Spiraling the sun

Just wanted to record our solstice celebrations here so I'll remember next year. As much as I'd love Christmas to be either something celebrated with all our extended family or just our core, there's no way to make that happen so it feels a bit...stressful? Never quite right as least. So we're adopting solstice as the family celebration. OK, I'm adopting it. And dragging everyone along on the ride. Steve humored me this year, Henri was enthusiastic, Hudson was.....a typical 3 year old. I'll give the rosy view I want to remember first:

Solstice gifts. Each kid got a sketch book and a pocket gnome

After a leisurely breakfast we headed to an Audubon center (where I signed Hud up for a preschool program; I'll talk about it more once he's attended a few times and we see how it works out).

Off trail to check out this huge old tree that had toppled

It was a sunny 35, so plenty warm for a long expedition

One of the small loops has these adorable houses set out for kids to place found treasures in. Some have directions (like, put only round objects in)

Stopped for snack and journalling. We read a book about how to bird watch and they explained how to keep a birding journal (hence the morning gift). Henri was really in to it. Hudson carefully scribbled one "H" and then a random line he called a bird. 

Ready to be off again

Henri did this completely on her own, and the bird is a chickadee. (It says "I heard a bird it was at 10am I think it was talking to its friend" and her spelling is a lot better than some of the articles I've been seeing on major news sites lately).

Huge hornets nest down by the pond.

We stopped by the hardware store for birdseed so we could make our own feeders out of tp rolls and peanut butter rolled in seeds

There was an intermission for naps and a birthday party for our neighbor. Then supper of tacos (everyone likes them so a fuss-free meal) lit only by candles handmade by Siena (picture taken before lights were turned out). 

After dinner we wrote our intentions for the coming year on birch bark we'd collected on our walk today. 

Dessert by Allie. Everyone politely nibbled, I loved it. 

And then a fire!!! Kept it small because I didn't really want to hang out outside for long. Perfect for the kids to "help" build up, and to burn our intentions in. Next year, remember to make a smudge.

More candles, and a neighbor stopped by with a huge box of chocolate covered cookies

Steve and Hudson writing their intentions

Fire is magical. I also read a few short poems about the longest night and the coming light.

So, pretty much a peaceful, intentional day with ample time for reflection in nature.


OK, here's what actually happened:
-Hudson was up at 6 and laid in bed yelling Henri's name to wake her up. He then slept fitfully on and off until 7:15 at which point he got up grumpy and stayed that way for the day.
-I signed Hud up for a program, but there was a pet tarantula in the room that both kids were very enthused over and wanted me to check out. *shudder*
-3 feet down the trail Hudson refused to move one more step because there was ice. This antipathy towards self propulsion did not abate the entire trip.
-Snack time occurred 7 minutes after we arrived at the trail. Yes, Henri did sketch but Hudson was more interested in the little kid pitching an epic fit a few feet away. And then he wanted to hike but Henri wanted to draw so he tormented her until she gave up.
-We drove for seeds and there was non-stop whining. In the store, well, they were actually good although they were adamant the only gift they were willing to give Steve was something I think ridiculous but I bought it, and he'll know it was definitely from them.
-Whine, whine, WHINE whine. Tear your hair out, nails on chalkboard.
-Home. They want to make the birdfeeders asap. But not willing to wait for directions/do it the right way/let me get the supplies out. I ended up doing most of the work because they wanted to lick peanut butter off their hands.
-Hang out the feeders. No birds. Tears over no birds. During "nap" time 3 humongous squirrels got two of the feeders down and ate every speck of peanut butter and seeds. Still no birds.
-No sleep during nap time, just very enthusiastic and loud singing. Hudson beheads his pocket gnome so it's thrown away.
And then the rest of the afternoon was an anomaly because we had a birthday party to attend and then someone to pick up from an appointment. Once home Steve arrived and took the kids out to set up for the fire, so I was able to get dinner made, light the candles, get the music going, reset the mood.

And the rest of the night was really lovely. Henri had been thinking hard about her intentions all day, she spend nap time working on a gorgeous drawing of the birds we saw, she was really in to all the symbolism and reasoning behind what we were doing. I know the above list is more a reflection of having a three-year old and not the prevailing attitude towards the holiday. So, I'm going to go blow out the candles so they'll be available for next year and head to bed. When we wake, the sun will be our companion a whole minute longer! We're already spinning towards spring :)