You can put a lot of work into making the holidays feel special, and often the best parts end up being the unexpected moments surrounding the main event. Guests lingering around the table long after dinner. Stepping outside into the quiet of a cold December night. Comfort and joy have a way of finding us in those spaces. And it’s lovely when a little pleasure also does some good. Here are five ways to find both this season. Maybe you’ll even start a new tradition.
Photo by Rosanna Jensen
1. O Christmas tree
Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust lets you adopt a living evergreen tree, take it home to decorate (and make the house smell wonderful), then return it in January. Come spring, it will be planted along a salmon-bearing stream at Lake Sammamish State Park. Pick yours up December 5 at the park’s seasonal market, and fit in some shopping while you’re there.
Pre-orders for Holiday Trees for Habitats run through November 23, while supplies last.
Courtesy of Browne Family Vineyards
2. Cabin, sweet cabin
November 6–December 31
Getting together is much easier—and more fun—when nobody has to clean the house. At Browne Family Vineyards’ Holiday Village in Bellevue, you can reserve an outdoor cabin for two, with cozy blankets and festive cocktails. Meet the friend you keep promising to see once life slows down (it won’t). A s’mores kit is included, should either of you wish to cook without becoming responsible for dinner.
Photo by AbbyWyatt / Bloedel Reserve
3. Let there be light
December
When my children were little, their pre-school held a solstice lantern walk at dusk, a tradition about carrying your own light into winter. I still think about it as the days shorten. At Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, solstice walks start with fire pits and warm drinks, then head into the grounds by lantern light. Choose a family walk or a silent one. Washington Park Arboretum’s Winter Solstice Luminaria Walk also sets the winter gardens aglow.
Bloedel Solstice Walks: December 11-21. Arboretum Winter Solstice Luminaria Walk: December 18-19.
Courtesy of Steven Gilbert
4. The art of giving
A former 7-Eleven in downtown Seattle might just be the place to find the gift nobody else thought of. Inconvenience Store is an art exhibition disguised as a corner market, with work by more than 70 local artists arranged into departments like Food & Pantry, Health & Beauty, and, naturally, Impulse Buys. Everything is art, and it’s all for sale. Even the refrigerator is a walk-in gallery. How fun is that? For more imaginative gifts, you can browse the shops at SAM, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, and Cascadia Art Museum.
Inconvenience Store is open Saturdays & Sundays, noon-4 p.m.
Courtesy of PVOLVE
5. Holiday stretch
After weeks of parties, dinners, and catching up around a table, it can feel good to get out of your head and move. Pvolve, the low-impact fitness method that counts Jennifer Aniston as both a devotee and partner, recently opened its first Seattle studio in South Lake Union. Its signature sculpt class pairs movement with resistance equipment, while other classes turn up the cardio or add heavier weights. Consider it some time for yourself in a season when you’re thinking about everyone else.
