Our little Solstice celebration was quiet. We read to the girls, and made treats for the birdies together. J and I played a couple rounds of Scrabble after bedtime. It was not quite the meaningful evening I had orchestrated in my imagination, but these things seldom are when toddlers are involved. We did have some nice conversations with Swee about the days growing longer and lighter, even though winter is just beginning, and had not even yet begun to show herself.

We woke up this morning to a crust of ice on everything out of doors. It sparkled like glass on the tree tops as the early sun shone through the branches. We’re expecting eight to twelve inches of snow tonight into tomorrow, so like any good Pennsylvanian, I went to the store today for milk and eggs and bread (we were set on toilet paper). I had to scrape a solid crust off my windshield before getting out of the driveway as we just barely broke 20*.

I have been talking about taking down the Christmas tree, a conversation I am usually loathe to entertain until New Year’s Day or after. J is firmly in that camp this year, but I am feeling an urge for a clean sweep, ushering this very long year unceremoniously out the door and making way for light and renewal. I have a strong feeling of potential and I am itching to realize it.

He and I wrote out goals last year for the first time ever. We wrote them separately, in order not to influence each other, and then shared and compared. Nothing was off the table. Some were very personal, some were practicalities for our family, and some were definitely pie in the sky. I won’t share them, not out of shame, but because they were of a sort where we were not to be held accountable to anyone but ourselves and each other. I did, however, find it an enormously helpful exercise. I stored them in my email inbox (due to the nature of showing our house and having people in and out), but I think it would be better to put them on my vision board this year where I can see them daily. I’m looking forward to writing them out again, together this time instead of 600 miles apart as we were last December.

As the last few days of the year spiral out, our little family is taking some much needed time to wind down and draw in. I wish you and yours all the love and light that you may need to wrap things up, and then take your own steps into the New Year with intention and with purpose.

 

I love to visit friends at the holidays and see how their traditions differ from my own family’s, and I can’t imagine I’m the only one, so I thought I’d invite you in today to see our tree. I don’t remember ever having a themed tree, though I know a lot of people do them. Our tree growing up was always a mix: soft ornaments at dog level, handmade school crafts and personal favorites at kid level, and a couple of special ones up high. With two toddlers, the tree looks very similar here, and the soft ones are all clustered on a few branches thanks to my “big helpers.” My special ones, I realized, are mostly souvenirs from trips and experiences. The straw angel and wreath is from our day in Cozumel on last year’s cruise, and the only thing we bought on the whole trip. The wooden starburst was purchased in Germany when we visited for my brother’s wedding. The cardinal perched at the top was a decoration at our wedding. J’s gram makes the snowflakes, and she gifted us the Currier & Ives globe some years ago, passing it along from her own collection.

I didn’t unpack a lot of decorations this year because Beans is still into everything. Most of the breakables went right back into the box, but we put a few things out to make it look festive. We will hang the girls’ stockings on Christmas Eve, probably on the tv console as we don’t have anywhere high enough to keep them from becoming playthings before Santa fills them up.

We are going to celebrate the Solstice tonight, and maybe begin some new family traditions. I have been wanting to mark this date for several years now, and when Heather shared the simple ways that her family makes it special, I was inspired to give it a go. I’d love to hear what traditions you and your family hold close this time of year.

Most of my Christmas memories include some kind of stove-top potpourri. Actually, it’s such a part of my childhood that it’s not even a distinct memory so much as the knowledge that it’s always been there. My mom had a little old saucepan, lightweight and wobbly on the burner. The handle was rough metal, and gave you that fingernails on the blackboard feeling when you rubbed your skin across it. Throughout the season, it bubbled on the back of the stove with a spicy concoction, filling the house with its scent and some much needed steam. The three of us kids would save our orange peels, knowing they’d be tossed into the little pan to simmer away.

I don’t have a beat up saucepan of my own (that’s on my running thrift shop list, actually), but I still save Beansie’s orange and clementine peels for potpourri. This year, I realized it would make an excellent little handmade gift: cheap, easy and useful!

Now, the whole point of this is to use what you have, and not to run out and purchase oranges and whatnot in order to make it. I think, however, that most people will have the supplies readily available. We slice oranges for Beans so that she doesn’t have to fight with the segments, which has the side effect of making pretty peel slices. For gifting, I decided it would be best to dry the peels and avoid mold, so I tested two different methods. I threaded a few and hung them up to dry above the sink. The rest I just tossed on the counter and left them there. Both efforts worked just fine.

Pinterest will have you believe that this is a complicated recipe, but it truly doesn’t have to be. Yes, you can purchase cranberries and all manner of spices, but again – I prefer to keep it simple: the peel of one orange; one cinnamon stick; eight whole cloves; 2-3 dashes of ground nutmeg. Voila.

The cinnamon sticks were my one purchase, but please, go cheap for this project. I bought a jar at The Christmas Tree Shop for a dollar. If you’re doing this for yourself rather than giving, a little ground cinnamon works just fine – it just doesn’t look as pretty.

Add water and simmer. Just check the pot periodically and add water as needed so it doesn’t scorch.

I ended up packaging these kits in sandwich bags because I was shipping them, but you could use any old jar you have laying around. I think baby food jars would work nicely, and so does this squared off jar that used to contain marinated artichokes. A scrap of fabric or burlap, a little ribbon, and you have a hostess gift, or something for the neighbor who surprised you with cookies. If you want to get really fancy, add one of these free printable gift tags from Taproot. 

Do you already use stove-top potpourri? What do you put in yours? I’d love to try some other blends throughout the year!

 

I used to be embarrassed about my inability to lavish high-end gifts on the people around me. Everywhere I turned, it seemed there was another person I was supposed to provide a gift for at the holidays, and that list certainly isn’t shrinking. We’ve added teachers to the mix, and have wonderful neighbors and librarians we’d like to show our appreciation to as well. Living within our means doesn’t bother me so much anymore, and through years of practice, I’ve gotten pretty good at coming up with little tokens to share at the holidays that are simple enough to put together at home, unique enough to stand out, and inexpensive enough to spread the love freely. In a word, they truly are enough.

Swee and I put together these birdseed ornaments this morning to share with our friends and neighbors. I thought these would appeal to her because she loves projects, loves watching the birds, and loves to make things for other people. It’s a simple enough process, and she enjoyed stirring all of the ingredients together with the wooden spoon. From there, her attention waned, but that’s to be expected at three. This might be a really good project for a kindergartner, particularly one who likes to get her hands dirty.

This is the second time I’ve made these, and I follow the tutorial laid out here. I shelled out about ten bucks for the supplies, all available at the grocery store on my regular trip. The recipe made eleven ornaments, but they cost far less than a dollar each – I still have half a bag of seed to use in our own feeder, most of the corn syrup, and three packets of gelatine for other projects.

We will let them dry overnight and I’ve printed Becca Kallen’s winter bird ornaments to use as tags. You could also use these free clip art birdies, available this week for download from Creative Market. Tomorrow we will string them on plain garden twine and talk about who we’d like to share them with.

 

Again and again I am awed by this little community we have landed in. Tonight, we joined several dozen of our neighbors for a Christmas party and tree lighting. We were asked to bring cookies to share, so Swee and I baked with Gramma last night and prepared a plate of little sugar snowmen, carefully decorated by little fingers. The planning committee was to provide hot chocolate, and they were going to read a story for the children before lighting the tree, which sounded like a splendid evening. I was blown away to discover that each family got to take a copy of the story home, and then the Big Man in Red came with presents for everyone. As we waited in the cold for the tree to be lit, a spontaneous rendition of Jingle Bells made me well up a little. I can’t help but feel that we have found a very special place.

*I’ve always liked Rhonda’s tradition of sharing the interesting things she has found to read during her week. I don’t know that I’ll make it a regularly scheduled thing, but now and then I might share some things that caught my eye. I’d love to know your thoughts!

– A neat story about a family of strong Maine women working for change

– Tips for surviving winter as the Norwegians do

– So glad we can see stars like this in our new home