When I stepped out on my front porch this morning, I found my neighbors down the street raking leaves from their front lawn…still. Meanwhile, my Halloween pumpkins have collapsed into flat, icy shells of their former selves, their skin paper-thin and brittle, their flesh icy and crystalline.

It’s hard to tell the difference between fall and winter at this time of year, and if you’re wondering why, perhaps the answer is that the winter solstice is mere days away. We may think of the December holidays as falling in the middle of winter—and they do coincide with the shortest, darkest days—but in fact they come with the start of astrological winter.

So we really are on the cusp between two seasons. It doesn’t just feel that way. We’ve had hard frosts and measurable snow already, but leaves still cling to many of our trees and continue falling to the ground. Some days I go outside in a sweatshirt; others find me bundled in wool-lined barn coat, hat and scarf. Somehow I feel better remembering there’s a reason for the weather’s schizophrenia. And I’m cheered to know that we’ve almost made it past the shortest day of the year. The solstice will occur at 5:23 p.m. Eastern Time this Friday, and on Saturday the days will start to lengthen, stretching their legs in preparation for spring, which seems ever so much closer and more likely now that I have written this sentence.

Meanwhile, we prepare for Christmas. Our tree is fully decorated, garland drapes our walls, cookie-baking has begun, the prodigal son has returned home, and I’ve actually bought a few gifts. There’s much more to do before we host Christmas Eve dinner (a family tradition dating at least to my birth and probably beyond), and in fact The Husband is off now on his annual mission to procure the Christmas korv (aka potatiskorv, a potato sausage). But I’m on vacation from work and don’t feel the same level of stress that often hits me at this time of year. I’ll head off to the kitchen now to roll out cookie dough, intersperse my baking with reading, maybe make some progress on the shopping or wrapping, and definitely remember to take time to love and appreciate my dogs and my family.