Tori's Blog

December Babies

It is cold today. I realize that December is cold in lots of places, but here in San Francisco it is usually not this cold so early in the year. This morning it is 39 degrees and there is a slight frost on all the fallen leaves.

This is a special time of year for me. Not so much because of the holidays but because my own baby (who will be turning eight—yikes!) was born on December 19th. It was 2000 and the Year of the Golden Dragon on the Chinese calendar. A very special year to give birth, especially to a boy. We have a very high Asian population here so we were having lots of babies at that time.

Winter is naturally a time of staying in for me, both literally and figuratively. I feel like the creature who is happy to hibernate. In our home we make lots of fires and eat hot soup and chili. I gave birth a week early to Alexander and brought him home on Christmas Eve. It was a very different sort of holiday. The earth slowed in an amazing way. Day and night became one and it was all good. Cold, dark, rainy outdoors and warm and magical indoors.

Of course we were tired and learning the rhythms of a newborn but there was something extraordinary about that time. What I recall is a sense of quiet that lasted for only a very finite time. I’ll never forget it.

I wish all of you who are giving birth this month and during this season a magical experience of your own.