pour a cup o' atmosphere.

unlike brown paper parcels that can be tied easily with ribbon, there is no one-word description that can be wrapped around this little holiday. there's warmth. there's a bit of cold. there's singing and merry-making, and it would be a lie to say there aren't a few tears thrown into the mix. there's cold winter sunlight and little falls of rain, if not snow. there's wisps of steam from the multiple cups of warmth and cold pieces of peppermint bark. there's memories to be kept close and traditions to be followed. everything is a muddle stirred around by busyness, but amidst the whirlpool there seems to be life therein. 

so, pour yourself a cup of atmosphere, darling, and breathe in its contents. sip slowly. take in every scent and flavor. savor the warmth each ingredient of this precious season is composed as this it comes only but once a year. 

baby, it's cold outside," is quite an understatement of sorts. one cannot simply step past the threshold without the frigid air grasping your very breath! but, it's a pure kind of chill - "clean" as *so-and-so* described it. everything is still. I can feel it in my very bones and not just the cold stiffening them. the world is stiff, as well as my hands most of the time. despite my attempts of taking a step back from my sugar intake, I have drunk three decently large cups of warmth to remedy my chill {and tea, always calls for a spot o' honey, verdad?} yet 'tis a type of chill that cannot be shaken off quite so easily. even Lily [my cat] cannot shake the chill off of her warm charcoal coat and stays indoors {on the living room carpet} most of the time. I only wish snow would fall gently from the bleak firmament so as to comfort the chilly souls that attempt to ward Jake Frost away... 

>> scribbles from my journal, "emma."

{one} making peppermint bark to be shared with friends.  

{two} christmas/birthday parcel + letter for this sweet girl. 

{three} three cups of tea {preferably vanilla chai or vanilla cinnamon} each day are a must. 

{four} red and white striped twine is an essential for every wrapper. 

{five} finally finding making time to read a girl of the limberlost. 

{six} scattered pine needles. 

{seven} documenting the little things in the twelve days preceding christmas. 

{eight} I crocheted my first shawl. tell me what you think, love! 

xoxo,
the girl in her wintry wonderland.