I more or less shut the door on the world for a few days. I went out to see a production of a Christmas Carol Friday night, and Sunday was the Christmas pageant at my church. Watching little children always makes me smile, the littlest sheep especially. Somewhere in between the two I watched Alfonso Cuáron's 1995 version of A Little Princess. All three left me smiling and singing happy little songs to myself. I am no opponent of sappy romanticism. Sometimes it is exactly what we need.
That also could have been because I spent much of the weekend working on knitting and handwork. While I watched the movie I did some hand-sewing, alterations and mending on a velvet jacket (above) that I hoped to wear to a couple of holiday parties this week.
But I also did a fair amount of knitting as well, working on a few last-minute gift ideas, as well as a project for myself. The last-minute gift knitting wasn't particularly pressured. I'd already done all my shopping and have everyone covered, this was just inspiration knitting. Ideas popped into my head and my fingers were itching to get started. One should run with inspiration when it hits after all.
By Sunday afternoon I had found my equilibrium again and I managed to catch up with the world a bit, reading the Sunday NY Times and this week's Economist between bouts of knitting and a trip to the gym. Despite the news, and the fact there will be a bit more hustle and bustle over the next few days, I am still humming.
For me, increasingly, this season isn't really about doing more, but about finding the light and holding the center. Somehow in my head thoughts are swirling around a bastardization of two metaphors. First there is the idea of life as an aboriginal longhouse, from Louise Penny's newest novel, Kingdom of the Blind, where "Everyoe we meet, every word we speak, every action taken or not taken lies in our longhouse. With us. Always. Never to be expelled or taken away.". I am juxtaposing that with the idea of a magic circle, rekindled yes, from A Little Princess. This entire holiday season whatever you celebrate or believe, seems to be about maintaining that circle, about lighting a fire of hope and love, and holding what is important close, be it creativity, friends, family. Our longhouse is always full and crowded, the busyness of the world always around us. But within the circle there is love. What is in your circle?
