Happy New Year everyone!

We had a lovely holiday with friends and family, and are having some quiet home days to recover from all the fun and festivities. Such a time of warmth and feelings of gratitude for all we have and the beautiful people in our lives.

I hope your holidays were full of love and warmth, dear friends!

We celebrated the return of the sun with glittery suns, gold wrapped coconut candy, a bonfire (with homemade honey marshmallows to roast!) stories by the fire, lanterns and candle light. We opened the gifts we made for each other (more on that later!) and camped by the wood stove through the longest night. 

Today we are getting ready to host friends and family in the big house- and we are enjoying our time together. Happy holidays friends!

O little tree out in the dark cold night,
we bring you in by our warm firelight,
dress you in tinsel and garlands bright,
and thank you for filling our home with light.


Our trip into our back woods to get out tree has become a well loved annual tradition. We have learned the best spots for trees, and we choose a tree that is crowded in with a bunch of others, or that is on a path or fence line.
  

This year headed out as the sun was beginning to set (about 3:30 these days,) and trudged through the deep snow to find just the right tree to bring home with us.

(Dori needed to wear his sweater on top of his snowsuit. He has his very own ideas about fashion and what he will wear!)

We have gotten in the habit of packing a little picnic to have beside out tree before we cut it down. This year it was oranges and nuts and hot apple cider.

We dragged our new tree home and let it sleep in the pump house to melt the snow from its branches.

The boys loved decorating it, and are in love with it. We don't put presents under it until Christmas Eve which seems to keep the focus on the tree and not the presents!

I hope it is festive and warm where you are friends!

I am going to try and keep posting through the holidays, but between our slow internet and all the busy-ness of the season, it is not always easy to get here. I'll pop in when I can, but send out some holiday hugs now, in case I don't get here as often ans I'd like. Happy holidays!

We've been having a few Internet troubles, that are hopefully resolved, but I've been collecting many photos from all our adventures that I've been unable to post. Just this little chickadee tonight, but I'll try and post a few more soon.

Good night friends.

Inside and outside it is feeling very wintery and festive around here. We have been enjoying visiting with friends, crafting and making and whispering ideas about solstice gifts to each other, reading endless piles of books, playing and skiing and drinking eggnog together by the fire with a good book.

I hope you are all cozy and warm where you are, friends.

Today was a good day. A long one day, but a good one. The boys were busy this morning playing shop and mailman. I was given the role of "auntie", but luckily my job was to sit and drink tea and knit and get my letters delivered from Mexico right to the kitchen table which seemed like a good deal. We worked on making a garland from sweater scraps- this was our advent activity from yesterday, but it we didn't get to it until today. The boys enjoyed it for awhile and it was a satisfying use of all the felted bits I have been storing. 

Ari and Dorian wanted to work on shovelling off the pond today as they are really keen to get their skates on, but we found it a slushy mess with he warm weather we've had the past few days. The kids were content to shovel around the house instead and tired themselves out nicely.

I tried something different with circle today and it went really well. I had read about "adventure circles" which some Enki families use- where you tell a little story that ties the activities together and act out the story together. I made up a quick story about delivering presents to our friends in our horse-drawn sleigh using silks for props and the boys loved it. None of the verses or songs were new, but the story made it feel new and was fun for all of us.

We also attempted to make grain-free (sugar free, molasses-free) gingerbread cookies today and it was a bit of a failure. The kids were great about it and entertained themselves by playing a game with the cookie cutters while I wrestled with the dough. I find it discouraging sometimes, trying to adapt the foods we have enjoyed in the past to our new diets, but I'll keep trying.  Besides, I have this little goof ball to keep me laughing- he sure does know how to make us laugh!

Goodnight friends!

A craft fair and some town errands, simple meals and crafting together. Last night a date with my love. The holiday books and music came out-the boys were especially excited about the music. Ari requested more crafts tomorrow.

So far, this weekend has been grand. I hope your weekend's are swell dear friends.

Today there was a beautiful sunrise and lots of quiet while the kids played with their grandparents. There was cleaning and knitting and holiday planning and kitchen projects. There was gift making, there was snow to stomp in, there was eggnog. And there was a beautiful sunset too. A day for breathing deep. Just what the doctor ordered.