the weekend, as we rushed from one activity to the next. Fitting in gingerbread house building and tree decorating between basket ball games and play dates. Rearranging cookie baking to visit craft fairs. At one point I caught myself wondering if 2022 would be quieter. Less busy.

A close up of a wood burning stove with a roaring fire visible through the glass front. A metal fire poker is lying on the tile floor in front of the stove.
The wood fire roars in the stove.

Rush, Rush, Rush

It seems as though December has become a rush of “things to get done” and “things to get through” all while performing our fulltime adulting duties, whatever those may look like. And social media doesn’t help. My inbox and feeds now have a liberal sprinkling of “hurry before it’s gone!”, “Act now!” and “get it while you can!” messages. No wonder we are all exhausted by the time the month is finished.

The last month of the year should not be a sprint to the end. It should not be a mad dash to make sure we don’t miss anything. Next year will not come any faster if we rush through now. And the holidays will not be more enjoyable or better organised if we are too stressed to enjoy the process. It is hard to enjoy something when you feel frazzled before you even start.

A heavily decorated gingerbread house is sitting on a large square red plate. A snowman picture is visible on the plate underneath the house. The house is decorated with brightly coloured candies in the shape of light bulbs.
Onr children’s favourite activity is decorating their gingerbread house.
This year it is particularly colourful!
Look For The Magic…

It took me a while but then I realised: The magic and joy are not gone, they’re just hiding out of sight. Too many other things and activities are in the way for me to truly notice this month in all of its glory.

Social media and marketing are leading us to believe that we don’t have enough time and we have to hurry. Why is that? This month does not actually go by faster than any other. There are the same number of days in December as there are in July, and that summer month seems to last forever. So we can stretch out December a bit too, can’t we?

The long daylight hours of Summer give the impression of endless nights. But arranging Summer celebrations don’t have us this tired. We have the same time available to us now, let’s use it. Let’s find satisfaction in the darker nights of Winter.

If we step away from the hustle and bustle created by media, the Fear Of Missing Out instilled in us by the barrage of messages and advertisements, we can find a moment of peace. We might even notice we do in fact Have. Enough. Time.

Joanne Bint
Just The Right Activity

A quick online search will reveal a mountainous amount of evidence to show that carrying out creative activities can have immense benefits for mental health. Of course, this is something we knitters and crocheters have always known! There seems to be a positive effect on the mind from all branches of the fibre world – from spinning and dyeing to crocheting, knitting, weaving and many, many more.

So which craft is your go-to when you are looking for a moment of calm? Can you give yourself five minutes each day of this fast-paced month to focus on making for yourself? Can you make it longer than five minutes?

Our lives are all different. That’s what makes us gloriously interesting. If you don’t have five minutes to spare, that’s still ok. There is no judgement here. Give yourself one minute (we all have to go to the bathroom, don’t we?) to get away from the lights and sounds of life and just breathe. A few good deep breaths can be enormously restorative.

A purple knitted bauble with a silver snowflake pattern hangs on a green pine tree . There is a silver glittery snowflake ornament hanging behind the bauble and white fairy lights dotted around the branches.
A knitted bauble is hung on the tree with care.

Take that minute for yourself and try these:
1. Take a deep breath and let it out very, very slowly.
2. Drop your shoulders away from your ears and your tongue from the roof of your mouth.
3. What do you feel and smell around you right now? (maybe don’t do this if you’re in the bathroom…)
4. Can you take something off your list for today that you don’t really need to do?
5. When did you last drink water?
6. Slow your thoughts for a few seconds and remember to keep breathing.

A Little Happiness

Today I will take time to breathe. The fire is burning steadily and the tree is lit. We’ll have hot chocolate and marshmallows when everyone comes home from school. And I will not worry about the things I haven’t done or my to-do list, because my five-year-old inner child needs me to give her grace to enjoy the delights of my favourite month. I’m going to add cinnamon to everything and light my favourite cedar candle.

A stuffed toy in the shape of Santa Claus is covered in silver ball shaped fairy lights. The lights are also draped on two balls of wool in dark brown and cranberry colours and an unwound skein of yarn in a peach colour with green and purple speckles. There is also a white advent calendar box with a picture of a squirrel holding a ball of yarn on the front. Text on the bottom of the advent calendar says Firefly Notes.

My favourite Santa ornament is one of the first decorations I ever bought for myself. He has seen many different homes and sat on many different mantlepieces. This year he is enjoying some fancy new fairy lights.

Sandy from Firefly Notes has the most wonderful aesthetic and I have been enjoying every day of this years’ stitch marker advent calendar. (plastic free too!!)

I put new design ideas at the back of my mind to concentrate on the holidays but decided that some peaceful knitting is just what I need. These lovely skeins are from Less Travelled Yarn and Stewart Yarns and I’m looking forward to them being on my needles.

I invite you to do something similar to find some peace. Will you join me?
Are your emotions rooted in your olfactory senses? Which smells and scents bring December alive for you?

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