A Cool Yule

Here at 2950 we have long standing traditions for Summer Solstice. Over 50 years ago my grandparents started hosting a neighborhood picnic (feast) to celebrate the longest day of the year June 21st. We join with our neighbors on the closest Saturday to the Solstice  for the evening with wish lanterns, bottle rockets, and good food.
Growing up on a farm it also became a tradition with my dad to try and find a BIG buck. Legend was if Hern the half man half deer showed himself on the solstice it will be a good crop year. We always liked to increase our odds and would scour the woods and countryside for a glimpse and always have accepted the sightings of any deer as adequate.

Yet somehow the Winter Solstice hasn't been a celebration here... until today. Today December 21 is the shortest day of the year. There is more darkness today than any other day of the year.

The ladies and I ventured out with flashlights to gather materials for a Yule log. We hit up the lavander, some evergreens, and grabbed some hydrangea heads from my Grandma Vaughan's bush I brought to 2950 when I moved here.

Lore says that your Yule log must be from the property you live. These logs were cut from the hedgerow last spring and are in our woodpile. With the help of the ladies we added bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, limes, pine boughs and a few star stickers for good measure.

We turned out the lights and lit up the house with lanterns and candles. The idea of the winter solstice celebration is to bring back the light.

 We feasted... wine for mommy, dates, apples, bananas, oranges, and walnuts.

 We danced to celtic tunes.

 And we lured the sun back with a replica made of oranges, cloves, and straight pins.

 We then put our sun  where the real sun could see it and know that we want it to come back.

I grabbed my harvest basket and loaded up the Yule log. 

After LBR headed to bed RKR and I made a fire with coals from the woodstove and set our log ablaze. She's 3 so explaining the significance of this to her was tricky. I told her today was the shortest day with not much sun. We want the sun to come back because we like sunshine. She responded telling me "Oh Mommy we do this so the sun comes back and brings Summer Olaf will be so happy!" So I think she got the idea lol...

So when the sun comes back you're welcome... we did our part!

Yours in love and light!

♡AVR