Greeting the Solstice

Winter has come at last. No snow here, not even a chance. But a stillness has settled in, a peace and I love that. This morning we slept late. My last package was mailed yesterday and I started dozing off at 9:30 last night. I'm so grateful for this time off.

Winter books were pulled out just a while ago and two read on the spot. A couple of new ones I had purchased over the year joined our old favorites.

Our Thanks Giving tree was transformed into a snowy winter tree with the help of the beeswax snowflakes I made last year. And we've been joined by a little sun gnome, here to greet the Solstice.



Happy Solstice to you, friends!

Christmas Dreaming

December 15th... five days and every last order will be out the door and on their way to fill stockings and rest under someone's tree til Christmas morning. Til then I work and make plans on what few things I will make before our own Christmas morning. I have very little time to make very little and I am OK with that.

I found a little nightstand that my husband will fashion into a kitchen for all three girls and I've acquired a few things to go with it from second hand stores. A couple of tiny pots, a small broom, a little cream and red bowl that makes me dreamy of a Scandinavian kitchen, wooden spoons and a few wooden bowls from my own kitchen, an enamelware camping coffee set my parents were throwing out... sweet things but not dumbed down. It will have a place of honor in our front room and I'm making place for a little table and chair set I hope to find in time.

For Kaiya I have a sweet dolly that I won from Little Jenny Wren back over the summer and I'm really looking forward to giving it to her. For Zoe I am going to make a very simple doll. Zoe loves animals. I have asked her many times if she wants a dolly or animals and it's always a new animal, stuffed, figurines, etc. But this time she surprised me by asking for a doll. So I think I will do a simple baby style doll for cuddling and caring for. And for River... well, to be honest I'm not sure yet. Yes, it's so very close and I don't even know what I'm making for her! But I'm not worried.

I had planned to open gifts on Solstice and save small stocking things for Christmas, but I won't be ready then and that's OK, too. Still going slowly, letting go of the things that really don't matter so much. I think we'll take our Christmas past the 25th and keep our lights burning through the 12 Days of Christmas, feeling inspired to do so by Grace. Little thoughts that have bloomed in me. We are staying here as much as possible, trying to stay out of the rush and the desperation that comes out in so many this time of year. Many, many times I have heard others lament that they just hate the commercialism and indulgence of Christmas. My reply has always been the same, like everything, it is what you make of it. Here in our home we can choose what we allow in and how we celebrate and the things we do and have. We stay out of stores as much as possible. I prefer not to grocery shop with the girls in tow this time of year. We stay home and we go to friends and celebrate at our own pace, in our own way. We choose. As my girls grow and go out into the world more and more on their own they will see that it's not always as we've done things, they we see there are many choices to be made and many ways to do things. And that's OK. I'm laying their foundation now, and that's all I can do. I give them what I can now, an environment and experiences and a way of life, and I don't believe that all of that will be lost just because other things are later introduced.

It's a foundation. It's something to lean on, something to come to expect, a rhythm, tradition. Something that is unique to our family even if they can't find it out in the world later on. It's something they can always return to and, if they so choose, carry out in their own families later on.

So here we are. Making preparations in our own way and at our own pace. I think we will go ahead get our tree this Sunday, so we can do it with Daddy and have it up by Solstice. How is your holiday coming along?

Family Day and the Third Week of Advent

It was 'family day' today. When my husband moved back in a month ago we assigned Sunday as our day together. No other obligations, just the five of us. Today we went in search of greenery for a wreath and our tree. Not to take home. I want to wait a bit longer before we bring it in, perhaps on Christmas Eve this year, or maybe we'll get it next weekend, before Solstice. I'm undecided still. But today we went hunting for a tree that was 'just perfect for our little family', as Kaiya proclaimed.

And so we hiked into the woods a ways, found some rose hips and tiny blue berries that I'm not sure about and our tree.





We found a wonderfully scraggly pine that is optimistically green and deemed it 'perfect!'. I haven't combed the woods for a tree in so long. We used to do it as a family so many years ago but then began buying trees. And since starting my own family we've always bought our trees, as well. But I just have no interest in doing that this year. Sure, we could get a really beautiful and symmetrical tree for just $25 only 10 miles down the road. But there's just something about that trek through the woods and bringing home the tree. It's the memory I want to give my girls. We don't have a lot of beautiful evergreens in these woods, not of realistic size anyway. But I think there is such charm in that oddball, 'Charlie Brown' tree that we find and cut down ourselves, no buying involved.

So we tied a pink silk to one of the branches, gathered some more greens and will be back for our tree in a week or so.

Back home, Daddy and Zoe make some rich and delicious smores bars while Kaiya and I worked on the wreath. River bopped around, 'helping' everyone.



We pulled out the decorations and placed just a few more things around the house.. still taking the season very slowly.

And we ended the day with the third light of Advent, butternut squash soup and hot spiced cider. Not a bad way to spend our day together.

The First Light of Advent

It is late and I am tired, but I wanted to stop in for just a moment and share what is on my mind right now.
Tonight we lit the first Advent candle. I really appreciate the quiet serenity of this period, though, I must confess that I have not fully connected to it yet. It is one of those that has been a little slow going with me. Christmas, in general, really. I know that I am not alone of feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of making Christmas meaningful for me. It comes with so much baggage and such an overwhelming presence that I had briefly thought of giving it up all together. But I think that I would be doing myself and my children a grave disservice by doing that. I think it is important for me to work through this one and that we will be rewarded by it in the end.
So, yes, I am thinking thoughts of festivals.... I'm sure this doesn't surprise my regular readers. My apologies if I do go on and on at times. They are on my mind much of the time. Much too much. But I am reading (and re-reading) a few articles here , here, and here. I am feeling the beginning of clarity, reading them. Things beginning to connect. Perhaps you'll find them useful, too.
But for now, I'm off to bed. Goodnight!

Solstice and Christmas... in a Nutshell

I had been meaning to post all of last week, even had a handful of pictures uploaded. But that, quite obviously, didn't happen. So here are our Solstice and Christmas festivities in pictures.

Lots of crafting. The girls really enjoyed decorating the front of these canvas bags. Love these fabric crayons from Pentel. I'm sure we'll find lots of uses for them for gifts and such in the future.

Truth be told, we haven't finished handing them all out as we are still not finished baking goodies for the inside. That's OK, though. Everyone appreciates a little extra something after the holidays.

(Treats for our animal friends, made on Solstice.)

(Winter fairy, an extra gift from Erin. The Holly fairy in the back is from Rjabinnik.)
Most of our gifts were opened on Solstice but here are the last few, tucked under the tree on Christmas Eve night. I'll share pictures of the doll I stayed up late making in a day or so. It was my first attempt at a Waldorf style doll and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

(Duck prints.)

We enjoyed our first white Christmas that I think any of us has ever had. How magical and unexpected to wake up Christmas morning to snow falling. After opening gifts we went to my brother's for breakfast. By then we had a good coverage and the girls trooped out into the snow, running and making snow angels.

And now we begin to put away the holiday things and clean up the mess from our festivities. I truly enjoy this quite, introspective time between Christmas and New Year. Time to do some decluttering and reevaluating, both in our homes and our personal lives. There is a slow, and comfortable pace as we pull out the year past and look it over. Here I can see what should be kept and worked upon, what didn't work for us and should be let go. A time for new ideas and new goals, resolutions and making peace with the year's failures and frustrations.

The snow is casting a lovely light that is not normally seen in this dim house. I see these cold and frosty days as a wonderful way to start a new, sparkling year, a fresh clean start.

I hope you all enjoy this quite time before the new year. May it bring you peace and light.

Finding the Sacred in New Traditions

I began this post yesterday, but put it aside for further contemplation, because, like her, I don't want to offend anyone. One's spiritual leanings can be a bit of a touchy subject. But here we all are together, a myriad of beliefs and ideals. There is room for us all, isn't there?

I was raised Baptist Christian, my mother moved us to a non-denominational church when I came into my teens and I left the church all together when I was about 16/17. Regardless of faith or lack thereof I have always followed my family's traditional holiday celebrations, which were pretty standard, I think. The first Saturday after Thanksgiving we would put up our tree and from then we would shop and decorate and bake and enjoy the usual merry makings of the season. Advent was never a part of this, solstice never observed nor the saint's days. And certain members of my family have always been pretty adamant that we follow our traditions, never deviating. Tradition is tradition, I suppose. And for some I can see how knowing what to expect year after year can seem comforting.

But, in recent years I had begun to feel a certain flatness, hard to put my finger on but I just wasn't feeling as fulfilled with our celebrations as usual. Tradition had come to feel restraining and stagnant and I begun to feel that my spirit wasn't being nourished by our festivities. But how does one without a set spiritual path bring spirit and a sense of the sacred into celebrations based on religion? For me, the Christmas season has always been about family and togetherness. About celebrating just for the sake of celebrating, shouldn't life be celebrated? But suddenly, that just did not feel like it was enough for me, though, I don't think I could have put this empty feeling, this yearning for a more sacred and spiritual holiday into words. I did know that the coming of the Christ child held little meaning for me (though, completely respecting that it does for so many) and so did the hustle and bustle of scurrying of gift giving and receiving.

I began to learn about Waldorf education about two years ago and have admired (from a distance) the beauty of all the festivals celebrated. But while admiring them I was hesitant to incorporate them into my family's traditions, after all, most are religion based and I have none. Could these spirit filled festivities be embraced by someone with no spiritual leanings? After much pondering and introspection I believe the answer is simply 'yes'. As we light our first advent candle we look toward, not the coming of Christ but the coming of a different Sun and count down the days til Winter Solstice is upon us and the sun returns. Our garden grew this year and our time spent out of doors increased. We welcomed several new animal friends into our lives and in all of this my connection to this great Earth increased and with it I have a deeper understanding of how our lives here are supported by the sun. This is something that holds meaning for me. This is something I could wholeheartedly pass on to my girls and celebrate with them. We will also be adopting a couple of the saint's days, as well. St. Nicholas and St. Lucia. I do not have to be Christian to admire the selflessness and generosity of spirit that St. Nicholas represents and St. Lucia reminds all of us to be a shining light in the world. This is what I want to pass on to my girls.
So, this year the decorations will not be as many and are coming out more slowly. There is still much celebration to be had here, but the focus will be not on the material or the frenzy that builds over the season. Over the years I had amassed quite a collection of Christmas decorations and over the summer I gave most of them away, opting instead to make by hand most of what we put up and involve my children in this as much as possible. Too often children become spectators of these occasions and are only involved when something is to be received. Instead our aim will be the moment received, not the end result.

The gifts will be fewer. Not very many handmade this year (by me anyway), unfortunately. I will have to prepare for this Christmas rush in my shop sooner next year and work on gifts early in the year while I can. And the girls will be encouraged to work on their own gifts so that they can also feel that joy of giving. Giving of one's self will also be placed in special emphasis and will be included in our Advent calender.

The winter holiday season brings a sense of wonder, magic and the sacred into our lives whether we go to church or practice a religion in our own way, or not. How do you celebrate this season in your family?