Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products I genuinely trust and believe will bring value to my readers. Also, some of the content was created with strategic use of AI tools. For more information, please visit the Privacy Policy page. Thank you for supporting my blog and helping me continue to provide valuable content.

December has always asked something different of my heart.

Maybe it’s the way the garden quiets down, or the way the light slants lower and more golden, or how the year’s weight gathers in the corners of my mind like un-raked leaves. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Romania, where December was both lean and holy — where the cold was sharp, but the house smelled like citrus peels drying near the stove and pine branches tucked behind icons.

Whatever the reason, December is the month that reminds me that gardening is far more than seeds and soil. It’s spiritual practice. It’s prayer. It’s memory. It’s a place where God sits quietly beside us and says, “Let’s look back together. Let’s breathe. Let’s rest.”

This December gardening calendar was created from that place — a slowing, a listening, a gathering in of what matters. And as always with Rooted in Grace, these tasks aren’t just chores. They are invitations.

🪴 Week 1: Simple Greens, Simple Joy

(Dec 1–7)

According to Week 1 of your calendar, December begins gently — with small acts of tending: rotating a houseplant, wiping a windowsill, clearing a single shelf.

I used to feel guilty about doing “so little” this time of year. But the older I get, the more I realize God often speaks through the smallest movements — the turning of a pot toward the light, the way we slow down enough to actually see a dusty leaf, the moment we notice how the morning sun hits a freshly-cleared sill.

This week, you will:

• Water houseplants & rotate one pot (Dec 1)
• Snip herb cuttings for rooting indoors (Dec 2)
• Prepare a windowsill for future seedlings (Dec 3)
• Tidy your potting soil into a neat bin (Dec 4)
• Declutter one shelf in the shed (Dec 5)
• Dust the leaves of a large plant (Dec 6)
• Sit with tea by your window garden (Dec 7)

These practices are not about productivity.
They are about attentive stewardship — one of the core rhythms of intuitive gardening.

They whisper, “You don’t have to accomplish. You can simply tend.”

And that is enough.

🎁 Week 2: Gather & Give from the Garden

(Dec 8–14)

Week 2 reminds me of my mother, who always gathered what little we had — evergreen sprigs, dried fruit, a handful of herbs — and made the most beautiful Christmas displays.

According to your calendar, this week is about giving from what the garden already offers, not what you need to buy.

There’s something deeply Christlike about that — the offering of simple, ordinary things made holy by love.

This week, you will:

• Clip evergreen sprigs (Dec 8)
• String dried citrus slices (Dec 9)
• Bundle herbs for gift tags (Dec 10)
• Refresh porch pots with twigs & cones (Dec 11)
• Make a fragrant stovetop simmer (Dec 12)
• Set a small bouquet on the table (Dec 13)
• Collect natural accents on a walk (Dec 14)

This is the week where the garden reminds us:
You already have enough to bless someone.
You already have beauty to give.

Even your simplest offering — a sprig, a slice, a bundle of herbs — is enough.

🌿 Week 3: Rooted Traditions

(Dec 15–21)

Week 3 speaks directly to something I’ve been trying to reclaim: garden-centered traditions that slow the season down and anchor it in what’s real.

Your calendar invites you to make biodegradable ornaments, decorate with foraged greenery, and brainstorm a new garden tradition to carry forward.

These practices tie the garden to Christmas in the most tender ways.

This week, you will:

• Make biodegradable ornaments (Dec 15)
• Mark the winter sun path (Dec 16)
• Decorate one area with foraged items (Dec 17)
• Brainstorm a new garden holiday tradition (Dec 18)
• Make a list of garden-inspired gifts (Dec 19)
• Bring home a poinsettia (Dec 20)
• Plan a garden-centered Christmas moment (Dec 21)

This week honors faithful response, another pillar of intuitive gardening — responding to what God is doing in the season you are in.

December is not for rushing.
It is for remembering.

✨ Week 4: Holy Stillness, Winter Light

(Dec 22–28)

This is my favorite week of the whole month — when the world feels like it’s holding its breath, waiting for a Savior who comes small, quiet, and wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Your calendar invites you into that same stillness: simple arrangements, small acts of giving, candlelit walks, reflection, gratitude, and noticing the light.

This week, you will:

• Make an arrangement from evergreens or herbs (Dec 22)
• Give something from the garden (Dec 23)
• Take a candlelit walk and pray (Dec 24)
• Notice light in small places (Dec 25)
• Reflect on what grew well — soil & soul (Dec 26)
• Sketch next year’s beds with hope (Dec 27)
• Write down one lesson learned (Dec 28)

This week embodies the heart of Covenant Relationship — tending your garden and your soul with God, not for Him or apart from Him.

December teaches us that God doesn’t just meet us in our blooming seasons.
He meets us in our waiting.

🌱 Week 5: Prepare in Faith

(Dec 29–31)

The last three days of December always feel like quiet pages between stories — not quite the end, not quite the beginning.

Your calendar closes with three small, intentional practices: a seed list, a prayer, and a sowing ritual.

This week, you will:

• Make your January seed & supply list (Dec 29)
• Write a prayer for your garden’s winter rest (Dec 30)
• Plan a New Year’s sowing ritual (Dec 31)

Each of these acts is a declaration of hope.

Every seed list is a belief that life will come again.
Every prayer is a reminder that rest is holy.
Every ritual is a way of saying,
“Lord, here I am. Make me ready for what You’re planting next.”

🌟 Final Reflection: December as Holy Ground

December is not a month of emptiness — it is a month of holy spaciousness.

In Zone 9, while the rest of the country goes dormant, our gardens offer small, surprising pockets of life. And maybe that’s why the garden becomes such a sacred place this time of year. It mirrors what God is doing in us:

• Quieting us
• Rooting us
• Asking us to release what needs letting go
• Preparing us for the light that’s coming

This December, may your garden be a sanctuary.
May your heart breathe again.
May the light find you — even in the smallest corners.
And may you enter the New Year rooted in grace, grounded in peace, and blooming in hope.

🌿 Download Your Free December Gardening Calendar

If this month’s rhythms spoke to you — the quiet tending, the simple greens, the candlelit walks, the moments of holy stillness — make sure you download the full December Zone 9 Gardening Calendar so you can walk through each day with intention.

It includes daily tasks, small seasonal rituals, garden-to-table ideas, and soul-centered prompts to help you stay rooted as the year draws to a close.

✨ Step Into Advent in the Garden

If your heart is craving something deeper this season — a way to reconnect with God through beauty, simplicity, and slow, sacred rhythms — I’d love to invite you into Advent in the Garden.

It’s a gentle, soul-soothing journey where Scripture, reflection, and small garden-inspired practices help you prepare room for Christ in the most peaceful, grounded way.

You can start today, right where you are.
👉 Join Advent in the Garden at RootedInGrace.me/advent

Come walk this season with me — in the quiet corners of the garden, in the light that grows slowly, and in the grace that always finds us.