We're Never Alone for the Holidays

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

A snow-white berry. Who knew? Her pristine white fruit are not for human people. She feeds towhees, robins, and wax wings in hungry times. We human folks are not center of the universe, it seems. Snowberry’s pearls of wisdom.

The Snowberry has something to offer me today. In her silver lichen finest, usnea bursts from skyward-reaching limbs. See me, she says.

One cannot disentangle these green and brown beings from each other. She is … Snowberry and community. Along that note, it’s funny that I call “myself” Kristin. The emotions and thoughts I claim to be so personal are also shaped by the microbiome in my gut. These organisms live within me, for the most part symbiotically.

What’s the message, Snowberry? We're never alone for the holidays, she says.

Microbiomes, symbiosis … co-creation is a wonder. From the outside looking in, the lichen is beautiful. Your family is harmonious. But on the inside, it’s not always so easy. Sometimes joining forces is a miracle.

Ever felt that way at a Christmas party? The desire to cross the room and shake hands—heck, to even go to the party!—can be lacking. Sometimes being alone seems easier, though lonely.

Did you know that the fungus and algae that form a lichen do so reluctantly, only when under pressure? At the risk of starving, these very different species bond with each other to create something new. Lichen. Delaying death, embracing life.

It can be hard to connect with others, hard to flex and change our self-centered ways. But what we get out of the deal can rock the world. 

Lichen’s partnership allows a reciprocal exchange of sugar and minerals. That’s just the beginning of the co-creation. Countless other beings are fed by this union, connoisseurs of lichen. Many are edible to humans, even. Diversity thrives.

“When conditions are harsh and life is tenuous, it takes a team sworn to reciprocity to keep life going forward. In a world of scarcity, interconnection and mutual aid become critical for survival. So say the lichens,” Robin Wall Kimmerer writes in Braiding Sweetgrass (272).

And so we come together for the holidays. Stretched, and at least a little stressed, we do our best to show up, to connect.

I’m hopeful. At a holiday gathering this year, someone will make a friend for life. Someone will rekindle an old connection that’s sweet and meaningful. Someone else will fall in love.

Unity can be experienced in a flash, and it can last a lifetime. Here's the magic: The coming together does not depend on carefree partygoers. The stress of many cares is real and sometimes daunting. What helps us bond is the willingness to give and receive. I’m thanking the lichen for that lesson.

I’m grateful to share my musings with you today, at Christmas. It’s a meaningful time for my family. I love to meet you here. Thank you for receiving. It’s a gift to be heard. 

Here are other gifts I have for you.

Join me and other members of Joy Together for the free Expanding Your Joy Through Writing sessions twice in January, the 5th and the 19th, 9-11 a.m. Pacific. Reply YES to this email and I'll send you the link, if you’re not on the list already.

Also, a gift for you and yours. The most joyful stocking stuffer ever. Join my free Joyful Life Reboot workshop the morning of January 4th Pacific time. A couple of time options are available, each an hour and a half.

Scroll to the bottom of the registration link here to find the options. Pass the link on with joy. This is a time to build community. You never know who may need it.

I’d love to help you welcome 2025 with a bang. Here's your chance to feel more yourself than ever before … with joy.