If you're a subscriber, you'll have already received the first edition of the newsletter - A Seasonal Year - but if you're not don't worry, because today's post offers a compact version to inspire you to live slowly and seasonally throughout the winter months. Don't want to miss next month's newsletter?

Winter Rituals

• Prepare the house for colder weather: light candles; get a stack of logs ready for the fire; choose rich, jewel colours for your accessories; choose a reading spot; and festoon your home with greenery.
   
• Embrace daylight whenever possible: get outside for a walk at least once a day; position yourself near to a window when working; try and watch the sunrise and sunset as often as possible.
   
• Plan for the year ahead: choose a word (or two) to focus on and set long-term goals; order seeds for the vegetable patch / allotment / kitchen windowsill, and plan out your summer harvest.

Three Seasonal Recipes

1. Pheasant casserole with celeriac mash
2. Bubble and squeak
3. Chestnut and chocolate torte

Three Seasonal Reads

L-R: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent; Village Christmas by Laurie Lee; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

 

Final Thoughts...

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
Edith Sitwell

Autumn has flown by in a whirl of leaves and has reached its muddy end; we now welcome in the new season of frosts and revel as one year comes to a close and another begins.

So what's in store for the winter months ahead?

1. Have a festive film night and spend some quality time with family.
2. Set goals for the new year.
3. Enjoy the snow (if we get any) and the frost (if we don't), making sure to take lots of long walks.
4. Whisk up some pancakes for breakfast and have a leisurely start to a weekend.
5. Put together a photobook from the past year.
6. Have a spa day at home.
7. Try out some new wintry recipes.
8. Craft more. Make time for hobbies.
9. Do yoga, pilates, or meditate to avoid the stresses of the season.
10. Plan out the year in the garden.

Since passing the first of December at the start of the week the blogosphere seems to have gone into Christmas overload - not that I'm complaining; I've been humming festive tunes and munching on mince pies for a couple of weeks now, and this weekend we have finally begun the festive season in the CC household by putting up our tree (see tomorrow's post for the finished result!). I have also succumbed to my annual winter illness, so as a result I have been wrapping myself up in cosy scarves, drinking cinnamon tea with honey and actually taking time out to rest and do very little (something I hardly ever allow myself). I have also found solace in winter walks, and yesterday's was so magical that I stopped every few seconds to take another photograph - it was the first hard frost of the season and looked just beautiful.

If you're looking to eat seasonally this month (as I write about here!) try this frangipane mince pie recipe - they  look absolutely wonderful and make a change from the normal festive fare.

Spindly winter stems and a brilliant blue sky for a midweek miscellany - I love this series from from Sarah and look forward to catching up with it every week.

If you're struggling for inspiration, check out these beautiful festive wrapping ideas from Leah - I particularly like the doily. If you're still on the lookout to bring some seasonal cheer into the home head over here for a table centrepiece how-to.

These photos are so evocative of the cusp of the seasonal descent into winter; they have an ethereal, magical quality that somehow Laura manages to capture perfectly.

Regular readers here will know that I love to bring nature into the home and use the seasons to inspire everything I do, and it seems as though lots of other bloggers follow a similar ethos - head over here for #stylingtheseasons inspiration for December.

What other lovely posts should I be reading that I might have missed this week?