Marking the Winter Solstice

 

Our days are much shorter with dawn coming later & night coming earlier. 

It is the time to 'nest' when you can, to take stock as the year winds down to Christmas. 

I like to bring in fresh greenery in to the home - fir, holly, ivy, pine cones & my garland is up on the front door to welcome in visitors too. 

I went in to the woods last weekend to forage & came out with a handful of gorgeous fallen branches. 

I have tied them up in to a swag & put them on the patio chimnea that faces the house so they can be seen from the windows. 

The taller branches are in the funnel of the chimnea, along with the autumn ones I picked up some weeks before from the same woods. 

They are a visual link to nature & my love of forests & woods. 

There is something very therapeutic about spending time in woods or forests, the smell of pines, of gentle sounds of nature & being able to pick up some branches - it is an important connection. 

The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day & the longest night of the year, when darkness abounds & the light will slowly start to return again.  

This is how I have marked the Winter Solstice previously 

It is a good time to reconnect with nature & the natural rhythm of the season. Bringing in natural greenery is important too - less faux, more real. 

This time is also known as Yule, or Modranight (Mother Night), or Midwinter - it is the gentle pause in the seasons.

Norse & some Anglo Saxon cultures celebrate the influence of Mothers on this night, their wisdom & lineage remembered, their stories told so they are not forgotten. It is a lovely tradition. 

This is some of my female ancestors who had a big influence on my life. I am so fortunate to have several generational photos of my maternal line ... 

I like to do a simmer pot of winter scents at Solstice to fill the home with fresh fragrance & light candles to mark the return of the light. A dark cycle completing ... 

These are the herbs associated with the Winter Solstice. 

 I look forward to the light slowly returning but I also love the dark nights when homes are lit by gentle lights over the festive season. 

Thank you for stopping by & visiting with me, 

Dee 🕯️🌲🍁🪾🔥

The Advent candles need a bobeche ...

 I love candles at home, especially with meals for friends etc when we chat late in to the night & the candles burn low & no one wants to move. 

However, so many candles seem to drip wax that runs down the candlestick & on to the tablecloth where it almost impossible to remove. 

Some of my candle holders have glass wax catchers / bobeche that gets around this problem but many do not. The Advent ring, although brass, is prone to having the candles drip so I had a thought to get around this issue. 

The idea comes from my teaching time when students would make Christingles & carry them to a local church for the service. They were lit when they got to church & to stop the hot wax dripping on them, a paper round was used to catch the wax. 

While out dropping off surplus Christmas things at local charity shops (yes, I am still on a mission to reduce my Christmas stash) I spied some sheet music & had an inspiring thought. It would be easy & pretty to make paper wax catchers from sheet music. 

I duly purchased 3 lots at 20p each; a perfect find. 

I used a glass to draw a circle for each one - 4 for the Advent wreath & one for the centre candle. 

After cutting out the circles, I made 6-8 small snips to the centre large enough for the candle to go through. 

I did a gold border on each circle with a sharpie pen before easing it over the candles so it rests on the candle holder. 

They look pretty as well as being functional & that is a great way to protect the table cloths from drips. 

I hope this inspires you to do something similar - it is a quick but satisfying make that only took a few minutes. You could use pretty Christmas cards to do this too. 

Thank you for stopping by at this busy time, it is always appreciated. 

Dee 🕯️📖🎵🎶

A colourful supper to start to Summer …

It is a bit of a tradition to embrace bright colours in summer. Ours is so short lived;  the warm days & long nights are a joy after winter. 

I'm having friends join us for supper, not dinner. For me, supper is a relaxed get together with generally only a main & pudding. It is a time to catch up on each others busy lives. Dinner is a bit more formal & is rarer. 

However, I still love to set the table. It was my ‘job’ as a child to set our long dining table for 7 each night or more if friends & grandparents were joining us. Supper was always at the table at home & it was a time to catch up on each others day in the era of no mobile phones.

I digress; pink table cloth & runner, green & pink placemats,  green tinged wine glasses & green glasses & jug that belonged to Olive. 

It is always fun to have lots of candles & my coloured glass ones do very nicely. Taller pink & green holders & smaller tea lights in pink, green & blue -  summery & fun. 

It has been a hot week so the menu is planned for a lighter meal with interesting salads. 

It is strawberry season so Eton mess  & fruit compote will be served in coloured vintage glass bowls. 

I think it is a good choice for a solstice meal that is wholesome without being heavy. 

What would your ideal mid summer meal be?  The updated Solstice menu is blogged here ... Thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated. 

Dee 🥗☀️🏡🫜

The light returns on our Winter Solstice ...

Today marks our shortest day & longest night - the Winter Solstice marks the turning point when our light will slowly return from our deep midwinter. 

I like to celebrate this change & this was previous years ...

2011 

2012

2013 

2014

2017

2018

2020

2022

2023 

It is the time when greenery is welcomed in the home - holly, ivy, mistletoe, logs all signify the connection to nature in the deepest winter nights. 

It is a time to hang garlands on the door & bring greenery & light in to the home, a time for log fires, candles, comfort & joy. 

In times long gone, winter was a time to reflect & be thankful after a busy summer & harvest. The short days signalled to animals to conserve their energy by hibernating & it felt as if time is suspended. A bad harvest for our agrarian ancestors would have been disastrous so they gave thanks for any blessings that came their way, acknowledging their dependency on nature & its fickle ways. 

Our busy lives have little time to rest, reset, restore so this is time to do just that in the lead up to the busy festive season with all the expectations & emotions that brings. Embrace the sleeping, glistening landscape, the pure snows, the quieter times, the warmth of steaming bowls of soup or indulgent hot chocolate wrapped in gloved hands, with steaming breaths in the cold air.  Take in the smells of woods or forests that bring a natural stillness & calming when things start to overwhelm you, when memories become raw ... 

             

Some Anglo Saxon & Norse cultures celebrate Modraniht, Mother's night, the long line of Mothers who came before us & their influence on us. They are the wise & benevolent women ancestors whose wisdom guide us. Stories of grandmothers, great-grandmothers & other women in the family are shared & passed on so their spirit lives on. It is both a solemn & joyous time honoring them. 

My winter simmer pot is ready to give the home a wonderful natural scent of cloves, cinnamon (for success, wealth & abundance), star anise (for healing, luck & clarity),  juniper berries,  rosemary (for protection), sage, lemon grass, lemon & orange (happiness & prosperity & symbolises the return of the sun)

May you welcome in the light again with candles & positive thoughts; in the dark of winter, we make  the light

Dee🕯️🌲🕯️🎄🕯️

PEACE on the last Sunday of Advent

 I send PEACE to all on the last Sunday of Advent. It is needed in the world where there is so much dissent. 

The four Advent candles burn together, having been lit progressively over the last month, each burning down more than the next one lit ... 

HOPE

LOVE

JOY

PEACE 

We need love, hope  & peace to bring joy in to our spaces. 

Four important messages to take forward to Christmas day with you. Make peace with the things that trouble you, speak with kindness to create a ripple in the world. It needs more of that ... 

Dee  🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

A JOYful third Advent Sunday ...

 How quickly the candles are lit - today is the third of the four candles lit, just one more Sunday to Christmas. 

The first two were for 

HOPE

LOVE

This one is for 

JOY 

May you find it in all you do today, go gently amidst the noise of the festive preparations. The commercial demands can become too loud so step away & take in the things that bring you joy. 

Perhaps it is that first cup of tea in the morning, it might be a welcoming text amongst friends, it might even be a card from a neighbour to wish you & yours well. Embrace the little things - they matter. 

JOY

Joy does not arrive with a fanfare,

on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life.

Joy sneaks in, as you pour a cup of coffee,

watching the sun hit your favourite tree, just right.

And you usher joy away,

because you are not ready for it.

Your house is not as it must be,

for such a distinguished guest.

But joy cares nothing for your messy home,

or your bank-balance,

or your waistline, you see.

Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life,

that’s how joy works.

You cannot invite her, you can only be ready when she appears.

And hug her with meaning,

because in this very moment,

joy chose you.

Donna Ashworth

What brings JOY in to your life or do we create our own joy? Tell all ... 

Thank you for stopping by & spending some of your precious time here, 

Dee 🎄❤️🕯️

The foraged swag is done ...

I love to have fresh foliage on the wreath on the front door. These are some of the previous ones 

2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 , 2018,  2019 , 2022 

Then there is a small matter of the wreath for the front door.  It is tricky because our door is black & the fresh greens don't show up very well. 

We ventured to one of our local woods to forage for some greenery.  No one mind a few branches being taken for a wreath so we are always mindful to pick up branches or only take what we need. I love the soft woodland floor, spongy from all the fallen leaves over many years. It is a joy to just wander around & find some suitable greens. 

My enthusiasm doesn't match my wreath making skill - I really need to do a course on how to do it properly. However, it all seemed to be ok in the end. I fortunately had picked up some pinecones too that I wired in place. This overly generous pink ribbon & bows had been a recent charity shop purchase with the door wreath in mind & so it was a relief to have something ready. 

I think it looks just fine - the plants in the planters by the door will get ribbons & baubles so it will all look rather festive soon. 

I hope your thoughts have turned to the advancing festive season too. Thank you for your time, do stop by again & share your projects & websites with me, 

Dee 🎄