The Trail of Lights is going up at Zilker Park, Christmas songs ring out from our car radios, and and magazine covers boast recipes for turkey leftovers: the holiday season is here! Holidays mark the seasons of our lives; they form our souls and invite us to contemplate what we value and why. This month, consider a practice of reflective thanksgiving.

Recall a holiday from your childhood. Sit with it; allow the memory to take you into itself. How does the holiday feel? taste? sound? look? smell? Choose an art form through which to express your holiday memory.

Now recall a recent holiday. Follow the same practice described above.

Then imagine a holiday in your future. If you have children, how old are they? Where do you live? What matters to you? What dreams have come true in your life—on which ones do you still wait? Sit with your future holiday and imagine it with all your senses.