December 2025 Almanac

Still Advent, book club on the horizon, and revisiting feasts

DECEMBER hail! a vest of snow
Enwraps thy shadowy form,
With aspect pale and footstep slow,
Thy harbinger a storm.
The sun now darts oblique his ray,
Scarce at meridian clear,
And mists o’erhang the shorten’d day,
Dim twilight of the year.
To skim the stream to stone congeal’d,
Advent’rous youths resort,
But many a danger lurks conceal’d,
Beneath th’ alluring sport.
The hearth invites where Friendship’s pow’rs
Th’ expanding soul improve;
While social eve’s protracted hours
With flight unheeded move.
And lo! the day which bids the mind
Exult with hallow’d mirth,
When angel-minstrels taught mankind
To hail a Saviour’s birth.
While Plenty’s urn with gifts o’erflows,
The festive board to spread,
The heart with food and gladness glows,
Nor wintry storms shall dread.
The breast with noblest feelings fired,
Th’ unshelter’d hut explores,
Where pallid Poverty retired,
Her plaints in secret pours.
Then come, tho’ Boreal blasts alarm,
And snows obscure thy day,
December, still thou hast a charm,
And still I hail thy sway.

Elizabeth Bentley, “December” (18/19th c.)

This month’s Almanac looks a little different: instead of many live videos and a deep-dive focus on a feast, we’re joining together to savor a Still Advent.

Below, you’ll find a ‘book of days’ to track this month’s HF resources and a printable Almanac to prompt feasting & fasting during our December days…as well as a playlist to serenade.

Consider saving this post to peek back at it throughout the month!

Pax+bonum, Kristin.

Online gatherings

• ALL DECEMBER LONG | Still Advent
  This December, let’s slow down together: in lieu of live videos, I have a wonderful collection of seven pre-recorded delights from some liturgical living friends…so that you can dip into these recordings when you’re able to.

Fresh Posts & Previous Archives

• DECEMBER 6 | Saturday | St. Nicholas’ Day (print this whimsical paper scene!)
  

• DECEMBER 13 | Saturday | St. Lucy’s Day (print another whimsical paper scene!)
  

• SECOND HALF OF OF DECEMBER | Winter book club selection announced!
  

• DECEMBER 21 | Sunday | Thomasmas
  

• DECEMBER 25 | Thursday | Christmas Day! (Count your way through the Twelve Days of Christmas with a paper scene!)
  

• DECEMBER 28 | Sunday | Childermas

Founding Membership

• Your winter boxes will be shipping out in the first half of December…they’re filled with some truly incredible delights, and I’m excited for you to enjoy them all season long! (Please note the cut-off date for the Founders’ Winter box is now closed - if you’d like to consider becoming a Founder, your shipments would begin with the Spring box!)

A printable version of this month’s Almanac - including prompts for celebration, dip-pen illustrations, and a coordinated coloring sheet - is available in the Scriptorium.

You can also find this list of upcoming events posted in the Village Green.

Thank you so much for your incredible support of the new Almanac format that I launched last month…I’ve also found it to be really helpful as I look ahead to our upcoming holidays!

The December Almanac includes:

• December calendar page with a selection of holy days & prompts, dip-pen illustrations, and links to connect you with more HF resources

• Coloring page featuring my hand-drawn illustrations of December feast emblems

• Print out these goodies (I recommend card-stock for the calendar and regular paper for the coloring page), and see how you can integrate the featured holidays into your existing plans!

Available in the Scriptorium for paid subscribers:

This month, more acutely than most years, I keenly feel the call to slow down in Advent…and I’m guessing that you may feel a similar pull. So, in lieu of my usual festal deep-dive, I’ve curated a mini-retreat to help us savor this season: Still Advent.

It’s a space for us to partake in some video reflections and written prompts at a pace that supplements our days, helping us (hopefully) to slow down.

The opening reflection on Advent is available to all subscribers, and the videos/printables are additionally available to paid & founding members:

As we linger in this season of waiting, my heart is full to think of all the beautiful work we’ve done here together - and, truly, I see the offerings in this space as being a co-creation with you all. Your curiosity, knowledge, and creativity help to enliven all of the work in this space.

If you’re pondering your Christmas gift-giving, I’d love for you to consider gifting a Hearthstone Fables subscription to a loved one! All of your incredible support in this space is what allows me to continue bringing more voices into it and providing so many resources. Thank you for helping me to make this little eco-system possible!

Happy Church new year, friends! God continues to surprise me in every deepening journey through another liturgical cycle, and it’s a privilege to get to join you in it all.

Pax et bonum,
Kristin