8 December Journal Prompts
Reflect, Release, and Renew This Holiday Season
I know! One minute it’s barely the end of summer and the kids are going back to school…
… then suddenly the clocks change, light diminishes, and Halloween is over.
There’s always a slightly chaotic energy to this time of the year that fuels our productivity but can easily become overwhelming. We have a sense that we are running out of time to hit targets.
Christmas often dominates, celebrated in both religious and secular ways, but December is a rich time in many cultures for taking stock, giving thanks, and celebrating the richness of family and community.
It’s a perfect time to embrace journaling and combine it with cultural wisdom.
Except off course, everything good for you (like journaling) is now being put off until ‘next year.’
And you may not even feel connected to your own culture, let alone comfortable to explore others.
If you’re seeking a more meaningful way to close out the year, beyond excess and exhaustion, this article is going to showcase eight amazing winter traditions to help inspire you to find your own.
And I’m going to give you some easy, toe-dipping journal ideas to really help you end the year with a sense of pride in all you’ve achieved.
The Cultural Potency of Winter
For about the last decade I have observed Winter Solstice as a time for reflection and journaling.
This began as a rebellion to Christmas, and kindled a need in me for deep reflection during mid-winter. For me it’s about lighting candles, sharing words and burning regrets. I often use this date as the start to a ten-day rest and reset. By December 21st, my year is over. I am able to see how well it matched up to my hopes and how I want to recalibrate moving forward. Winter Solstice is a celebrated tradition in several cultures, but I’ve tuned into my roots and celebrate solstice as a northern European, pre-Christian source of inspiration.
Tuning into the potency of this season, with its short days and long nights, rich traditions and community spirit, can offer some wonderful ideas for journaling exercises to help you reflect on the year gone, release what is no longer useful to you and renew your energy and vision for the year ahead. These opportunities present symbolic and thematic inspiration for what I term ‘sprints’ for journaling focus. It might be your first go at journaling, or a way to reconnect to a lost habit. Or it can simply offer you a quiet, grounding space in the midst of great energy.
Exploring varied cultural traditions can offer us a new way to experience the transformative season of endings and new beginnings with respect and curiosity. As you explore, consider them as pathways for inspiration, recognising that you enter sacred space which belongs to others and leave with gratitude and empathy. Honouring the unique contexts in which they hold meaning for others and considering how they may inspire you to seek out themes, symbols and practices from your own background.
1 Hanukkah Journal Prompts: Faith, Resilience, and Tradition
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday celebrated over eight days, typically falling in December.
Hanukkah's dates vary because it follows the Jewish lunar calendar, which is based on the cycles of the moon rather than the sun. Specifically, Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which typically falls in late November or December in the Gregorian calendar. About every three years, an extra month (Adar II) is added to realign the lunar months with the solar year. This adjustment ensures that holidays remain in their proper season.
This year, Hanukkah runs from 25th December 2024 to 2nd January 2025.
It commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt, where a single day's supply of oil miraculously lasted for eight days. This holiday celebrates resilience, faith, and the triumph of light over darkness.
Key Themes:
Faith and Miracles: Honouring faith in times of challenge and celebrating unexpected blessings.
Resilience and Hope: Recognizing the persistence and strength of a community.
Family and Tradition: Spending time with loved ones, passing down stories and customs.
Cultural Practice:
A central tradition is the lighting of the menorah, an eight-branched candelabrum, with a new candle lit each night to mark the days of the miracle. This ritual is performed with care, reflecting Jewish values of remembrance, family unity, and the continuity of tradition through generations.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on a ‘miracle’ or unexpected blessing in your life this year, no matter how small. What effect did it have on you, and how did it shape your outlook? Write about this event with as much sensory detail as you can. As you focus on this miracle, how does your body respond? Can you locate that space with your hand and use it to ground yourself in the sensation of blessing as you navigate a busy season?
Identify a time when you showed resilience or faith during a difficult period. How did you find strength, and what values helped you persevere? Take time to dig into how you showed up, what you learned about yourself and what you might do differently in 2025 as a result of the learning this challenge brought.
Write about a family tradition that brings you a sense of continuity or comfort. Reflect on how you keep traditions or stories alive in your family or community, honouring your unique history as part of who you are, in the way that Hanukkah does for the Jewish people. How does this connection to the past bring strength to your present? How does it foster unity within your family? And as you think about family, what does family mean to you that brings you resilience and hope? Is it blood family or found family?
Journal sprint idea: Over these eight days, commit to find some quiet time, light a candle and write. Create a set of prompts related to themes of faith, resilience and tradition to lead you in your writing.
2 Kwanzaa Journal Prompts: Reflecting on Community, Self-Determination, and Shared Values
Kwanzaa is a seven-day cultural celebration observed from December 26 to January 1, created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, an African American professor and activist, during the Civil Rights Movement.
Dr. Karenga designed Kwanzaa to provide African Americans with a holiday rooted in their cultural heritage, offering a time to reflect on values of unity, resilience, and pride. Drawing on African traditions, Kwanzaa celebrates African American history, identity, and the collective strength of the community, making it a meaningful observance during the winter holiday season.
Kwanzaa is a unique celebration within the African American community, honouring cultural heritage and resilience through seven guiding principles, called the ‘Nguzo Saba,’ which emphasize values of community, self-determination, and mutual support. If the themes resonate, consider how they might inspire a reflection on values relevant to your own experience.
Key Themes:
Unity and Community Strength: Emphasizing bonds within families and communities.
Cultural Pride and Empowerment: Honouring African heritage as a source of strength and resilience for African American identity.
Reflection and Responsibility: Encouraging self-awareness about one’s role within the community and commitment to its well-being.
Cultural Practice:
Kwanzaa’s main ritual involves lighting a candle each evening on the kinara (a seven-branched candleholder), with each candle representing one of the Nguzo Saba. Families and communities often come together to reflect on the principle of the day, such as Umoja (Unity) or Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), and discuss ways to practice these values in everyday life. This ritual is a powerful reminder of cultural heritage and the shared responsibility to uplift the community.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on the role unity plays in your life. How do you build connections with family, friends, or community, and what role do these bonds play in your sense of belonging? What communities have you joined this year that have enriched your life? What have you learned about yourself through those communities?
Consider what self-determination means for you. In what ways do you define your identity or take actions that feel true to your values?
Choose a value that resonates with you. How do you express this value in your own life, and what could deepen your commitment to it? Take time to do a value exercise in your journal and consider if any life changes during this year have shifted your values? Do you need to reassess alignment of your current priorities with your values?
Journal sprint idea: Over seven days, use the seven guiding principles of Kwanzaa to inspire a journal entry:
Umoja (Unity): To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. Umoja focuses on coming together as a unified community, building strong relationships, and supporting one another.
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. This principle emphasizes the importance of self-identity, autonomy, and self-respect, encouraging individuals to shape their own lives and narratives.
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together. Ujima promotes collective care and responsibility, encouraging people to support each other and work collaboratively to improve the community.
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. This principle highlights economic self-reliance and mutual support, fostering a sense of shared prosperity within the community.
Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. Nia encourages individuals to pursue purposeful goals that benefit the community, helping uplift one another and contribute to shared well-being.
Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. Kuumba celebrates creativity and innovation, encouraging people to express themselves and use their talents to improve and beautify the community.
Imani (Faith): To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Imani underscores faith in oneself, one’s community, and the principles that guide social and cultural empowerment. It’s about fostering trust, resilience, and belief in the strength of the community.
3 Winter Solstice Journaling Ideas: Rebirth, Balance, and Inner Light
The Winter Solstice, which occurs around December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, marks the longest night and the shortest day of the year.
This astronomical event has been celebrated for centuries across various cultures, symbolizing the ‘return of the sun’ as days begin to lengthen. The solstice marks a turning point in winter, symbolizing renewal, reflection, and hope as we welcome longer days. Ancient civilizations, such as the Romans, Celts, and Norse, held rituals to honour the solstice, often involving fire and feasting to celebrate the gradual return of light.
Key Themes:
Renewal and Rebirth: A time to reflect on new beginnings as light returns to the world.
Resilience and Endurance: Acknowledging the endurance required to move through darker, colder times.
Harmony with Nature: Celebrating the natural cycles and finding balance within them.
Cultural Practice:
One example of a Winter Solstice celebration is the Yule festival, which originated in ancient Germanic and Norse cultures and is still observed in various forms today. Traditionally, people would burn a Yule log, a large piece of wood that symbolized warmth, protection, and the light to come. This log would be kept burning throughout the night as a sign of resilience and protection against the darkness, embodying hope and togetherness.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on a recent period of challenge in your life. How did you endure this time, and what strength did you discover within yourself?
Consider what renewal means to you. As the light slowly returns after the solstice, what areas of your life could use fresh energy, hope, or a new beginning?
Write about your relationship with nature and the changing seasons. What lessons do you draw from observing natural cycles, and how can you bring this harmony into your own life?
Journal sprint idea: Winter solstice is a wonderful single opportunity to practice mindfulness, release and hope. Set aside several hours in the late evening to write and be present with yourself and nature. You could do a Release, Kindle, Recognise journal exercise.
Release: On a separate piece of paper (not in your journal) write out everything that is tight inside you. Spill any bitterness, resentment, regret, anger, or jealousy onto the page. Let these emotions which we often deny and block rise in your body and spill out onto the page. All emotions are valid and have a purpose. Feel the release of that energy from your bones into your fingers and out through the ink. When you feel spent (you may be surprised at just how much wants to come out - be patient and give it full time), thank the pages for giving you that space and release the energy by burning the writing. Outside over a small fire or with a candle is perfect for this.
Kindle: With your cleansed body now write about one thing that you want to kindle, nourish and encourage in the coming year. This is perfect for your journal or as a letter that you will date and keep for yourself. What is the expansion that you want to reach toward? Write out a vision of how this will be present in your life by a certain date. Focus on the details and sensations of it already being present.
Recognise: After you have written this vision, shake your body out, move around, drink some water, rebound, for about five to ten minutes. Return to your journal, light a candle and welcome in the doubts that jump in to deny this kindled vision. These are your fears and if not recognised they will work to hinder you. Give them space, thank them for showing you what your inner challenges are going to be.
4 Yalda Night Journal Prompts: Hope and Connection on the Longest Night of the Year
Yalda Night, or Shab-e Yalda, is an ancient Persian festival also celebrated on December 21, the Winter Solstice.
Originating in Zoroastrian tradition, Yalda represents renewal, resilience, and hope, as people gather to share the warmth of family and friends during the year’s coldest and darkest time. Yalda Night has been celebrated in Iran and other Persian-speaking regions for thousands of years.
Key Themes:
Hope and Light: Celebrating the return of light and the promise of brighter days ahead.
Family and Connection: Gathering with loved ones to share food, stories, and poetry.
Resilience and Renewal: Finding strength during tough times and welcoming the new beginnings that follow.
Cultural Practice:
On Yalda Night, families gather to stay up late, eating foods that symbolize warmth and life, such as pomegranates (representing the red of dawn) and watermelons (symbolizing the warmth of summer, eaten as a wish for health through winter). Traditional Persian poetry, especially the works of Hafez, is often read aloud, with each person randomly selecting a poem that is thought to offer guidance or wisdom for the year ahead. This ritual of reading poetry is called Fal-e Hafez and is considered a form of seeking insight.
The entire evening embodies the spirit of sharing, resilience, and cultural heritage, bringing people together in the warmth of family and community to welcome the gradual return of the sun.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on a challenging period in your life that eventually led to growth or renewal. Consider how you progressed from doubt and overwhelm to hope and confidence.
Consider what wisdom helped you through this time. What words or writings gave you comfort and aided you? Seek out those writings now and read them again. Do they still feel helpful? Are there any final messages that you needed to hear from them? Engage with them in your journaling. Connect previous versions of yourself reading them to the person you are now.
Write about a tradition or practice that brings you comfort and connection. How does this tradition help you feel more grounded or resilient? Is this a tradition steeped in food and sharing? Or is it one that you have lost touch with?
Journal sprint idea: For a deeply community-based experience to winter solstice, you could invite people you have met this year or who have influenced your growth to a Yalda-inspired literary evening. Give deep consideration to the food you want to share, and invite your guests to bring writings they have found deeply helpful. Ask each guest to read their wisdom and have everyone journal about how that reading impacts them. Celebrating the writing of others and connecting it to your own writing can deepen the value you place on your own words.
Another Winter solstice option:
You might also like to explore the Dongzhi Festival, also known as the Winter Solstice Festival, celebrated in China and several other East Asian countries, typically on December 21 or 22. This festival dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and marks the arrival of winter’s coldest days, symbolizing the balance of yin (darkness) and yang (light) as the days start to grow longer. Dongzhi is a time to celebrate the resilience of family bonds and to gather for warmth, nourishment, and renewal as the community prepares for the deeper winter.
You could include themes of balance in your considerations for solstice journaling.
5 Ōmisoka Journal Prompts: Releasing the Past Year and Welcoming New Intentions
Ōmisoka, or Japanese New Year’s Eve, is observed on December 31 and is a significant date in Japanese culture.
As a traditional end-of-year celebration, Ōmisoka is a time to cleanse, reflect, and prepare for the fresh start that the new year brings. While New Year’s Day (Shōgatsu) is the primary day of celebration, Ōmisoka is dedicated to the practices of ‘closing out’ the past year, clearing away any negative energy, and setting intentions for the year ahead.
Key Themes:
Letting Go and Cleansing: Releasing old burdens and preparing a clean slate.
Gratitude and Reflection: Looking back over the past year, appreciating growth, and honouring both successes and challenges.
Renewal and New Beginnings: Preparing for a positive start by ensuring a harmonious environment.
Cultural Practice:
On Ōmisoka, Japanese families often take part in ōsōji (big cleaning), where they clean their homes thoroughly to remove the previous year’s ‘dust,’ both literally and figuratively. This is more than physical cleaning; it’s a ritual to let go of the past and eliminate any lingering negative energy. After ōsōji, families often share a bowl of toshikoshi soba (year-crossing noodles). The long noodles symbolize longevity and resilience, providing blessings for health and prosperity in the year to come.
At midnight, many families also watch the televised ringing of the temple bells in a ceremony called Joya no Kane. Buddhist temples strike their bells 108 times to represent the cleansing of 108 human desires, which, according to Buddhist belief, cause suffering. This practice symbolizes purification and the release of worldly concerns, making way for peace in the new year.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on something from the past year that you would like to cleanse or release. What mental or emotional ‘dust’ are you ready to let go of, and how might releasing it make way for something positive? Write this out in your diary as a dialogue. Old Year you versus New Year you. Seek deep understanding and help the year unfold richly.
Consider the long view of your life as you move into the new year. Just as toshikoshi soba symbolizes longevity, think about your own life goals. What aspects of your story are strong undercurrents that carry you forward and remain as part of you? How can you honour and celebrate these?
What part of your external environment needs preparing for success? What is there around you that is not set up to carry you forward? How does the daily environment that you work or live in not express the outcome you want for 2025? Journal to consider what impact this is having and visualise your ideal space. Spend time physically clearing it out and beginning to reshape the outer space.
Journal sprint idea: Using the Wellbeing Wheel, consider eight or more aspects of your life that are important and journal an entry for each to see what needs to be released and how you can prepare the space for success.
6 Las Posadas Journal Prompts: Reflecting on Hospitality, Community, and Support
Las Posadas is a traditional Mexican and Latin American holiday celebrated from December 16 to December 24.
This nine-day celebration reenacts the journey of Mary and Joseph as they sought shelter before the birth of Jesus, making it both a cultural and religious observance. Posadas means ‘inns’ or ‘lodgings’ in Spanish, symbolizing the search for a place of welcome and refuge. Each night, participants recreate Mary and Joseph’s journey, often visiting different homes in the neighbourhood, singing songs, and celebrating with prayers and festivities.
Las Posadas holds special significance in Mexican culture, emphasizing the values of hospitality, faith, and community. In many Latin American communities, the reenactments bring neighbours together in a spirit of generosity and warmth, reminding people of the importance of caring for one another.
Key Themes:
Hospitality and Generosity: Celebrating the act of welcoming and caring for others.
Faith and Perseverance: Honouring the journey of Mary and Joseph and reflecting on themes of resilience.
Community and Connection: Strengthening bonds within neighbourhoods through shared traditions.
Cultural Practice:
Each evening during Las Posadas, a procession led by people dressed as Mary and Joseph goes from house to house, symbolically asking for shelter. The residents of each house initially turn them away, reenacting the challenges Mary and Joseph faced, until they are finally welcomed into a designated ‘inn’ at the end of the procession. Once the procession reaches its final destination, participants celebrate with food, songs, and a piñata for children, symbolizing the joy of welcome and generosity.
The nine days of Las Posadas also represent a time of prayer and reflection, often accompanied by gatherings where people share traditional foods like tamales, pozole, and atole. The celebrations culminate on Christmas Eve with a Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass), which brings the community together in a final moment of unity and devotion.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on a time when you were either the one seeking support or the one offering it. How did this experience shape your understanding of hospitality and community?
Consider a challenge you’ve recently faced. In the spirit of perseverance, think about how you moved through it and what ‘inns’ of support or encouragement you found along the way. What insight does this give you for the next challenge?
Write about a group or community that brings you a sense of belonging. What traditions, values, or shared experiences create this sense of connection, and how does it contribute to your well-being? Do you feel this is part of your life currently or something you wish to create moving forward?
Journal sprint idea: Create a 9-day journal commitment where you take a deep journey into a certain area of your life. It might be community, relationships, work, learning, personal growth, etc. Consider the doors you have knocked on and been refused entry to and ask yourself ‘how was this redirection, not rejection?’ Consider where you are now and if this feels like the end of your journey or if you have further to go. If so, spend some time considering where you want to end up.
7 Bodhi Day Journal Prompts: Finding Inner Peace and Enlightenment
Bodhi Day, celebrated on December 8, commemorates the day that Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India.
This event marks the Buddha's realization of the Four Noble Truths, which form the foundation of Buddhist teachings on understanding and overcoming suffering. For Buddhists, Bodhi Day is a time to honour the Buddha’s journey toward wisdom and compassion, and to reflect on the principles of mindfulness, peace, and personal growth. If you feel connected to the themes of enlightenment and compassion, consider a personal meditation or journaling practice inspired by these principles, keeping in mind the unique significance of these themes within Buddhism.
Key Themes:
Enlightenment and Wisdom: Recognizing the journey of self-discovery and understanding.
Mindfulness and Compassion: Embracing awareness, kindness, and a compassionate heart.
Inner Peace and Letting Go: Focusing on inner tranquillity and releasing attachments that lead to suffering.
Cultural Practice:
On Bodhi Day, Buddhists often engage in extended meditation sessions and mindfulness practices to honour the Buddha's enlightenment. Many decorate their homes or meditation spaces with lights and candles symbolizing the light of wisdom. Another popular tradition is decorating a Bodhi tree, often with multi-coloured lights and ornaments, to represent the many paths that lead to enlightenment.
Additionally, some Buddhists enjoy a simple meal of tea, milk, and rice to symbolize the meal that is said to have sustained Siddhartha Gautama before he attained enlightenment. Acts of kindness, quiet contemplation, and the recitation of Buddhist texts are also common practices, helping individuals deepen their understanding of compassion and mindfulness.
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on your own journey of self-discovery and understanding. What have been some moments of personal insight or clarity, and how have they influenced your life?
Consider what compassion means to you. How do you practice kindness toward others and yourself, and how does it impact your well-being?
Write about something you’re ready to let go of. In the spirit of inner peace, think about what attachments or concerns you’d like to release to welcome a sense of freedom and calm.
Journal sprint idea: Bodhi Day presents another one-day opportunity for a deep journaling practice. Begin the morning with a mindful journal session, focusing on your energy, letting thoughts arise naturally to be present on the page. Carry this mindfulness with you through the morning. Return to journal at midday about the impermanence of being. Consider how your thoughts have shifted through the year. What seemed important that has dulled? As evening sets in, be deeply present as the light fades, welcoming the light you bring into your home with candles and small lights. Return to your journal with gratitude. Spend time expressing the many wonders of your day, your year and your life. End with gratitude for all the light that you carry within you.
8 Boxing Day Journal Prompts: Gratitude, Generosity, and Community Giving
Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26, the day after Christmas, primarily in the UK, Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth nations.
Originating in Victorian England, Boxing Day traditionally involved giving ‘Christmas boxes’ (gifts, food, or money) to service workers, such as postal carriers and household staff, as a token of gratitude for their work throughout the year. Over time, the holiday became a broader occasion for acts of generosity, with many people focusing on charitable giving and spending quality time with friends and family.
In modern times, Boxing Day is also associated with sales and shopping events, as stores offer post-Christmas discounts. But, at its core, Boxing Day is a day to extend the holiday spirit of gratitude and giving. How could you focus on this aspect of Christmas throughout December?
Key Themes:
Generosity and Gratitude: Acknowledging and giving back to those who provide services and support.
Community and Connection: Gathering with friends and family, sharing resources, and celebrating together.
Reflection and Charitable Giving: Emphasizing acts of kindness and supporting those in need.
Cultural Practice:
One common Boxing Day tradition is making charitable donations or volunteering, whether through food drives, monetary contributions, or simply sharing a meal with those less fortunate. For many, Boxing Day also provides a chance to visit with extended family or friends who may not have been part of Christmas Day celebrations. Are there people in your life who you haven’t made enough time to keep close? Could you journal around this idea and take the time to get in touch with them throughout the month
Journaling Prompts:
Reflect on someone in your life who provides support, whether in small or big ways. How can you express gratitude for their efforts, and what impact does their support have on you? Take the time to journal about this and then write a letter of thanks in your journal to them. Consider how you might want to return that generosity in the coming year.
What forms of giving (time, resources, kindness) resonate most with you, and how might you incorporate these more intentionally in your life? Can you consider how others around you might need your generosity in ways that are harder for you? And consider whether you are being generous to yourself. Do you feel able to recognise and validate your own needs?
Write about a cause or community need that matters to you. How could you contribute to this cause, and what would meaningful involvement look like? Do you feel hope that you can contribute? And if not, how can you decide to act that might change the way you feel in a year’s time?
Journal Sprint idea: Boxing Day offers another single day event to dedicate time to journaling but it also offers a theme that you might use as a focus throughout December. Each day, focus on one area of your life, a person you know, or a cause that matters to you. Use these reflections to create small acts of giving or gratitude to share on Boxing Day.
Wrapping up…
As you explore these traditions, reflect on which year-end rituals and values resonate with you personally. Journal about the inspiration this post has given you to explore honouring your own path toward growth and renewal. Are there certain days which really connect to you? Or do particular themes inspire you to build a habit of reflection and journaling?
If you enjoyed this blog, be sure to sign up to my newsletter Rewrite. I’ll be sharing my own solstice journal prompts as a gateway to transformation this year. Releasing the work done, embracing rest and recuperation, and rising toward the expansion of a new year. Join me online on 21st December as a valued subscriber.
And please do email me if you have any further traditions that you’d like to share with me marianne@mariannerosen.com