December has always struck me as a month full of contradictions. Everywhere you look, the world is sparkling — streets lined with Christmas lights, windows glowing with decorations, people gathering, celebrating, and wrapping up the year with a sense of urgency and excitement. Yet if you step outside the noise, nature tells a different story. The fields are bare, the trees stripped back to their bones, the air cold and still. It’s a season wrapped in magic on the surface, wit