Winter Solstice

This is pretty much the way our yard looked a week or so ago when the ice storm hit. We lost a birch tree but otherwise were truly blessed to not have serious damage. Next town over there are still people with out power in significant numbers 9 days later. The thing is, since then we have had three snow storms so we have really been experiencing New England winter big time this year. This past Friday it started snowing again and it snowed all Friday and all day Saturday. It snowed most of Saturday night and it began again early this a.m. I am sure retailers are freaking out. Many were closed multiple days due to power outages and then the weekend before Christmas, this type of weather.

I decided it wasn't safe to drive to church this a.m. We worship in a city about 20 minutes away and it involves highway driving in our van. I am not thrilled with vans in stormy weather, give me my standard geo metro any day. Except that we don't all fit in it! So I opted to stay home. KC and I walked downtown to Dunkin Donuts (probably a half mile or so) and got him his typical Sunday bagel breakfast and donuts for the others who were weenies and wouldn't walk down with us. (laughing) We made silly snow tracks, looked at the snow hats on the things that we passed, jumped stomped etc. It was fun for me and magical for KC. As much as I hate being cold, I really want all my children to feel connected to the earth and we can't feel that if we stay inside trying to keep Ooma warm.

Now I am baking cookies. Kirsty put doughs together this weekend and we need to deliver about 12 holiday tins of cookies to friends, relatives and merchants in the next couple days. It is compartively warm in our kitchen ( a fairly rare event in our drafty old victorian home) and it looks like Currier and Ives prints outside with the snow falling peacefully.

Today is the longest night of the year and the solstice is always special in our house. I am pagan and the wheel of the year is something we celebrate. We also celebrate Christmas, but while I have shared the Biblical story with my children the alleged birth of Jesus in December (which i just don't believe happened like that) isn't our focus. We have a Solstice tree with very natural decorations, cones and artificial birds, gilded nuts and other decorations either from the natural world or made to look so. There are also special ornaments; my mom gives the kids ornaments every year. They are treasures also. We have Santa in myriad forms throughout the house. Lots of black Santas which are thankfully becoming easier to find lately. But white ones as well. Lissa says "Ho ho ho" in this really deep voice that doesn't sound like a baby at all whenever we pass any of them in the house. Solstice and Christmas seem to co-exist quite happily in the same dwelling. It reminds me of Seth Cohen's "Chrissmakuh" on the OC.

Tonite post football we will have a candlelit dinner and think about how the light dwindled. We'll have pretty music, silly jokes (after all with kids it isn't all solemnity) We will also spend some time today putting up birdfeeders in the snow. We always gift our feathered friends for the first time at solstice.

Happy Solstice everyone!