December's Seamy Underbelly

Who coined that phrase, anyway?

Friends, here we are. This month can feel like a marathon. I am currently in whatever stage of December involves elevated stress and perpetually chasing two steps forward to really take one step back. What I like to think of as December’s seedy underbelly. Until I googled that to find out, what the heck does that even mean? Oh - its seamy. At which point I decided I know what it means.

I remember first learning to cross stitch. A simple and great introduction to sewing, there is usually a pattern to follow and by making small x’s in varied colors. These small x’s in their cornucopia of colors come together to make a heartfelt, slightly geometric picture. I would sit on the couch in my childhood home, sunlight streaming through the window behind me. Push the needle in, and pull it back through. I’d work tirelessly to make a beautiful picture - only to turn it over and see an explosion of tangled thread behind.

The seamy (not seedy) underbelly.

Why won’t my toilets stay clean? We forgot a snow bag this morning for school and are already missing two pairs of gloves. I spent four hours doing food prep for Nutcracker week on Monday. We have already eaten 70% of that food and the Nutcracker has not even started (how do we eat so much?!)

If you stare at the seamy underbelly too long, the stress builds.

Picking up my camera and taking these pictures is a discipline of seeing ordinary beauty and fighting against the tireless pursuit of doing it all and getting it right. It allows me to hold the cloth in my hand, and to turn it over. What I am working tirelessly over has a broader beauty to it. And its coming together just fine.

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