Archive for the 'Holidays' Category
June 20th, 2008 - Simple summer solstice
Happy Solstice!
I spent the day trying (off and on) to figure out something to do to celebrate. I looked a bit online and found that bonfires are quite common. (Seems like they are for all turnings of the seasons.) So I decided to pull out the little fire bowl I bought two years ago. We enjoyed it last year, but didn’t use it very much and haven’t had it out this year.
When I got home, I switched to work clothes and Maggie and I headed outside. I finished bundling the branches, including cutting a few more from unwanted trees and a half-dead shrub. Then I realized I should just quit and do more work tomorrow and Sunday. Inside to change to less grubby clothes. Maggie headed back outside and I fixed a light dinner for us to eat outside.
I started up the fire–all on my own. I set it up and Eric checked on it before going out the movies. He made one little change in it. And I got it going all by myself. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever prepared and maintained a fire. Every 30 minutes or so, as it died down, I added a chunk of wood or some smaller pieces. I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough wood for more fires this summer without buying it (and was tempted to keep back some of those bundles…). Around 7 I discovered another entire box of wood pieces I’d cut up last summer. I think we’ll be fine this year.
We ate a light meal, including peas and onions from the garden with a fresh dip I made yesterday (also including garlic from the garden and items from the farmer’s market. And homemade yogurt), pretzel pieces, and local cheese. Later, we had some teddy bear cookies (from Gram and PopPop) and a piece of chocolate. I sat by the fire; Maggie sat at her table.
Maggie and I had a small Solstice dance, but neither of us really knew what exactly to do then she decided she was done after 15 seconds anyway.
I brought out a book, and moved it from my lap to the chair to Maggie’s chair to the table for most of the evening without every opening it up. I decided that I would simply enjoy the fire and chatting with Maggie. And so I did for about 3 hours. I never just sit and essentially do nothing for 3 hours. What a LOVELY evening it was. Quiet, relaxed, no stress, peaceful.
Around 7:30, I pulled out sparklers. Maggie was initially hesitant as she was afraid they would burn her. (We warned her a lot about the fire bowl and she was exceptionally careful about it.) When she quickly discovered they didn’t hurt, she had great fun. The only accident of the night: I burned myself. With a sparkler. On my toe. I don’t know what fell off, but I figured it was a little spark. Until my toe kept hurting! I burned a hole through the shoe and the sock and have a small blister.
The fire had died way down, and around 7:50 I put a bunch of twigs and bark on top to have a small quick blaze for the Solstice (at 7:59 CDT). I think I had it blazing a few minutes earlier, but who’s counting?
I loved the fire. I intend to have one at each Solstice and Equinox as long as the weather is appropriate (IE, not raining or snowing).
January 10th, 2008 - Putting Christmas in the basement
First, a quick note that I’ve been really sick again. Came down with either another cold or an extension of the holiday one on Sunday. Have already taken off 2.5 days and it’s looking like another half day today.
Yesterday, we took down the Christmas tree. It had always been a bit on the dry side and Eric noticed that when he touched a branch the night before, needles showered down. So I took off the ornaments (all 5 of them) and the lights and he took the tree out to the curb. I also took down the two window figures (snowflake and Santa) and took them and the lights to the basement. Maggie’s insightful comment on the process, “MomMom put Christmas in the basement!”
We had intended to leave the tree up as long as possible; this was earlier than we’d hoped.
I also thought we’d throw the tree in the garden to decompose a bit, but had no desire to deal with it right now. So we put it on the curb–our city picks them up for composting so I’m okay with that. Maybe another year, with Maggie’s help, I’ll make ornaments for the birds and squirrels (like popcorn strings and peanut butter & seeds) and we’ll have fun watching it in the garden.
Oh! A tip for Christmas lights: Instead of coiling them up in a box or trying to put them back on the little plastic things they came on, I wrap them around a large piece of cardboard. Mine is about 20″ square, probably because I had that size handy when I thought this up a couple years ago. Two strands fit perfectly on it. I tape down one end of the strand, then simply wrap the rest of it round and round. The size is a bit large for easy holding but I managed to wrap up the lights as I took them off walking around the tree. It works better with two people, especially when putting up the lights (I held and unwrapped while Eric put up the lights last month). The lights have enough space that we could test them before putting them up to see if all worked.
And, in case you are interested, the mathematics of why lights get knotted in boxes. (The researcher actually put a piece of string in a box and tumbled it around then looked at what knots had formed.)
January 3rd, 2008 - Savor yourself in winter
“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you… In spring, summer and fall, people sort of have an open season on each other; only in winter can you hve longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.”
Ruth Stout
From Meg Cox’s monthly newsletter about family traditions and rituals. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to Subscribers-Join@megcox.com. Your address will never be shared or sold. Meg’s the author of The Book of New Family Traditions (and others). I LOVE her stuff.
I fit this quote a lot. I was just thinking about it last night, too. I started a new book over lunch and all I wanted to do when I got home was read. I said as much to Eric, but also indicated that it probably wasn’t a good idea (Maggie and all). And he encouraged me to go ahead and do so! He and Maggie went out on a couple errands, I curled up with the book and dinner. I read until MJ’s bedtime, then until mine, then after mine. And I’m not quite done with the book! The great thing about winter is that I feel so free to do this. I don’t have the garden or yard or food processing to work on instead. While I don’t get the desire completely out of my system in winter, it certainly helps when I feel overworked in the summer to know I can look forward to it.
I love the seasons. I wonder if folks in warmer climes have times off or not so much?
December 28th, 2007 - Christmas report
I should first mention that I caught a bad cold for Solstice which I gave to Eric for Christmas. Maggie caught a lesser version of it than both of us. I spent most of Fri-Mon on the couch or in bed and Eric did the same Mon-Thursday. We actually intended to do a bit more than we did, but have not actually missed anything, I don’t think.
A) Holiday decor: Although we did buy a tree, against my recommendation, everything turned out fine. The cats never climbed it (as far as we know, at least), possibly because of the very close branches. Maggie and the pets quickly caught on that they weren’t supposed to play with it which was a relief. We put lights on it right away (the 15th), but never got around to putting on more decorations and realized we really liked it with just the lights! Which, by the way, are LEDs, so we haven’t turned them off in nearly 2 weeks! (2 strands were the perfect amount for the tree.) Maggie did hang the 5 ornaments received as gifts on Christmas day. The only problem is that the tree is quite dry and drops needles constantly.
On Christmas Eve or Christmas day, I finally put up the two window light things (Santa and a snowflake). Later, I put three candles on the piano, although we only lit two of them and only on two evenings. (Kept forgetting them.)
And we put the snowpeople Eagles wreath Eric got from his Mom last year on the front door.
B) Holiday food: Since I was sick, I didn’t make any more cookies. (We plan some for this weekend, however.) My bread paddle came on Saturday, and Monday I made banana bread for Christmas–unfortunately, I put in too much sugar (the amount the recipe calls for rather than the 50-75% I usually use) and it tasted funny. The bananas were a bit dry, too. We did make split pea soup on Xmas Eve and had it Xmas day for one meal. Maggie and I are still eating the olive spread from a couple weeks ago, too. Luckily, I had the auction-won Chex mix and Chex dessert plus a plate of cookies from Sean and Elissa to get us through as well.
C) Holiday gifts: Maggie received some lovely wooden toys this year, in particular, a handmade train from Gram and PopPop (my parents). She also loves the set of play food; we might bring her kitchen in from the porch to go along with them. Her other favorite toy is a kids digital camera from Grandma Johnson. We asked for this for her, but I didn’t realize it takes 5 batteries (one lithium it comes with plus 4 AAs. Aack. I finally got away from regular batteries for my digital camera and now I have to buy them for her. And I bet she uses them up faster than I did. It even says to not use rechargables in it.). We didn’t have 4 AAs in the house until last night, but she’s been pretending to take pictures all week anyway.
Grandma also gave her 5 other toys all requiring batteries. We aren’t going to put them in the puzzle and we put away the “karaoke” toy immediately. (It hooks up to the TV, too. So a 4x whammy–batteries, TV, kids music, noise. Not our cup of tea!) A musical snowglobe (except it’s a plastic thing and there’s air inside so it doesn’t work like a real snowglobe and the snow only flies when it’s turned on). And a singing Santa. I know MIL finds this stuff cute and has it around her house, but I don’t understand why she doesn’t get how much we can’t stand it. Oh well. We’ll donate one (she never sends along receipts, unfortunately), didn’t show Maggie how to run one (Santa), and will get rid of the snowglobe at the end of the season.
She also gave her a number of clothing items–a shirts/pants set, a sweater (although it looks long enough to be a dress so I might pair it with tights for church), and a frog towel/robe that she loves wearing around the living room. My parents also gave her some clothes–two PJs, summer pants, and 2 t-shirts. All the clothes are quite cute!
Eric got just what he wanted for Christmas: a slew of gift cards! (Also a book and some coffee.) I got a Boxer calendar, a lap quilt (possibly MIL made it?), and a box of food goodies–I had enjoyed some interesting spreads at my parents last Feb and indeed bought a few myself over the year but don’t tend to find much at the local groceries. Now I have plenty to last me all year, I just have to remember to use them! (I forgot to use most of those I bought this year. Partially because I didn’t like one so it’s still in the fridge and I hate to open something new. But I should! Since I won’t eat the one I don’t like anyway.)
So, overall, a pretty simple holiday. Mostly planned that way, although also forced due to illness. Once again, however, I’m glad that I didn’t have major plans since illness would have gotten in the way. It was nice to know I could just sleep away the days without worrying about things not getting done. (Oh, I did want to do some cleaning before the holidays, but I settled for doing it the last couple days instead. Our floors have been mopped!)
December 17th, 2007 - Maggie’s first Christmas tree
On Saturday, we bought our Christmas tree, at Schroeder’s Forevergreens. They are a local tree farm! They even sell Concolor Firs, my absolute favorite tree, but they only had had 5 and they were all gone. I fell in love with this tree in PA when Mom and I picked one out ne of first years there, but have never had one of my own. Well, this is only the second tree we’ve ever had–the only other one was a Norfolk Island Pine Eric and I had our first year in Oshkosh (I do not recall whether that was our first year, or our first married year, to be honest). It died before we moved to the new house, however. (Schroeder’s won best tree in the state for a Concolor this year. They move on to a national competition, and the winner provides a tree for the White House.)
We got a balsam fir, about 7″ tall, for $40. Plus a $5 tip for the lady who assisted us. Can you believe they spend the entire day outside???
Eric chopped off the bottom and some branches and it’s up in the living room where the brown chair usually is (for those who have visited us). We put up the lights Saturday night, and plan to decorate it tonight or tomorrow. She adored the tree, but didn’t quite know what to make of it with the lights on. She said it was very pretty when she saw it Sunday morning, but wouldn’t go near it.
She loved playing with a couple bits of branches that came off. She spent an hour “cooking” with them. Then she tried to feed needles to Jedi which is a definite no-no! (Pets shouldn’t eat needles as they can puncture intestines. Hopefully that’s not true for humans because she also tried eating some of them.) So the branches went into the compost bin, although there are still plenty of needles lying around. Thankfully, the cats have not (yet) tried to climb it, although Pi tried to eat it and Sith tried to attack it (the branch moved and scared the hell out of him and he ran off LOL). The branches are quite close together horizontally and needles go almost to the trunk, so there isn’t really room for them to try to climb up. Cats climbing up and/or knocking it over was my biggest fear with the tree!
December 17th, 2007 - Solstice
Yesterday was the PUC Solstice Celebration. There’s always a lovely raffle, and both last year and this I ended up with some goodies! The items are brought in by those attending and range from candles to books to bags to lightbulbs (compact fluorescent ones, that is). I brought a jar of homemade applebutter (since I couldn’t bring it to the church’s bake sale as originally intended) and a lavender wand. I also purchased $10 of tickets. I won a box of chocolates (unfortunately, individually wrapped, plus the large container with plenty of plastic), two candle holders (I tried using votives to hide the piano smell and it worked great except that I didn’t have votive holders and the candles spread quickly to fill the larger holders I used, making them last less long)–both from India, one with elephants on it!, and a brass candle snuffer (we don’t have one and I was thrilled to win it! Came with 6 candles which I don’t need and maybe return next year…. Disappointingly however, it had actually been used before and in cleaning it, they scratched badly the brass. May bring to Mom’s next spring as I’m sure she has special brass cleanser and maybe I can polish it up a bit.). I didn’t win the one item I wanted most–a garden fairy statue.
After the ritual, I ran into someone I thought was in my covenant group (a small spiritual group at the Fellowship) and said hello and then realized it wasn’t her after all. But we started chatting. Although she was there with her partner, they felt a bit lonely since they didn’t really know anyone else. I felt even more lonely as *I* didn’t know anyone else, either. So we chatted throughout the meal (potluck–I brought an apple crisp) and the raffles. It was lots of fun and I wish I’d exchanged emails. We’ve seen each other at services, so hopefully that will happen again. They are both students, but I believe are in their late 20s–they looked older than traditional college students at least. And I could picture doing something with them in the future. We’ll see! If nothing else, I look forward to having someone to hang out with next year!
The day included a workshop–I attended the one on dancing which was fun but way too short. And the Solstice ritual, which included gathering in a circle, invocations to the directions/elements, chanting/singing/drumming, reminders of community/family, and thoughts about the time of winter and the coming of the sun. We each received an ornament this year–I accidentally chose a star but traded it for a sun which I really wanted. It closed with sharing of “cakes and ale”–or tea or coffee and cookies. After the ritual, we share a potluck meal followed by the raffle drawing (it’s a fundraiser for Fox Valley Pagan Unity Council which puts on the celebration). I left at the end of that since it was after 8 already. I wish I could stay for the end–dancing, singing, and drumming (I shall do my own dancing Friday night to welcome back the sun, instead)! Each year, there are different workshops (previously, they’ve all been crafting something, like a little wish box) and the ritual is done differently each time as well.
I attend because I like being attuned to nature and the seasons, and celebrating that connection with others who feel the same. I am not actually pagan nor do I believe in spells. It’s simply a beautiful, calming ritual. I just wish they had one for each of the solstices, but this is the only one at the Fellowship. (They do a summer solstice, but it’s a camping weekend.)
December 13th, 2007 - 3 gifts for Christmas
Janel writes in Christmas, out of the box about friends who give their kids 3 gifts each year: “One represents gold, another frankincense and a third for myrrh. Each gift has spiritual significance in the child’s life. They also limit spending to $50 per person.”
I assumed the gifts were directly matched to these three areas, but as I was about to write that, I realized it might just be that’s why 3 gifts, not necessary one that has something to do with the idea of gold. I hope she tells me! (I commented about this.)
(Does this official count as a collection now? And notice I now have a Winter holidays category.)
December 10th, 2007 - Another update on the gifts
Rebecca chimed in with a rhyme she’s known for a long time: “Something to wear, something to read, something to play with, something you need, and something you’ve wished for for a long time indeed!”
December 3rd, 2007 - a BIG Christmas
I can’t get this family out of my mind. Last year, Six they gave their kids 40-50 gifts EACH for Christmas. It’s really, really, really hard for me to reconcile that with being frugal. And oh yes, her personal description starts out “A frugal mom of four….”
But, every time I’m aghast, I remind myself of something very important: People are frugal for different reasons:
- to have a stay at home parent
- to be able to travel widely
- to retire early
- to have a job they love even if it doesn’t pay well
- to live in the country or a particular home or a particular city
- to have certain luxuries, whether that’s a big screen tv, new computers, or a big blow out Christmas!
We’re actually buying things for Maggie this year. It started with a lovely frog I bought this summer from Pleasant View Schoolhouse. I was just going to put it with her stocking. But then I bought a cat from Nepal at the fair trade fair here on campus. That’s going in the stocking. And we decided to buy a set of handmade in the USA wooden tools and toolbox for her. (To replace the Playskool plastic and painted wood ones I found at garage sales and am now scared to give her.)
Just because I can’t wrap my head around the idea of giving one person 40-50 gifts (much less four people), that doesn’t mean someone else is wrong for doing it. I still like the idea I heard long ago of 7 gifts for Christmas:
- something for physical exercise, such as a ball or jumprope
- something to play with others, such as a board game
- a book
- something to encourage artistic creativity such as paints, clay, etc.
- ???
- ???
- ???
The problem is that I can’t remember what they are anymore! I read about it in a book and it’s what the author and his/her spouse gave their children each year.
December 28th, 2006 - ‘Tis a gift to be simple
Another reason I’m glad we had a simple holiday planned: Four days in the last week, we’ve had workers in the house (and they’ll probably be there tomorrow, too). It started last Thursday when the downstairs windows were replaced. Friday, the upstairs ones were done. This week, they are tackling the upstairs painting (all the wood trim and doors must be painted).
We ended up not getting a tree, and I hung lights and things around the living room. We all loved it and may indeed do the same thing next year! Since we bought LED lights, we’ve left them on 24 hours a day all week. It doesn’t hurt that it’s been really grey and cloudy the entire time, so the extra light has been nice. We’ve not turned on the regular lamps as much, either.
I can’t imagine most people willingly replacing all their windows 4 days before Christmas nor having half their house unavailable the four days after Christmas (except for sleeping). For us, just a minor inconvenience, even the day at the hotel wasn’t too much hassle! (The day of the downstairs windows, Eric, Maggie, the cats, and the dogs had to be gone.)
December 23rd, 2005 - The best Christmas gift
My inlaws, the ones I was having trouble finding gifts for, came up with the BEST Christmas gift for me: They gave a donation to my favorite charity, The Elephant Sanctuary! I have forgotten the conversation, but apparently this summer I told my MIL that a donation to them would be a perfect gift for me. She remembered that 5 months later woohoo!!!
I have to admit: When their box of gifts came last week, I off-handedly said something to Eric about how they obviously loved him and Maggie more because I only had one gift that had all our names on it. He said something about how this wasn’t the only box coming. Whatever his exact words were, I took it to mean another box of gifts would come later. So I’ve faithfully checked the front porch when I come home every day (we only use the porch in the mornign to get the paper, so I check it each day in the afternoon if we’re expecting a package). A couple times, Eric has commented that their gift to me would be one I would absolutely positively adore. My MIL frequently buys me clothes with Winnie the Pooh characters on them (I adore Piglet), so I guessed it was another sweatshirt or such. To my regret, as I have too many clothes and since I prefer to wear only green, it was too much to hope they had found it in green. I did think Eric’s enthusiasm about the gift was a bit much for a Pooh item, however. But I couldn’t think of anything else they knew I’d adore (and I’d not mentioned wanting a Dyson any time recently!).
Yesterday, when I came home with the mail, he asked, “Anything special in the mail?” And I said, “No.” “Oh, my parents are getting worried because confirmation of your gift was supposed to arrive.” “Well, there’s a large envelope from The Elephant Sanctuary” a brief thought of a donation comes to mind “but I just sent a donation and it’s just a receipt for that.” His reply was something non-comittal but implied that indeed that wasn’t what he expected. But, my curiousity piqued, I opened it before going up to change my clothes. To my delight, it was indeed my Christmas gift! I was soooo surprised!!!! And utterly delighted. A perfect gift that I would adore, just as promised.
And nothing (except the thin sheet of paper acknowledging the gift) that I’ll have to store, wear, clean, dust, or do anything else with. A prefectly simple gift. I can even recycle the paper into my garden in the summer!
December 7th, 2005 - Happier Holidays
Benevolent Planet has an excellent resource for simplifying your holidays, Humane Holidays eGuide. (A freewill donation is requested if you appreciate the content, but it is available for free.) It’s exactly what I was looking for! I’m been toying with the idea of leading a workshop at the Fellowship next year on this topic. This guide has a worksheet about figuring out which traditions are/aren’t important to you. Understanding whether or not they fit your beliefs. Dealing with events/gift exchanges at work. And more, but I’m only on page 6 and realized I liked it so much I had to tell others (also posted on two message boards), and make a donation.
Now I need to see if I could use this for a workshop.