Officially Winter
“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”
Happy Wednesday!
This week is the last market for the year! We are excited to bring you wonderful gifts and food for the holidays! Make sure to stock up if you are able to!
With the weather turning colder and the days being shorter, I wanted to talk about how to bring some coziness and brightness into our days. The winter solstice is today, it’s the shortest day of the year. It’s about celebrating the light coming back and the days becoming longer. I love that! As someone who has seasonal affective disorder, the shorter days and darkness really do get to me. I find that celebrating an end to shorter days, celebrating sparkly lights, celebrating a new birth of a savior, celebrating togetherness all help in some small way. Whatever way you choose to celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful celebration.
With the weather being what it is, I wanted to talk about bringing some cheerfulness to a gloomy day. It may seem counterintuitive to go outside, but I find that it’s a wonderful way to brighten your day! Going for a brisk walk or visiting the local outdoor market is a wonderful way to help you find some cheerfulness. There’s a certain clarity to everything, the colors are brighter, smells are clearer, you notice more. I also love a warm beverage like cider or tea on a dreary day, they’re bright and physically warm you. I especially like combining these two. That way you stay warm on your walk. I also love bright colored clothing for my walks, too, that serves a couple of purposes: you are visible in the lower light, and bright colors alter your mood! I really liked this post about ways to boost your mood on a gloomy day! https://www.happier.com/blog/5-simple-ways-to-boost-your-spirit-on-a-gloomy-day/
National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) also has a really good article about this, too. I really like how they mention joining a group. Being around people is amazing for helping with depression! There are several groups that The Southern Center for Choice Theory has coming up in the New Year! I teach the knitting group on Mondays, there is a visual journaling class on Wednesdays as well. These classes are at the Booker T. Washington Center.
We have a selection of wonderful produce for you this week! Pecans are from Cardinal Ridge and Middle GA Novelties! And Loy and Mr. Porter have lots of wonderful fruits and veggies available among them are: mangoes, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, apples, oranges, cucumbers, and sweet potatoes.
This week’s recipe I like to call a two-fer. First, you get apple cider, and with a little preparation, you also can get applesauce. I have been using this recipe for years in various ways. The one thing I do differently always is to core my apples and seed the citrus if there are seeds, it makes for easier saucing. You can grab apples and oranges from Loy and your spices from XO Tigerlily!