21st December - Winter Solstice.

The Sun has been reborn!

This morning, found me impatiently waiting for my boy to wake up..finally the door knob to my bedroom turned and in he bounced joyfully announcing the Winter King had been and left him a well stuffed stocking.

I suppose its a hang over from when we co-slept, Yule morning, Rye always comes through to my bed with the stocking to open it, and share his joy at with me.   I revel in his innocent joy of his gifts, his whoops and exclamations as he opens each gift, his eyes are wide with excitement and glee.   It is wonderful to see his joy and I feel some understanding for my mother's frustration when I was a kid.  I, unlike Rye, was much more reserved.  All eyes were on me, and I felt like a performing monkey, I didn't whoop, or exclaim.  Sadly, my mother took this for lack of gratitude and responded negatively.  She never grasped the more she pushed, the more I drew back into myself, I was grateful, excited, overjoyed, I just didn't express it in whoops.

Anyway.

Stocking opened, we waited for the sun to raise, this morning was overcast and raining, so we didn't actually see the sun's rebirth, but we did clear away the old alter and refresh it with a winter theme.  Candles were lit, and the pine cones sprinkled with essential oils.

"Now?"  Rye kept asking, as he eyed the rather large pile of gifts under the tree.
"Breakfast first", I responded.

We eat hash browns and vegan sausages, he's too excited to wait for anything more elaborate.  Breakfast is wolfed down, a leap and hop propels him across the living room, and he falls upon the gifts, opening the combine Yule / Birthday gift from his Uncle Kevin.

As the gifts continue to be opened, a litany of "Oooohs", "WOW", and "OMG's" fill the air.  He squeals, he flaps, and he dashes over to give me a hug and kiss on the cheek.  Yeah, I finally "get" why my mother always found Christmas morning with me so lack luster and disappointing.

Later tonight when we have a fire outside I will turf out the old plans, and ask my ancestors to bless my new plans for 2017.   And there will be good company, wholesome soup, sun bread, and a wee tipple or three.

Yuletide Blessings!

Winter Festivals.

I love the festivities at this time of the year, when its dark, gloomy and the nights draw in far too quickly.  The crafting, the lights, candles, decorations, preparations for feasting, wonderful!  It brings light to a dark period of winter, and fills the heart with hope for the days that will soon begin to slowly get longer.

This year my son requested we stay home rather than visit friends for Yule.  I miss them terribly, staying home, however,  has allowed us to be part of a wider winter festival here at Rose Howey.  One family in the house is Jewish, and so we have joined in the Hanukkah celebrations, culminating in tonight, when we lit all the candles, listened to the blessing and ate J's wonderful latkes, apple sauce and vegan sour cream.  The children played the traditional game of dreidel, and the shape gave me an idea for a crafting session, which we enjoyed before the candle lighting.

The kids picked up the game really quickly, and minus the odd bit of squabbling, had great time playing.

I cut strips of paper into the dreidel shape, provided the children with tissue squares, glue and glitter and left the to decorate to their hearts content.  The children were a little heavy handed with the glue, (and glitter) so I'll need to wait till tomorrow before stringing the driels up and adding them to our Winter Festival Branch in the events room.  

They also made a few more snowflakes.  Again using the strips of cardboard, I simply anchor them in the middle with a split pin, and they decorate them.  Very pretty, and a nice change from paper snowflakes.

Rye and me put up our Yule tree today too; a wonderful eclectic mixture of traditional christmas iconography; stars, santas, snowmen, reindeer, colourful baubles, along with decorations Rye has made and ones I've crocheted, including a couple new wire decorations I made yesterday, and  bought pagan decorations of fairy doors, Goddess and hares.  I've left the top of the tree free for now; I plan to make a wire and crochet sun tree topper.  The children in the house also found a very large evergreen branch that was blown off a tree in the recent wild winds, it now adorns one of the walls in the events room, and we will add decorations to it, and pop our hand made gifts to each other under it.

Plans for Yule celebrations, include more crafting and decorating of the events room with greenery, paper chains, popcorn garlands, decorating the yule log to burn, including adding wee notes of wishes of things we want to leave behind us.  We watched the Hog Father last night, and have lots more seasonal dvds to watch together.  We are also planning a wonderful feast, including sun bread, and wassailing.

Eye of God using copper wire and glass beads

Rye is visiting with his dad after Yule until the morning of his birthday, normally I would become very much like a hermit; but this year I've been persuaded to join in Mexican Christmas (vegan mexican meal), which will mostly be adults - so I imagine that will be fun and raucous.

These are the times when I'm reminded of the beauty and joy of co-op living.  The coming together of different family's traditions to create a wholly new tradition that is the spirit of Rose Howey.  The sharing of histories, traditions, knowledge, each individual adding their personal touches.  I have dreamed of living co-operatively all my life, and sure, in my dreams the co-op is deep in the countryside - Rose Howey is the perfect compromise, the advantages of a city on our doorstep yet surrounded by green spaces and trees.

We are very fortunate.

Yule Advent Day, 12

And after all that rain and wind yesterday, today has been beautiful, cold, but beautiful sunshine.
Today's activity was a trip out.   A local arts company have created a winter grotto, there is a large map showing the village, and then shelving suspended from the ceiling and on it, lots and lots of little wooden houses that have been decorated.  There's also beautiful snowflakes, and in another room, christmas trees, lights with benches and old films projected onto the walls. 

Rye absolutely loved it; and despite it being a smallish area, we stayed there for a good hour or so.

 We met up with quite a few members of the home ed group too.  And wow, just look at all those houses!

 Rye making his own decorated wooden house.

 And this was Rye's addition.

 There were some fantastically intricate or clever houses too:

 And this is the large map on the floor.  The idea is you find your house and pop a star on it.  Fascinating to look at a map sooooooo large.

 The tree grotto.  Really liked this space, but alas dry ice smoke stuff, makes me feel breathless, so I couldn't stay in here too long.

Such a lovely time, and soooooooo much better than a Santa grotto.  Much more imaginative and fun.  And none of the usual, "have you been good...." nonsense.

Decided not to go to the live nativity in the town centre.  Too cold and mindie is not very well..... and I confessed I chickened out a bit.  I just did not fancy attempting to park and then navigate the town centre, which is bound to be heaving...and I can't imagine Rye would have enjoyed it much either.

Home, Thomas DVD and chocolate brioche.  And in a mo pizza, just need to pop them in the oven to cook :-)

Yule Advent: Day 1.

So begins the count down to Yule.
I'm no where near as organised as I promised myself I would be.  The wooden advent train - still to paint it; but I wasn't going to allow that to prevent me from having a craft, trip, book, dvd etc planned for each day.
Today I planned for chocolate cookies; specifically using the mix Rye made up at the craft session on Saturday.  I really wanted to do this alone with Rye though, so I waited for the minded children to have their naps; so until then, the kids played and Rye entertained with his building skills, (and occasionally frustrated when he tried to take octons off C)

 A big, big plane.  A spit fire, he tells me.

 I was in the festive mood this morning; and finding the snowflake crochet book I bought a couple of weeks ago, I decided to have a go at one of the more ornate snowflakes.  This is unblocked, and I'm loving it... can't wait to see it all nice and blocked out!

 Changing over the season table to welcome the coming of Winter.  As time goes on, more greenery and the ivy and oak gnomes etc will be added.  The Hare represents the hare from the Luna Moon Hare story, in which the Hare carries the, at this time of the year, Oak King's crown in preparation for his battle with the Holly King  at the Solstice, in which the Oak King will be victorious, and thus bringing back the light; the Holly King will die, and the Hare will begin her journey again, carrying the Holly King's crown until midsummer.

This year as Rye is a wee bit older now, we'll act out this fight together.

 Anyhoos, the morning quickly passed, lunch was slurped and nom nomed over (veg soup and bread, followed by yoghurt with chocolate chips and honey), and soon the minded children were napping and it was cookie time.

 Rye measured out the marg.  I really must get better scales so he can see the numbers easier.

 I mixed the ingredients, Rye wasn't feeling confident in using the electric whisk, but he dolloped out the mixture onto the baking stone.  (Pampered chef - absolutely excellent, can't recommend these stones enough!)

 Yah!  He even did the washing up.  Fabulous.

 And 15 mins later, chocolate chip cookies.  Mmm, smelled lovely.  I was mean mummy/minder though.  J will have his cookie tomorrow as his mum is working an early shift this week and so goes home early, and C hadn't finished her pasta in time to have dessert, so I sent her home with a few in a bag.  Rye nomed his way through 2 with yummy slow cooked rice pudding.... and pestered me the rest of the evening for more.  I refused.  We are learning moderation where sugar is concerned!

 "Look Jacqui, this is you, and me".  Ahhh bless him.

 His attempt at a bird, which he then changed his mind and said was a plane.  :-)

 A house.

And the tester of a pattern I plan to use for pot holders for Yule/Xmas presents.  Really like the pattern, the african flower in the middle however needs to be made in non striping yarn, it doesn't work with striping yarn at all.  The granny clusters around the edge and the edging is fine, love that... but yeah; the shape of the flower in the middle is obscured with the change of colour in the striping.

We are surely being infected with the festive spirit here.  I've had harp yuletide music on all afternoon, I'm smiled frequently at our season table and it's felt deliciously cold enough that there is, finally, a real promise of winter in the air!

And oooh tomorrow's Yule Advent Day 2 trip should be amazing!


*smile*  I'll tell you all about it tomorrow/

YAWN!

Oh gosh, sleepless nights!
Rye, is a very good sleeper, and if he does wake up before me, he will take him self downstairs to watch a dvd or play a game, he'll even help himself to cereal if he gets hungry.  These days after a while he does come back upstairs, stand beside my bed, pat me on the back, and in a pipingly cute voice ask if, "It's time to get up yet?", which of course is the only thing that saves him from me growling......"NO".  Difficult to be a bear with such cuteness.

So, the odd sleepless nights I do endure, are awful.  Last night was awful.  Rye woke up sweaty and distressed, but still half asleep around 11pmish, stripped him down and cuddled him back to sleep... but for the rest of the night he moaned constantly - but couldn't tell me why.  He thrashed, he moaned some more, and then he'd thrash again.  At one point I was having fantasies of scooping him up and dumping him in his own room. 

It was attack of the zombies this morning.  We were suppose to be at Forest School and I'd offered a lift, the evening before, to another home ed family..... 8am I groggily texted to say we wouldn't make it, and fell back into bed next to a now sleeping, moanless Rye.  Shame really, because whatever ailed him during the night was not in evidence today, and I think he would have really enjoyed the willow weaving at Forest School.  Rye woke a bit before me, and wandered downstairs to watch a Popeye dvd.  There was a brief contemplation of getting up before sleep claimed me again.... and later I woke to Rye piping, "Is it time to get up yet?". 
To which I responded, "It is, or you could come back to bed for cuddles?"  He opted for cuddles.  **melt**

Dr Juice; apple, lemon, ginger, honey and hot water.

 Once finally awake, the plan was to move Rye's new mid sleeper bed upstairs; well I tried, I managed to get it on the first stair... and that's it.  It is simply too heavy for me to try and manhandle up the stairs on my own - plus the box is splitting because it's so heavy.  So there's nothing for it, I will have to take the box apart and take the pieces of bed up stairs, bit by bit.  Joy.  I should have done that then, but buggerit.  I opted to do this with Rye instead:

Initially, there was an ulterior motive; the Mother Magazine arrived just after lunchtime and I fancied a sit down with a cuppa and the mag.  Rye, was Mr Chatterbox though.  Crafting, I craftily thought, and he was enjoying himself, but it was kinda aimless, he said he wanted to make snowmen.  So I gave him a range of snowmen making materials; and while he was enjoying what he was doing, he wasn't achieving what he said he wanted to do.

Not so crafty of me as I laid down on the floor with him and began crafting too, making this little fella;

which led Rye to creating:

and producing this:

This wintery craft has really put me in the seasonal mood too.  Our Yule advent countdown begins on Monday; the mild weather though has fooled me into feeling it's still early Autumn.

Glyerin perserved leaves - preserved a few days ago!

 Our season table is still all Samhain-y.  Normally, a more wintery feel would have begun happening by now. 
Mind it was parky today.  I took Rye over to the park to have a go with this:

Sadly, this is a cheap kite I picked up off ebay; and it's rubbish.  Once I managed to get it to fly, as soon as I tried to show Rye any stunts, the cross bar tore through the fabric.  Shame because he was so excited, and our wee park is just big enough to fly a kite. I see a large stunt kite in our future. :-)  The disappointingly brief flight reminded me how much I use to enjoy flying stunt kites; I'm keen to pass that love onto Rye :-)