December 21st is an important day to acknowledge....

Today marks the shortest day, the longest night in our yearly calendar. I know I mentioned that one of our advent activities this season is to celebrate and understand the winter solstice. I've been reading up on the solstice and I've learned so many interesting things and I am just bursting to share so indulge me, please....

I don't know how much you remember from your junior high science class, but, basically we on planet earth are in constant rotation on a daily, 24 hour basis; our planet spinning around in a full circle on its axis creating day and night. Its day for you when your side of the spin is turned toward the sun and night when it is away from the sun. Just to help make your head spin a little more (ha ha) our planet is also in constant rotation on a yearly basis, taking 12 months to make a circle (okay ellipse) around the sun. This, along with the way Earth tilts as it rotates, is responsible for how much light hits the northern part of the Earth and how much hits the southern part on a daily basis. This change in how much light from the sun we receive is what creates our different seasons. On the winter solstice, we in the northern hemisphere are tilted away from the sun and the sun has reached is lowest and southern-most point in the sky giving us the shortest amount of light of the entire year.

Now why is any of this of interest? Well way back when people were actually trying to figure out the world through observation rather than school and books and iphones, and life was just generally more precarious, having the sun reach its lowest point and face long, dark days was a very scary thing. Interestingly, the actual Latin root meaning of solstice is "sun stood still" because the sun pretty much ceases to move for 6 days in December, right around the solstice, appearing to set and rise in nearly the same spot. And being the keen observers they were, the ancients were concerned that the sun wouldn't move again, leaving them in a state of darkness with plants unable to grow, cold seeping in, and life around them dying.

Festivals celebrating the solstice were born out of this fear really, born both to thank the sun and to cajole it into continuing to shine to light our way and our ways of life. Religions and spirituality then were completely tied to Earth and to its constantly changing nature. And though we today have the luxury of being fairly divorced from this type of thinking and direct observation about the world around us, I think it is really interesting to point out that regardless of specific religion, nearly all the ways we celebrate the holidays around this time of year contain traces of ancient solstice celebrations. Here are a few connections I loved:

-Romans 2,000 years ago celebrated the shortest day with merrymaking and by decorating their doors with evergreen wreaths to symbolize that spring (and green growth) would return.

-Miseltoe, called "all heal" was an important good luck plant used in solstice celebrations by Druids.

-In Sweden, for the festival of light called St Lucia, girls wear crowns of evergreen and burning candles to help "rekindle the sun's fire"

-The twelve days of Christmas originates with the 12 "intercalary days" honored by the Romans linking the solar and lunar calendar cycles.

-The word yule is not only shorthand for this time of year but is also a large log set afire to "teach" the light to return.

I think I am eager to celebrate the solstice because it is such a direct way to acknowledge how miraculous the workings of the world are. The complexity of the sun and the earth locked in this dance of movement that gives us all life and rhythm and variation. It's beautiful and scary and completely out of our control. I love the idea of reveling in this and letting myself enjoy this super long day of darkness and reminding myself that the light will return. Tomorrow will be just a little bit lighter, a little bit longer.

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE EVERYONE! I am hopeful that in your own life and family you will take a moment to honor this unique day by turning off your house lights, lighting a few candles or a big fire, and opening your door, if only for a second, to the deep darkness outside.

p.s. I loved all the above books-good for me and the kids. I would absolutely recommend all of them.

TWENTY TEN

Hard to believe we are approaching a new year and a new decade. I love writing out TWENTY TEN instead of 2010. It looks graphic and more fun than the numerical. And so much more official, just as if I was announcing the new year on some kind of authentic new year's letterhead belonging to Dick Clark. I dig making resolutions and over the past few years Jaren and I have had fun coming up with a yearly mantra, of sorts. Last year was Just Be Better and I think we pretty much rocked it. We have some loose strings, of course, that can always use tightening, but it has been a killer year for buckling down and setting new priorities for simplicity, family, home, and productivity. We haven't decided on this year's mantra yet but I'm gunning for KEEP YOUR HEAD ON STRAIGHT since I think if we keep going down this path we're on without getting all disorientated looking over to the weeds, I think we will be in good shape. But I will have to wait for Jaren's vote before this mantra becomes cross stitch material.

I haven't set down a full list of resolutions for the new year yet but I took a step toward one this weekend that I'm excited about. In TWENTY TEN I am hoping to feed my family only locally raised, sustainably produced meat. Through the wonderful local chapter of Slow Food International, I learned about a small family farm that raises hogs and allows people to purchase as little as 1/4 of the pig which is a lot of meat, but isn't so much that you need a full meat locker in your basement. I have a second fridge in the garage and the meat is packed tight in there, but it is manageable. So the farm is Christiansens Hog Heaven and I had the pleasure of meeting Christian and his wife, Hollie, this Saturday when I picked up my 1/4 pork from the back of their white Ford Superduty 150 in the parking lot of Home Depot. I loved the gritty fact of picking this meat up in a random parking lot, straight from them and their truck with their 3 kids watching a movie in the cab. It was fun and it felt good to support them so directly. There was a line of other people waiting for their meat (they had 44 orders!) and it was heartening to see this and to know that other people out there are looking outside the grocery store case to find a more natural order in the food chain. I made a couple rashers (look at me and my new butcher talk!) of bacon this weekend and it was delicious--thick and chewy and not too salty. I love the look of all those wrapped freezer paper bundles stamped with the cut of meat. I am now the proud owner of a ham hock! Wow! Beginning this February, the Christiansens' are going to be adding grass fed beef to their offerings--all pasture fed, free range, and humanely treated. And they will be offering it in small 1/8 sizes too which is lovely for small families and small freezers. I think you still may even get some choices about what cuts you want. They may have pasture raised chicken and turkeys ready by spring too, which means they may just become my one stop local meat shop. If you live in Utah, eat meat, and have concerns about where your food comes from, check out their blog via the above link and consider supporting them. All you need is a freezer and the will to help change a broken system!

Another resolution I have for the new year is to move to a cash only spending situation. I have to face facts. I am not responsible enough to have a credit card in my wallet. It is just that simple. I am a flibbertigibbet and so full of impulse and attraction to beautiful, shiny things that I might as well be a magpie. I just don't do well without parameters. If I am to ever stick to a budget it has to be one that I can relate to in a tactile way. I've tried spreadsheets and mint.com and setting goals. I've had a piggy bank and a high interest cd. But somehow it is never real to me if I only see the balance on the screen. It is real to me, however, when I see the thread bare lining of my wallet. It's that simple. I'm 5 when it comes to money. If I see it, I have it. If I don't see but have a debit or credit card handy, I just pretend to see it. But if I don't have an alternate form of payment and I don't see it...well, you get the idea.....it's gone! I have no more money to spend. I'm done. Again, so simple my kid can do it. So maybe I can finally do it too and stick to a hard and fast budget in TWENTY TEN? If I keep the old head on straight, I don't see why not.

advent...follow up

i've gotten a couple requests for the actual list of activities we are doing each day for our advent, so here goes:

01. breakfast for dinner by candlelight

02. make a homemade gift for someone

03. make gingerbread houses

04. go pick out our christmas tree and then decorate it

05. watch a christmas movie with popcorn

06. take a moonlit walk

07. have a holiday song sing a long

08. read christmas books at the foot of the tree

09. family spa: manicures, pedicures, foot rubs

10. cut out paper snowflakes

11. make 5 ornaments for our ornament exchange via Crafty Crow

12. bake & decorate Christmas cookies and share with family and neighbors

13. drive to Christmas street and look at holiday light displays around town

14. have a shadow puppet theater night in our PJs

15. read the nutcracker and listen to the music

16. make gift tags and more homemade presents

17. take a wintery walk and make snow angels

18. pray for peace and take food to the food bank

19. play christmas bingo & help mom make yearly hot fudge sauce for friends

20. celebrate the winter solstice with an outside bonfire and hot drinks

21. ride the polar express!

22. make fancy hot chocolate with homemade marshmellows

23. sit by the fire and read about baby jesus

24. wrap presents and leave santa a plate of cookies and thank you note.

advent. the big count down begins.

ah, back to a normal week. as the photos attest, it was a marathon holiday weekend of activities with cooking and eating being the thread that linked them all. i think i enjoyed the quiet moments of creating and cooking the most-making a flower arrangement for the turkey day table and trying to perfect my homemade piecrust top the list. with my piecrust, i think the flavor and texture are there but the rolling out technique still needs work. where is a pioneer or southern woman circa 1920 when you need one? it was a pretty fugly looking crust, though that would be par for the course with me since i like to say that i specialize in making ugly desserts.

cleo and i decorated the kids' christmas tree on friday. i am plenty anal when it comes to holiday decorating and have declared an adult christmas tree and a kids' tree a necessity since i won't let nary a colored light or a stray ornament touch my tree. i like to style a new tree every year, and inspired by my new glossy white living room floors, i have a hankering for an all white luxe themed tree this year....just plain clear glass ornaments and maybe some feathers...something really airy and simple. but alas, after checking our current bank balance and going through all the boxes of things i currently own, i can't justify buying a new batch of holiday decor. the white tree will have to wait and i will have to breathe new life into last year's woodland inspired tree full of pine cones, tree branches, and moss.

christmas decorating can be so much fun, but like so much of the holiday crap, if i let it stress me out or make it feel like an obligation then the purpose, and the joy, are lost. i think one of the most successful ways i've found to keep the fun spirit of the season in mind is to do a christmas activity advent calendar. there are many versions of the advent tradition which is basically just a count down to the arrival of christmas day. there are lots of cute iterations swimming around online by far more crafty and talented folks than i (check out the link to see a listing of some great ones.) but i keep mine super simple and it works just fine by my standards. this year i cut out 23 little squares of green construction paper (and one brown one for the trunk) numbered them, and taped them up in the shape of a tree. i write a simple holiday or family activity on the back of each square, one for each day leading up to the big dec 25th.

and since i'm trying hard to hum a homemade and frugal tune this holiday season, there is only one activity out of 24 that will actually cost us money. lucky for me a two and five year old have pretty manageable expectations! a sampling of the activities i included: reading the nutcracker together then listening to the music, making hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows (something i've been dying to try), taking a moonlit walk, baking christmas cookies to deliver to our neighbors, etc. i tried to think of things that were simple to do and wouldn't take too much planning on my part and would encourage the kind of pace, home time, and thoughtfulness that i want this season to represent in our home.

one of the things i'm most excited to include in the advent is a real acknowledgement of the winter solstice on dec 21. this is the longest night of the year. the shortest day. and i think i've always focused on this aspect of darkness instead of realizing that what traditionally cultures are really celebrating is the return of the light; the return of warmth and the growing season and plenty. each winter day going forward from the solstice is a less dark one, a longer day in which to live. i think that is such a beautiful sentiment and definitely worth my family's notice. and not coming from a decidedly christian point of view, i feel very happy to embrace and teach about yet another reason we gather to celebrate this time of year. yay for jesus! yay for light! yay for a reason to be with those you love and party! that's what i say.

so if you have a spare minute this week, create an activity advent. it's like a fail-safe for christmas joy, ensuring that at least once a day you will share a moment that consciously sets this season apart from any other. added bonus: your kids will think you are nearly as fun as santa and they just might give you a small breather from the "is it christmas yet" chanting.