It’s 9:30pm on Sunday. I’m curled up in bed, cocooned in a mountain of flannel and down, and—weirdly for a Sunday night—I feel good. For the first time in months, I didn’t do a lick of work this weekend and the “Sunday scaries” are just a murmur reminding me to set my alarm a little earlier than usual—a nice change from the more typical panic mode.

It was a good weekend, and a good day, and we’re going into one of my favourite times of the year which instills a sort of deep seated happiness. My tiny back yard is full of golden leaves and green moss and so many happy little birds . . .

I began putting out the greens and lifts of the Christmas decor because, well, why not? I’ll wait till after Thanksgiving to go all out, but I want the coziness of candles and garlands and the feeling of good things to come . . .

And best of all, I did some holiday crafting! In my family we have a tradition of getting one new ornament each year, and ever since we kids left home, Lady has taken to giving them out at Thanksgiving so that we can enjoy them during the weeks to Christmas. This year I decided I wanted to give some ornaments of my own—and that I would make them by hand. All I needed was a pailful of sand dollars from my trip to the coast in August and a short run to Michael’s for some supplies and a glue gun . . .

They were so much fun to make and turned out exactly as I envisioned them. And to certain of my readers—spoilers! Leave room on your tree . . .