When December Arrives

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Gratitude, Grief, and the Strange Passage of Time



The last month of the year has arrived — that moment when lights go up, the air shifts, and the world around us seems to lean into celebration. For many, December is a festive season filled with joy, gatherings, and traditions. But as we settle into the glow of the holidays, there’s also an undeniable truth we carry quietly within us: this time of year can feel heavy, too.



Because while there are tables full of laughter, there are also seats that remain achingly empty.



As we close out the year, time does what it always does — it slips through our fingers in that strange way only December can manage. The days often feel slow, almost dragging, yet the year itself has flown by so quickly it’s almost frightening. You blink and suddenly you’re at the end again, asking yourself how it all moved so fast.



And in the middle of it all, there’s the body we live in — sometimes strong, sometimes tired, sometimes feeling like it’s betraying the plans we hold inside our hearts. Wanting to do more, to be more, but having to move at a pace you didn’t choose. It’s frustrating. It’s humbling. It’s human.



Yet even within the mix of grief, exhaustion, and time slipping away, there is gratitude.



I am blessed — truly blessed — to still have both of my parents with me. Blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law who brings light into our lives. Blessed to have a healthy husband, a partner who walks beside me through every season, even the hard ones. These aren’t small gifts. They are everything.



December reminds us of what we have, what we’ve lost, and what we hope for. It stretches our hearts in opposite directions — joy and sorrow, comfort and longing, reflection and anticipation. And maybe that’s the gift of the closing year: it teaches us to hold all of it at once.



So as the year winds down, I’m choosing gratitude. Not the loud, perfect, Instagram kind of gratitude — but the quiet, honest kind. The kind that whispers, “I am thankful, even when life is messy. Even when time scares me. Even when my body struggles. Even when grief sits beside me.”



Because despite everything, there is still so much to love. So much to appreciate. So much to breathe in, even slowly.



Here’s to making it through another year — with all its pain and all its beauty.

Here’s to the people we still have and the ones we hold in our hearts.

Here’s to hope, in whatever shape it comes.



And here’s to us — trying, healing, surviving, and somehow still finding reasons to be thankful.


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