Welcome to our Winter Solstice celebration, which spanned from Winter Solstice Eve into the Day, capitulating in a nighttime party honoring Light and renewal. Like so many of you, my Love and I made a conscious decision to slow down with our family amidst the bustle and flurry of the holidays, simply breathe, be present and aware, and enjoy the magic of Christmas, without the distractions of too many material things. Thus, we marked Yule with earthy, spiritual rituals to embody the sentiment of the season — being grateful for togetherness, life, and all of its blessings. We gathered evergreen and winterberry for decorating, created a simple altar to celebrate the birthday of the Invincible Sun and welcome the Light, baked a yule log sponge cake replete with cocoa-dusted meringue mushrooms (my first one!), and readied an actual yule log for ceremonial burning. We sipped the goodness of homemade hot wassail punch and feasted on winter squash and sweet potato soup (all locally grown organic veg) and made-from-scratch dark beer & cheese bread. We put slips of paper (containing wishes/hopes/goals for the new year) on the yule log and placed it in the blazing light of the fire in the wood burning stove. The kids played holiday tunes they had prepared on their instruments while the log crackled and sparked. The night was topped off in sugary bliss as we indulged in the creamy, rich, velvety chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate cake, which put us all in a dreamy, euphoric haze, perfect for lounging on the couch and partaking in our yearly custom of watching A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim.
I wish you and yours calmness, contentment, warmth and good cheer on this Winter Solstice and throughout the holiday season!
XO