Hello You! Couple more days. Couple more mornings before it is time for the present to be opened under the Christmas trees! The spirit is alive. I can see it. It looks different this year. You are different this year. Enjoy this lovely weather and look forward to the most wonderful time of the year. Clearly I am enjoying the vibe. 

Week Before Christmas

The week before Christmas,

The air smells like rum and salt,

Like ocean breeze tangled with candle smoke.

The streets hum with laughter,

Children chasing the echo of bells,

And I watch from my vehicle

Holding onto the quiet between the noise.

Memories sparkle like ornaments,

Some bright, some chipped,

But all part of the same tree.

I feel the year folding into itself 

The joys, the losses, the lessons, the hurt, the pain but most importantly, the release

Each one a little gift,

Wrapped in time, tied with love or pain.

This week before Christmas,

I am both the giver and the gift.

I am the soft echo of laughter,

The quiet in the hustle,

The steady pulse beneath the rush.

I hold magic in my palms,

Not the kind that comes in boxes,

But the kind that lives in being alive.

String lights flicker along balconies,

sorrel simmers on the stove,

black cake soaked deep in rum and patience,

ham awaiting to be glazed just right,

and long lost kids reappearing on the doorsteps of their parents' houses

like it knows where to land.

The islands glow differently in December.

This Christmas, I gift myself presence.

I toast to peace, not people.

I choose clarity over chaos,

rest over proving,

and boundaries that feel like home.

Because Christmas isn’t about perfection.

It’s about warmth.

And this year,

I finally let myself feel it.