According to the internet, the week between Christmas and New Year’s is called Twixmas (from betwixt), Dead Week, or other nicknames like Chrimbo Limbo, Feral Week, or the Twilight Week. All of these names point to that aimless feeling just before the calendar flip. Do you know that feeling? Are you feeling feral or doing the chrimbo limbo this week? This year it’s hitting different for me, maybe because it feels so similar to the lostness of grief. It feels familiar, but don’t assume that means I could tell you what day of the week it is.
I heard on a podcast today that grief expands one’s capacity to feel. Yep. That’s good news as it applies to all the feelings: good, bad, and ugly. I trust that when my joy makes its full comeback, I will be able to experience it deeply.
Well, here we are on the cusp of a new year. I made it. I’m doing this. Looking back, I’ll probably have no idea how. Heck, I don’t need a retrospective to say that. I can say it now. How am I even doing this? By the grace of God.
Of course, I want to start the new year strong, brave, and fearless. But I am weary of being all that: holding it all together when you’re falling apart. After considerable pondering, I am choosing my word of intention for 2026 to be gentleness. May I be gentle with myself and others. As my favorite poem, Desiderata, says: “Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.”
I’m glad we are here on this journey together. Let’s step gently into 2026.
Photo of the Lego centerpiece built by my grandsons and a cow rock for grandpa’s grave created by my granddaughter. It was so good to be with family today.