“Peace is our gift to each other.”
      – Elie Wiesel

December . . . is here. The nights are long and the days are often gloomy (at least they are here, where I live). It’s cold. We tend to be stressed from holiday obligations and year-end deadlines. And we’re tired. Because just living in the world in 2025 has been . . . hard.

For the last couple of years, I created a daily blog-advent-calendar in December. Just a little something to get us all through the month with (maybe) a lighter heart and a smile on our faces. This year, I’ve decided . . . not to do that. But I still wanted to share some good cheer with all of you! So this year . . . I’ll be offering you a little collection of . . . Simple Gifts. Starting today. There will be no schedule or pattern to these Simple Gifts. I’m not even sure how many there will be, all told. They’ll just . . . appear here . . . every so often . . . throughout the month. I hope these . . . Simple Gifts . . . will help you get through December with (maybe) a lighter heart and a smile on your face. (And if you want to revisit the blog-advent-calendars of the past, there is a link at the bottom of this post.)

Now. . .
Let’s open a gift, shall we?

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Today, I offer you the Simple Gift of . . . BEAUTY.

Viktor Orri Árnason’s “Earth Hymn,” filmed live in the shadow of the Snæfellsnes glacier, is a plea to the world from the edge of a changing planet.

“Earth Hymn” is from RITUAL, a large-scale performance conceived by director Arnbjörg María Danielsen with composer Viktor Orri Árnason and Yo-Yo Ma, with text by Andri Snær Magnason and ancient Icelandic poets. The text in the “hymn” is adapted from “Völuspá” (“The Prophecy of the Seeress”), translation below by Benjamin Thorpe, 1866.

Enjoy.
And may your December be filled with Simple Gifts . . . and BEAUTY.

The text in the “hymn” is adapted from “Völuspá” (“The Prophecy of the Seeress”), translation below by Benjamin Thorpe, 1866.

Sér hún upp koma
öðru sinni
jörð úr ægi
iðjagræna.
Falla fossar,
flýgur örn yfir,
sá er á fjalli
fiska veiðir.

She sees arise, a second time,
earth from ocean, beauteously green;
waterfalls descending; the eagle flying over,
which in the fell captures fish.

Sal sér hún standa
sólu fegra,
gulli þaktan
á Gimlé.
Þar skulu dyggvar
dróttir byggj
a og um aldurdaga
yndis njóta.

She a hall sees standing,
more brilliant than the sun,
with gold bedecked, in Gimill:
there shall the righteous people dwell,
and for evermore happiness enjoy.

* If you’d like to re-visit my blog-advent-calendars from 2023 and 2024, you can follow these links: 

Cup o’ Kindness 2024

Comfort & Joy 2023