Guten Tag, Reader,

The leaves* are one reason I woke up in my bed this morning instead of in the camper van, drinking coffee beside the river and facing a reluctantly rising sun.

I will write to you about some of the other forces that kept me home; today I want to stay with the leaves, though.

Or rather, with what I found underneath as I moved this year’s maple blanket toward the garden fence and the rake got caught on something.

It was a dandelion, in the phase of its life cycle that the Germans call “Pusteblume” (blow flower).

Its little seeds, usually so eager to catch the slightest breeze and blow away, were still huddled together.

What surprised me was how strong the whole thing was. Strong enough to stop my rake, even after being buried underneath weeks of heavy maple leaves.

Now, most people wouldn’t “waste” any brainpower on an old dandelion. But let’s spend a little brainpower on it for a moment:

The way that dandelion interrupted my raking made me think of the Holiday Slowdown: a small but meaningful interruption to the momentum of December.

“Sylke!” you might wonder, “What is the Holiday Slowdown and how could it be like a dandelion that resisted being swept up in the leaves?”

What is the Holiday Slowdown? I am glad you asked.

Well, the Holiday Slowdown is a daily advent practice that gives you opportunities to pause before December disappears in a blur of errands, gift lists, obligations, and forgotten cups of tea:

• A deck of 24 daily cards (printed locally here in Missoula).
• Alternating reflection prompts (like A Tiny Joy Audit) and nature-based micro-quests (like Tree Gazing).
• Practice by yourself or share with others. Last year, someone sent a photo of each card to her sister in Texas, and it started many connective conversations.

You can take two minutes with a card or twenty. And you can skip the ones that don’t speak to you that day.

This is not another obligation.

Reader, if you’ve been wishing December could feel a little less like a race to the finish line, now is a good time to take a look here.

Stay curious,

P.S. If you’d like to connect to nature this December, you can take a peek at the Holiday Slowdown here. And tell me: What’s one thing nature showed you recently?

* I am referring to the leaves as a single entity, as if they weren’t each unique in shape and color, even when they originated from the same tree. Is it more wondrous for each snowflake to be unique than it is for each leaf?

If you found something valuable in today's letter, why not buy me a coffee? I am keeping my writing AI-free, which means a lot of creativity goes into it. You can leave a tip for me here or Venmo me @sylke-laine.