“On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree.”

45 days to Christmas, hard to believe, isn’t it, where has this year flown?

Today marks the beginning  of my blog’s Christmas advent calendar of posts and my invitation to share in the anticipation: the next month and a half will delight my readers with a variety of reviews of beautiful products and Christmas gift inspiration.

Of course, for us as a bereaved family, this Christmas will be very difficult as it will be the first one without our Georgie. But I am trying very hard and making a conscious effort to see the beauty in this season, despite the anticipated pain. For Emma’s sake, most importantly. And for us, as a couple, as this could be a time to recharge and grow closer if we prepare wisely for it.

Preparation, per definition, is “the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use or consideration”, “something done to get ready for an event or undertaking.” It is the conscious mental and/or physical effort to anticipate and await readily for the future to unfold.

And I do not want to anticipate only pain, although pain will definitely be part of the season. I want to prepare for Christmas with joy, I want to, as the L’Occitane en Province video below puts it so well, “dance my way into the holiday season.”