On the Eighth Day of Christmas: Unchartered Territory for New Year's Day

My Christmas daybook for these 12 days of celebrating. We'll be spending Christmastide with some favorite short films and video clips. Join me, won't you? 

For an introduction read this post: Christmastide. You can see previous Christmas Daybook 2018 posts here.

Note: If you're reading this in email, the formatting usually looks much better at the website. Just click the post title to get there.

 

New Year’s Day evokes the idea of untouched meadows and forests of pristine snow. Anyone else? It’s a good day for a hike. We’re supposed to be partly sunny and 55 degrees here in Connecticut so we’ll probably walk the beach instead. Maybe we can figure out how to build a sandman?

I curated today’s videos to reflect both the beauty and inherent danger of unchartered territory. If you watch the videos in the listed progression, you may notice the story arc which includes pristine beauty, courageous adventurers, inevitable danger, and the power of grit, wonder, and community. May you receive the storyline as a blessing on your 2019!

Watch:

  1. Snow Circles, Sonja Hinrichsen Snow Drawing

  2. Christmas in Yellowstone | Yellowstone Untouched, PBS Nature

  3. Ice Skating Along the River in Sweden, Erik Normark

  4. Snow Chick Ventures Onto the Ice for the First Time, BBC

  5. Perfect World - Katie Melua, Karni and Saul

  6. Buff PASH, Kurtis Jackson

  7. How Does A Penguin Launch Itself From the Sea?, BBC

  8. Dog sledding and aurora- Northern Lights on the Finnmark plateau, Jan Helmer Olsen

 
“Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.”
— Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Feast of the Holy Name

Do:

Take a hike

[from my 2013 post: “12 Ways to Savor the 12 Days of Christmas”]

“Get outside. Take a road trip. Hike a nearby trail. Go skiing, sled-riding, ice-skating. This year we piled together in the van for the hour and a half trip to enjoy San Antonio's river walk. We were rewarded with a crisp, clear Texas night and a round yellow moon.”

p.s., Texas Parks & Wildlife coordinates guided “First Day Hikes”. You can find 2019 locations here. Anyplace else offer something similar?

(See all Christmas Daybook posts from 2017 here.)

ChristmasTamara Hill MurphyChristmastide 2018, [Look.Listen.Pray.Do.], new year, video, art in nature