Some moments make your soul sing and your spirit soar. They come in and then depart as quickly they arrived. One of those magic times slipped in on the winter wind Sunday afternoon.

As I stood in my kitchen waiting for a batch of sugar cookies to bake, I listened to the soft crackle of a fire in the fireplace and the notes of a Christmas CD playing. In the background, the wind howled and leaves swirled past the window.

Looking out toward the lake, I saw a sky ablaze with the most amazing color, a blend of yellow, red, and orange with hints of peach and pink. It was a shade that I doubt any artist or camera could capture accurately. Breathtaking does not begin to describe the sight.

It lasted maybe five minutes before fading to gray, then charcoal, then the black of a winter night, but in those moments the world seemed to stand still, holding its breath as the brilliant sky, choppy lake and swaying oaks merged into a scene of perfection.

And, I felt myself becoming part of the moment, one with the energy that created it all. This, I thought, is a gift to wake me up to the wonder of living, a reminder that there is so much more to see and to experience if I remain open to seeing.

As I stood at my door, stars began to pop out like kernels of white popcorn until the sky shown with a thousand sparkling lights. On winter, nights out where I live, those stars feel closer than usual, like I could reach up and pull one right out of the heavens.

I felt the icy air trying to slip its way inside through the glass door so I stuffed my hands in my pockets and headed for a chair in front of the fire. The flames wrapped around the pieces of oak in colors that reminded me of the sunset, red and orange and bright yellow.

The music rose and fell as I stared into the fire feeling that same contentment and oneness I felt as I watched the day end. Again, I thought about the gift of this experience, the opportunity to simply be still and appreciate being.

This is the season of light and love. However, that gets lost sometimes in the rushing around decorating, shopping, trying to prepare and do in hopes of creating a perfect celebration, and all because we want to feel the light and love that we know in our hearts exists.

The timer on my oven sounded and I pulled out the golden brown cookies. “How blessed I am,” I whispered, breathing in the deliciousness of those cookies.

I know that in the hurry-up of the days ahead it may be easy to forget my blessings, to slip into that place of doing instead of being. My hope and my prayer is that when the worldly energy of this season threatens to shadow the light and love, I will stop and come back to the wonder of this Sunday afternoon, to the glory of the sunset, the brilliance of the stars, the warmth of the fire and the contentment of being a part of it all. And, hopefully another of those moments that makes my soul sing and my spirit soar will slip in on a peaceful winter breeze.