The Winter Purples
A January Newsletter full of ambition, magic, and luxury
Regardless of to what extent you participate in the great reset of January, there is something nice and rhythmic about the month. For me, it has meant reflecting and vision-casting, reducing clutter, and getting cold-air clarity.
Deliberate - My Word of the Year
I don’t always do a word of the year, but it does help me hone into a quality or focus area, so this year I chose Deliberate.
Oxford defines it as an adjective: “done consciously and intentionally” and as a verb: “engage in long and careful consideration.”
I want to deliberately deliberate what fills my life and how I spend my time. Areas of particular focus for me include our marriage, my parenting, taking time to read and write, getting outdoors almost daily, and family nourishment (What are we eating? What are we consuming with our eyes and minds? Is our family time focused more on quantity or quality? Are we making rest a priority?)
1 Corinthians 10:23-24, 31 has been a mindset framework for me in this season.
“All things are lawful [that is, morally legitimate, permissible], but not all things are beneficial or advantageous. All things are lawful, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life]. Let no one seek [only] his own good, but [also] that of the other person…So then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of [our great] God.”
Is _______ beneficial or advantageous to the overall health and well-being of me, my family, or my community? This is the question I’m asking myself these days.
Mini New Years Eve Retreat
With the exception of last year, Luis and I have rented an Airbnb over NYE to close out our year every year of our marriage. We look for something within an hour, cozy, and relatively cheap (yay for scoring Airbnb gift cards through business CC points!). This year, my parents offered to take the girls, so we sent Jael with them. Equipped with 2 packets with the printable of Tsh Oxenreider’s End of the Year Reflection Questions and Kingdom Sexuality’s 2024 Marriage Resolution Guide, we booked a charming basement apartment in an old stone home. We spent the evening curled up with hot tea and our pens filling out and comparing answers for the reflection questions, before reading and resting. The next morning we had a slow morning collaborating on the marriage guide, before packing up and getting a First Day hike in! We also swung by my favorite cold brew place (that was open on New Year’s Day!!) where a sweet woman bought my coffee.
The Mini Retreat was lovely and it’s one of my favorite traditions of the year! It helps me feel refreshed starting the new year, and as a bonus gets us out of the city for NYE because it’s always a crazy explosion of fireworks and noise.
Seasonal Eating and Recipe Project
I am trying to curate more seasonal recipes when meal planning that take into account seasonal veggies and nutrients needed at various times of year, plus utilize the cookbooks I have. I finally sat down this past week and did a recipe overhaul. I made a sheet of paper for each season and used the book “Eat Pretty” to come up with the nutrition focuses and vegetables, which I wrote down at the top of my papers. Then starting with my personal recipe book, I categorized all of my recipes by season (I kept appetizers and desserts in their own categories) and I threw out recipes I never use and that were wasting space. Then I systematically went through my cookbooks and wrote down recipe names and the cookbook it’s found in on my sheet of paper for each season. For example, “Cheesy Cauliflower Soup (Skinny Taste Simple).” Now, when I’m meal planning, I just pull the list and start making a plan based on those recipes, knowing that they are targeting nutrients we need this time of year + recipes that sound delicious and realistic for our family. I also made a list of ingredients that I needed to get to have on hand, such as zaatar spice I was out of and tahini which is in a lot of Eating Bird Food Recipes.
Snow Day Delights
I love a good snow day, perhaps because both of my parents like it and I have fond memories of sledding down cemetery hills and giant snow forts and hot chocolate ice skating parties. So we were delighted when the forecast called for 6ish inches of snow, and on a Saturday afternoon no less. It started snowing mid-morning and after afternoon naps for 3/4ths of the family, we bundled up to play and and sled down our back alley. On a Sunday after church, we headed down to our neighborhood park for some more sledding with friends. Lucia even had her first solo ride down a little hill! Then a few weeks later, we got a Friday snow day and played outside for awhile in the morning (before a giant red dye spill all over our porch and Jael’s snow clothing butchered that fun).
I’ve been trying to eliminate excuses + be more prepared for getting out in colder weather, so I made hat/sock/glove bins by the front door and used a cloth hamper to contain a plethora of coveralls, snow pants, and winter coats to grab and go.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show
Pennsylvania is a huge agricultural state and the Farm Show is a ten day celebration of these offerings, similar to a state fair on steroids and with less blinky-flashy rides. We spent a lot of time at the Equine Arena watching horse speed demonstrations, tractor square dancing, and petting horses from the State Police Mounted Unit. Then we walked around and petted animals, watched baby calves being born, and admired the 1,000 lb. butter sculpture. Also, you may hear a lot about the PA Dairyman milkshakes, but that’s actually not where it’s at — it’s really the deep friend mozzarella cubes. ;)
The Good List
The Vanderbeekers middle grade book series about a family of siblings solving problems around their neighborhood. I have been listening to the audiobooks on Hoopla and LOVING the narration and stories. I’m a hard sell for audiobooks and the narrator is perfect for these (and can do so many accents of all the Harlem residents).
Scoring a Graco small playpen/bassinet on our local freebie page. I had just told a friend I was trying to find something to put Lucia in when we are playing on our concrete porch and front yard this winter and that afternoon, someone put one out on the curb for free and I scooped it up.
10 Hours Outside. We hit our first 1000 Hours Outside goal in the first 7 days. We tried out several new-to-us parks and walked and played.
My Substack Anniversary. I’ve officially hit one year publishing on Substack! I find Substack to be much more user-friendly to both write and read newsletters on than my former blog!
Our First Family Hockey Game. Reading has a semi-pro team and we went on a family excursion to watch them on MLK Jr. Day, and it was a great way to spend time together and do something new.
We are over halfway through the month and it’s been a delightful start so far! We have not hit the winter blues and are instead coasting on the color purple - full of ambition and independence, or as Sensational Color says, “fusing the mundane with the innovative.”
I’d love to hear about your word of the year, goals you have, or favorite winter activity!
“…a home…where one learns to live peacefully in the cold and the silence…”
- Mary Oliver, I Have Decided
Congrats on 1 year!