Three Glimmers | 12.24

Snapshots of joy from the denouement of the year.

Welcome to The Autumn Chronicles, a place to shine a light on all the wonder around us as we navigate the seasons. I hope these writings allow you to sit quietly with a cup of something warm and comforting and take a few moments for yourself away from the rush and hurry. If you would like to make sure you get all newsletters directly to your inbox, please subscribe below. Thank you for being here. All photos © The Autumn Chronicles.

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New Year’s Eve is rapidly approaching so this will be the final Three Glimmers of the year. I have looked back at some of the highlights of the last twelve months in my two 2024 Retrospectives. If you missed them, the links can be found at the end of this post.

December is always an energetic month but one that has an added sparkle of joy amidst the rush and hurry of everyday life. 2024 has been a busy, full yet special year; I have started to lean into ways that I could live more slowly and intentionally and this is something I will definitely be bringing with me - and expanding on - into 2025. 2024 was also the year I took the first step on my writing journey, inspired by

Beth Kempton

and her SoulCircle offering and I feel so fortunate to be part of such a wonderful community here on Substack. I am very grateful for every single person who has read my words, liked, commented, shared and subscribed. As a natural introvert, it was a difficult thing for me to put myself out there on the internet but I have been so appreciative of this platform and all the wonderful people I have come into contact with through it.

As the final curtain lowers on 2024, here are my festive glimmers for this month. I hope all of you reading this had a very Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and I wish you a happy, healthy, peaceful New Year.

Christmas Decorations

The idea of a fir tree laden with decorations, and with presents nestled beneath, is an image inextricably linked with Christmas. Decorating religious spaces and homesteads with evergreen plants, including fir trees, yew, holly, ivy and mistletoe, at the time of winter festivals is an ancient tradition, with these plants said to represent fertility, protection from evil spirits and the hope of new life after the darkness of winter. In Pagan times, evergreens were brought into houses to celebrate Yule and the winter solstice while the Romans used greenery to decorate temples during the festival of Saturnalia, held to honour Saturn, the god of farming and the harvest.

Christmas trees, traditionally decorated with apples, gingerbread and dried fruit, are said to have originated in parts of Germany and Eastern Europe in the 1500s but did not became popular in Britain until 1841 when Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, brought a Christmas tree to Windsor Castle and the family were pictured decorating it. Decorating the tree has become a much-loved and anticipated festive tradition in many households all over the world and it is one of the things I most love about this time of the year. Many of my decorations were borrowed (stolen) from my mother when I had my first Christmas in my own house and I have always loved her tradition of buying a new decoration from every place she visited. It is something I have tried to replicate over the decade since she died and now, when I look at my Christmas tree, every bauble tells its own story.

Christmas Carolling

I live in a small close in a suburb of Greater London and this year, one of my neighbours organised a carol concert, “Carols in the Close”, for our street. About thirty of us gathered under a streetlight at the curve of the road on a drizzly December night and sang all the festive favourites while also imbibing the odd sip of mulled wine or bite of mince pie. It was one of the highlights of December for me: neighbours of many different races and nationalities taking time out of their busy lives to sing together in the cold and rain as part of a community of people who just so happen to live near each other. While Christmas is a predominately Christian festival at its heart (even if it draws from many other, more ancient festivals), there is something magical about a group of people who can put aside their different views and beliefs and join together in celebration for the sake of acknowledging community. I hope it becomes an annual event (and that we get to sing my favourite carol, In The Bleak Midwinter, next year).

Writers

I feel very fortunate to have read some incredible writing from talented, interesting and friendly authors since my first foray on Substack in July. There is so much brilliance to be found here and I am excited to continue to read posts from my favourites, while also discovering writers with whom I am less familiar. Below are some (but by no means all) of the Substacks I have most enjoyed in 2024:

Jenna’s writing has come to be something I look forward to reading every week, usually over breakfast on a Sunday morning. I love her descriptions of the natural world around her home and her zest for life, sense of humour and love of the countryside infuses her words. Her photography is also out of this world and is truly an inspiration for my own, much less skilled attempts.

Lyndsay writes beautifully about how the changes in seasons impact the way we use the spaces in our homes. She offers a paid subscription called The Beauty Thread, which is an invitation to a deeper understanding of beauty, both internal and external, and how we can weave wonder into the everyday.

Not only are TJ’s words a soft whisper of calm and a balm to the soul, but her illustrations are gorgeous. I can’t draw to save my life so I find the mixture of words and art utterly inspiring and I encourage you to lose yourself in the colourful, wonderful magic she creates.

It’s fascinating to me how many synergies in our lives Liz and I have uncovered despite only conversing a handful of times. I love the lyrical, sensual nature of her writing and how each of her posts feels like a letter from a friend who you may not see often but cherish dearly.

Last but definitely not least, David writes eloquently about the beauty of nostalgia, the joys of living simply, slowly and seasonally and the power of building community where you are. David’s wife, Clementine, also writes the wonderful Journal of Soulful Reflections, which is well worth a read for those looking to harness the charm of the natural world in all areas of life.

I’d love to know: what have your glimmers been throughout this festive season?

Part One:

Part Two:

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