Falling, Into the Holiday Season

The end of November melding into December always brings with it the anxiety of another calendar year almost closed - that season of reckoning: What actually got accomplished?  Where did all those days and months go?  How much can still get done before 11:59pm on December 31st?

The procrastinator always has faith that there is yet time.  Work demands of a tax-focused attorney during a season of legislative change notwithstanding, the hope is there is yet time for it all.

What got done?  The door finally got done late in November.  The change of seasons prompted a call to action before a new round of snow could cause the downstairs neighbor's newly installed ceiling, courtesy of yours truly, to collapse anew.  Pretty, pretty... after a silly, self-inflicted, too-long wait.  And with the door came the overdue update of homeowner policies - all manner of fun goodies that come with adulthood and responsibility.

Pretty new door, with the lovely new trim - courtesy of some hard-working installers who went above and beyond the scope of the job, and the of the good-natured, but insistent, questions of a friend who asked that it be done. 

And then - the re-focusing, the re-centering, the slowing of the breath and the mind to experience the present... the here and now of late autumn.  Found, and made, time - for runs, before the cold sets in; for colors, before the whites and greys come to dominate...

A little precursor of the red-yellow-orange series.

... that little respite before the mind starts to wander and admit the intrusive thoughts of how much more is to be done in the dwindling days of the year... year-end work assignments and targets, holiday cards and decor, gifting and charitable deeds, friends wanting to visit and friends to visit before impending moves... joy, changes, time demands ....

Little neighborhood tree, the morning before its ceremonial first lighting - full of promise and anticipation of the coming busy season. 

And so begins December.