In my youth, I discovered a startling tidbit. Scientists date the birth of Jesus in the summer. While no one knows for sure on what day or even what year he was born... It was the confirming of my distrust in the bible. This little theory and all it's accompanying (albeit, confusing and non conclusion forming) evidence and supporting information moved me away from the church all together. It helped me to name things I had been feeling and disliking for years about my 'religion'. But all that? Is for another post. End result? We follow a Pagan path. A religious path that places reverence on the planet and our connection with it.
As a result, I've celebrated Yule (the winter solstice) for many years now. And for most of those years, we also celebrated Xmas. Social construct made ditching it impossible. Visiting family every year made ditching it impossible. Childhood fondness of the 'season' made ditching it impossible.
Every year, my husband and I would talk about ways we could adjust, moving us away from commercialized Xmas traditions and toward what we really wanted, to spend time with each other and loved ones. Every year I expressed my want to have our 'present opening' morning on the solstice. But again, choosing that for us is all fine and well, but asking our family, who we were visiting each year, to change? Not so fine and well.
ENTER 2017!
This is the first year that we aren't going anywhere and that no one is visiting us. This year also happens to hold a convenient schedule handed out by my husbands office. This year, our sailor is not taking leave. Instead he gets his 4 day weekend at Xmas and another at New Years.
Man! Did I jump on that.
This year, we coupled these serendipitous happenings with our commitment to DO things before BUYING things.
It required a little ground work. To keep this in perspective, our kids are 3, 6, & 10. Prime selfish, me-me-me, give-me-all-the-stuff, age. We discussed with the kids about wanting to DO instead of BUY (a conversation we've actually had several times this year). We used examples of going to visit great friends for their birthdays last summer. Did they get fewer presents? Yes. Was it worth the fun we had instead? Heck Yes! Should we do it again for Xmas? Yes! It was a surprisingly easy conversation. Mostly, they were concerned that we would change our Solstice ritual. 'Will we still get up early and greet the sunrise?' Yes. 'Will we still do our candle spiral?' Yes. They were in!
 |
| Our Winter Solstice mat. We add a candle each night until the solstice. We sing and tell stories. It's a holiday staple now. |
Step 1: make a list on Pinterest of 5 things they would each like to get. Knowing full well, they're only getting 2. That's the deal for getting to DO fun stuff.
So, here's our plan.
Day 1: We will wake the day after the solstice, take some snacky breakfast with us up a hill and great the sun as it begins to grow stronger. Normally we would eat out for breakfast, but this year?? We're doing presents. On the Solstice! So after our snacky breakfast watching the sunrise, we'll head home and open our presents. The rest of the day is for playing and eating and baking and spending time together. While everyone else is out chasing the "perfect" last minute gift in crowded malls, going into debt for it and stress eating their way through the food court, we'll be hanging at home, playing with our Solstice gifts. This is also the first of hubby's 4 days off.
Day 2: I have to work on the 23rd. So hubby will play more with the kids and their gifts and pack for our #YuleTide2017Adventure.
Day 3&4: On the 24th, after I finish my shift, we'll get on the road to a snowy little town and check into a hotel. We'll sled, build snowmen, eat snow, make snow angels, have a snowball fight? Maybe. Then, we'll have a nice dinner out (we've already inquired at our favorite restaurant in this town to confirm they'll be open). If we get lucky, it'll actually snow while we're there. Even if not, we can play in the snow more, until our feet are froze and our noses are froze, and head back home with 2 days of snowy fun and delicious meals in the memory banks. We're even planning to take homemade ornaments and candy canes to give to everyone working in the various places we patronize.
I'm SO very excited to head out on this winter adventure with my family. I'm also VERY excited to see what other adventures we create next year as we continue this tradition of DO instead of BUY.
If you like to see things develop as they go, you can always head over to my author IG account and follow along. I'll be posting pictures (like this first one) every step of the way.
What are you DOING this holiday season??
ING
!jen
PS
You can also see some other holiday ramblings here:
2012
2013
2013
2017
