Winter Notes in Seattle

December in Seattle is passing unusually fast. In the offices of Q4, people have an unspoken understanding—badging out earlier each day, watching the rain-soaked city lights flicker on sparsely from 5 p.m., only to glow fully within an hour. Rainy nights during the holidays hold a certain loneliness for those without shelter in the cold, the scent of pine needles lingering in the air, and the warm lights of countless homes releasing the past year while holding hope for the next. ❄️🏙️💡 December in Seattle is filled with moments that touch the heart. We visited the Farm to Table exhibition at SAM, standing among a crowd of grandparents as the guide spoke about the evolution of culinary culture during the French colonial period. The exhibition was engaging, the guide witty, and we left feeling truly happy. That day, my friend X wore her hair in a short ponytail and a brown coat, reminding me of the summer we first met—both of us in long dresses observing spiders on vines at a small Spanish restaurant in Seattle. How fortunate life is to share a quirky curiosity for the world with a friend like her. 🎨👵🍂 On a rare clear Sunday morning, I went out for a walk with no makeup on. The habit of walking up hills, formed during my time in Vancouver, now feels ingrained in my DNA. The usually bustling SLU was nearly empty that morning, where I came across a young man with a camera capturing the streets. He was focused on finding the right angles and framing—his lens capturing the early winter morning in Seattle, while he remained unaware that he, standing in the morning light, had become part of my view that day. From a distance of several dozen meters, we walked parallel from SLU to Capitol Hill, and I quietly took a photo of his, a memento of this unexpectedly romantic winter encounter. 🌄📸🚶 A month back, my conclusion remains: Seattle is a culinary desert. I’ve dined out frequently every week without encountering a single memorable dish. Yet even in this desert, there are moments like steaming clay pot rice shared with friend X as we whimsically imagined our silly selves at ninety, and laughing with friend Y during the sixth round of birthday fire rituals at a Thai restaurant. Happiness can come from a few dollars’ worth of stir-fried noodles or a hundreds-of-dollars Michelin meal, but creating wonderful dining experiences with like-minded people is a rare and special kind of joy. 🍜🍲😄 December is a season of giving. Between on-call duties, I wrote handwritten letters to friends, baked pet biscuits for my cats in the early weekend hours, sent thoughtful gifts to faraway friends I miss, and treated myself to a new ice cream maker and a vinyl record player. There are heartbreaks, worries, new work challenges, and dizzying stock market dips. But I believe that feeling happiness—and creating it for oneself and others—is a kind of strength. 💌🍪🎁💿 This year, I’ve told different friends: In 2026, I don’t want to delay happiness anymore. The things I want to accomplish, the people I want to see, the words I want to say, the goals I want to achieve—I’ll actively pursue them every day. ✨📅 Looking forward to the new year, I wish every friend who happens to read this a peaceful and joyful Christmas. P.S. Excited to spend New Year’s in New York—maybe there will be a vlog series coming soon! 🗽🎥🌟 #SeattleLife