My favorite time

 Now!

It's my favorite time of year.

Yes, even now despite the plague and political pandemonium. 

It's the darkening long nights that swaddle my home filled with heat and light where I can cocoon. 

It's the white dressed Alps, Jura or Canigou, depending on whether I'm in France or Switzerland. If I'm lucky, it's a dusting of snow or at least frost sending diamonds when the sun strikes.

It's leaves of various colors to kick.

It can be the crunch of the coating of ice on a puddle when I step on it gently just to hear the crack.

It's the wind slicing through me, animating every cell in my body.

I'm looking forward to the smell of turkey roasting next Thursday and if the gathering will be minuscule, I will be thankful for all that I have and whom I have in my life.

I've already ordered our tree for the winter solstice. The 20th of December must have a bit of evergreen as a reminder of all that nature has provided during the year. Some years it was a twig, some years a full real tree. The decorations will be a thank you as well as a touchstone of all the solstices past.

And the earth will continue to turn after the solstice, bringing new life. Each day I will celebrate the gift I've been given, that of life, that of love.