“In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter long ago.”
-In The Bleak Midwinter Poem by Christina Rossetti 1872
Merry Midwinter, dearies! It is the time of again, when the days are the shortest and darkest of the year. It is something I never thought much of until I moved from California to Sweden where the sun barely shows its face during the winter time. I started to look forward to the winter solstice even more than Christmas because it meant that soon the days would grow brighter again.
It’s no surprise that candles are much needed during those dark nights and have become an essential part of yuletide in the Nordic countries. So much so that they have a entire holiday they celebrate in Sweden called St. Lucia which is a night filled with warmth and light and happens to land in the middle of December just when you need that reminder most.
With that theme in mind, I wanted to re-share with you some photos Jonas & I took once upon a winter time in Sweden (2014) when the first snow had come to our neck of the woods. For quite some time, I had been wanting to do some photos with my handmade poinsettia headpiece inspired by this lovely art by Angela R. Sasser entitled “Holiday Nouveau”; so when the first real snow came we threw off our better judgement that going out in -12C/10F was a good idea.
It was so cold that my eyes started to water uncontrollably, I couldn’t feel the hot wax dripping on my skin, and my hands were so cold they burned so we were only able to grab a few decent shots. I hope that the few who made it to the editing process were worth it and I’m at least happy to have paid a small tribute to this wonderful piece of art that so inspired me! Even if this is a bit different than the vintage style posts we usually share here.
These photos also pay tribute to a very dark time for me as I started to struggle with my Seasonal Affective Depression and somehow by going out into the woods on a frigid day in the dark bearing a candelabra made the world and my mind seem much brighter. It’s magical how a small spark can bring so much light and I hope these photos fill your midwinter with love & warmth. Here’s to brighter days coming our way!
Bye For Now,
-Lindsay Dianne
P.S. I’ve opened up more about my Seasonal Depression in this blog post sharing the 10 tips I learned for helping through a long cold winter!
