First day of December

 My Massachusetts Audubon Calendar on the kitchen window sill

 My Advent Calendar (I opened the first window today)

My natural calendar

My Sierra Club desk calendar 

Japanese woodcut calendar on upstairs desk

My Gustave Baumann calendar on downstairs wall

Iphone calendar

constant companion

I love all my calendars and over the years I have gathered favorites. The last month of the year means turning the pages of these year long companions for one last time. I've really come to love walking around the house on the first day of the month and turning the page to a new month and a new work of art or photograph.

It's kind of like opening the tiny window of an advent calendar on each day of December but it's only once a month the rest of the year. 

I have come to love the woodcuts of Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) and often go to see his work when in New Mexico. His studio is housed in The New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, complete with printing press, jars of pigment, jars of brushes, brayers and his apron on a hook on the wall as if he might return anytime. He believed that art should be available to all and not just for the rich so I know he would have approved of this collection of his artwork in calendar form.

Many people say "rabbit, rabbit" on the first day of the month. I have wondered about that superstition/tradition so below is the history behind it.

Wishing you all good luck for the duration of the month and into the new year!

"Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is one variant of a common British superstition which states that a person should say or repeat the word "rabbit" or "rabbits", or say the phrase "white rabbits", or some combination of these elements, out loud upon waking on the first day of the month, because doing so will ensure good luck for the duration of that month. Today, it is a frequent tradition in many English-speaking countries.

Baumann studio