Relaxation : Yule : Day Twelve

With our family gathering postponed until tomorrow due to snow, there was a lot of this happening, today. I'm hopeful we will begin the hardcore relaxing (and movie watching) in the next couple of days, but we're not ready to stop with the baking and hosting, just yet. Thank you for following along on these Twelve Days of Yule, friends! May you have a safe, joyful, and outstanding New Year! I'll see you in 2014!

Surprise and Delight : Yule : Day Eleven

The year of research, collecting ideas and pins, listening to their rambling about this or that, paying close attention to their preferences, watching them dive headfirst into a passion, and squirreling away items that match all these things over the course of a year - that is one of my greatest pleasures (and one Alex shares, and we do this for each other, too). We will stay up all night wrapping that. That's what we do. (Did.) That's what we want. No complaints. (Maybe some whining.)









It's becoming more clear with every year, that our children have this desire too. They will craft or seek out the thing that makes the other's heart sing. This year, Olivia made all sorts of beautiful and touching things, including this ornament that looks like one of Adam's Planet Minecraft skins. Adam was so pleased. She also made him a gorgeous felted red fox pin. To the entire family, she gave us adorable ornaments that bear a remarkable likeness to Beatrice and Annabelle. These instantly went on the tree and will be hung every year going forward.







It was great fun to give things that though not handmade by us, were handmade by others. I received three coveted Phoebe Wahl prints from Alex, for instance. Olivia received a few favorite items from some artists specializing in social justice or feminist topics. She adores her Feminist Killjoy collar pin. There were a few Twin Peaks references in her stocking, also.



And sometimes there's just that thing, that they never expected to get, that thrills and amazes them. We live for this stuff.











Sometimes there's another sort of joy, of finding the thing that moves the other with its import. I was crying by the time he came over to give me a long hug with extra grip.





We couldn't resist pranking Papa a little, with a box featuring "Bacon Scented Dryer Sheets" and the mirth (and relief to all) that resulted when it merely contained his favorite candy bar in triplicate. Although he did say we had him going there for a bit, so I do wonder what he must think of us. As if we'd ever use dryer sheets.



Look at these two. Those smiles. Total sweetness.





It's not often I can find something whimsical that will surprise Alex. But after he went on all summer about wearing a straw beach hat while mowing or working outside, I thought he should have a proper straw hat. One made for a farmer. One that looks great with his beard.





It truly was a pleasure to share these moments with these fine people, to experience the joy of giving and receiving with them. It was a good day. Full of merriment and pure fun.

I'd be up for it in oh, say, another year.

Bless Us All : Yule : Day Ten

Today dawned cold and brilliant. The trees twinkled and chimed in the breeze. Our home had seemingly been set down inside a snow globe; everything had been turned into a blue-hued winter wonderland following the ice storm. Inside, loved ones bustled about, secretive and whispering. Animal-shaped cookies were decorated by old and young. Alex finished the daybed for the living room, in time for family and friends to gather. And those corners I so longed for, began to reflect all that live here.

We have so much to be grateful for. So much to be proud of, so much yet to do.

I can't say for sure what the next year will bring, but I do know that I will strive to hold this season in my heart all the year long. Merry, merry, friends. May your days be brilliant, joyous, and oh so full of love.

Life is full of sweet surprises
Everyday's a gift
The sun comes up and I can feel it lift my spirit
Fills me up with laughter, fills me up with song
I look into the eyes of love and know that I belong

Bless us all, who gather here
The loving family I hold dear
No place on earth, compares with home
And every path will bring me back from where I roam
Bless us all, that as we live
We always comfort and forgive
We have so much, that we can share
With those in need we see around us everywhere

Let us always love each other
Lead us to the light
Let us hear the voice of reason, singing in the night
Let us run from anger and catch us when we fall
Teach us in our dreams and please, yes please
Bless us one and all

Bless us all with playful years
With noisy games and joyful tears
We reach for You and we stand tall
And in our prayers and dreams
We ask You bless us all

We reach for You and we stand tall
And in our prayers and dreams we ask you
Bless us all

~The Muppets, Bless Us All

The Light Returns : Yule : Day Nine

The ice storm was with us still, today. As such, we gambled with our minutes and tried to work on tasks that require electricity, knowing full well that we might lose power at any moment. When it ultimately did happen, the teens still had one tray of cutouts in the oven and I was outside photographing the storm. I left a bright kitchen and returned to candles lit in the gloaming of the house at 330 in the afternoon. While the timing for a power outage is never convenient, one on the eve of Santa Eve is even less so. Ah, but many were in the same jam and it couldn't be helped, and the power outage required us to slow things down some, at the height of activity, so there's that, I suppose. So we ate thawing ice cream with the rest of the Solstice cake, some played cribbage, Olivia knitted and we talked. Alex went out once to find rope to help pull a stranger's car from a ditch. Six hours later, the power came back on. Six hours without power is not a hardship. We have the wood stove and plenty of wood, (although the water situation deserves a second look). We have candles (must get more candles), and we were safe and together.

Still. There's the baking, the wrapping. I admit, it was a relief when the light returned.

Ice Storm : Yule : Day Eight

The Solstice Cake we didn't get to yesterday is in the oven, all the laundry is caught up and I'll plan on an early dinner from the oven - all good things considering the ice that is accumulating outside. With luck, we won't lose power, but when I was last out, the wind was picking up, which is not promising. The trees swaying make an eerie sound - like clinking crystal, as the branches, coated in ice, knock against each other. If the ice builds up too much, we'll have downed branches and power lines. The wild turkeys, who seem annoyed and possibly sad, are huddling under the pines, and occasionally come out to scratch for food already layered with ice. They have my sympathy.

So as winter makes its claim out there, we'll be in here, snug, safe and busy with crafting and baking. If you are experiencing this ice storm, may you be safe and warm!

The Shortest Day : Day Seven: Yule

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

- The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper


















From our home to yours, Brightest Solstice Blessings.