Tuesday, December 23, 2014

51/52 - Celebrating Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice!

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2014.
As always joining in with Jodi over at practisingsimplicity.blogspot.com
 A bit of a belated post since we were busy celebrating the Winter Solstice. As I had mentioned in a prior post we had tried stepping away from traditions that we do not see as our own and instead embrace others which spoke more to us and of us. Winter Solstice was perfect- with all the magic and all the interesting science, the interesting stories and the fact that it grounds many customs in many other traditions and religions, it was an obvious choice for us. It also nicely fit with some of our other traditions- like the Winter Lantern Walk. In anticipation of the Winter Solstice we had a countdown/advent calendar with scrolls with various activities inside each one (and a chocolate since many of the activities might not have been as exciting for a 2 year old as they were for a 6 year old).  We lit candles both the night before and the morning off- since the little ones woke up before 6 it was still dark and in many ways a perfect way to start Winter Solstice. We told stories both made up and learned about how the stars got to be in the sky and why Mother Nature has the Winter Solstice every year. We opened presents (more on that in the next post) and ate Santa pancakes. Both the night before the Winter Solstice and the day of Siena had a ballet recital, which made the whole experience even more special. The kids got to watch a movie- a huge treat in our household, while the adults cuddled up and read- we had both gotten so many awesome books- including some awesome vegan cookbooks for me. The day was slow and quiet and magical- it coincided with the end of all grading and work for Shea and I, and I have been feeling last few days like I am actually seeing my family and I feel so awake and alive- this is how life ought to be. I caught myself the other day banging around the house hoping Reed would wake up from his nap since I was missing him- on a usual work day his naps are precious time and the wake-up is dreaded. We are also looking forward to Christmas, we will be opening presents from our more Christian family members and friends and we’ll be having a large meal. Being together is so wonderful!












2 comments:

  1. happy, happy holidays, jovana!!! i loved to read about your special celebrations! xx

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  2. thanks Mir- hope you guys have a lovely holiday season!!! having been loving the snowy images recently- i wish we got some snow

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