Yule

This year we celebrated the Winter Solstice on December 22nd, the day after the actual solstice. We were hoping to have my mom join us, and she was out of town at a party on the 21st. In the end, she didn't make it to our "Winter Solstice One Day Late" celebration either (due to snow), but the delayed timing was for the best anyway, if only because of the sun. The 21st was a snowy, drearily gray day completely devoid of sunlight, whereas we were actually able to watch the sun rise on the morning of the 22nd. What's a sun celebration in the absence of sun?

As it was, we came downstairs on "solstice" morning to sunlight streaming through the windows, reflecting off of icicles! How very wintery!

And it truly was a winter wonderland outside.

This was our first solstice with our new gift plan (three sharing gifts, all bought used), and Lena and I were both thrilled with how it went down. The kids were just as excited to find the three sharing presents under the tree as they had been to discover the room full of presents last year. And they seemed much less anxious about the whole thing.

The matching red pajamas are a holdover tradition
from my Christmases as a kid

Lena has perfected the art of playsilk gift wrap.

We let the kids open one present right away, the vintage little people sesame street playset. They all loved it (we are huge fans of the "Old School Sesame Street" dvds), and got right to work playing.


Lena and I sat back and took in the joy of it all while breakfast cooked itself in the kitchen.


For breakfast we had sticky buns that Lena and I had prepared the night before so that all we had to do was pop them in the oven and wait while the house filled with the smell of warm cinnamon. They turned out perfectly.


The table was decorated with our solstice version of the Christmas Nativity; a wooden solstice tree and several wooden animal figures. I keep them boxed up most of the year so that they are extra special to play with. We also have a funky candle holder that only gets used during our winter and summer solstice meals.

Everyone loved the sticky breakfast.

After breakfast, the kids opened the other two presents and spent the rest of the day playing.


Both Luke and Jaz had mini-meltdowns about an hour after the presents had been opened, but they were half-hearted and nothing like the experience of last year. Both boys recovered quickly and returned to their joyful, sunny selves. We have deemed Yule 2008 a huge success and are definitely planning to stick to this plan from now on. Hopefully these new toys will add warmth to our winter and help the days pass until spring.