Wishing you all wonderful holidays!

LOVE AND LIGHT FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

We woke to find the Child of Light on the Advent table with an angel overhead.

The stable I made for Lo's Buntspechte animals. Huz helped quite a bit in the building-we cranked most of it out on Christmas eve. Thanks hunny!!!!!

Dea with the canvas lightscape that I made her

I edited and converted to b&W these pictures that Dea took on her trip to Europe. Printed them on canvas paper and mounted them on artist canvases.

Huz made Lo that great painting board for watercolors.

Dea made Lo this nice tray

Winter light-Solstice's symphony in blue

The shortest and darkest day of the year. A time when the sun peeks above the horizon for a mere 5-ish hours a day.... leaving our outside world awash in Solstice's symphony in blue. From the lightest periwinkle to the deepest indigo...a fresh blanket of white snow and trees dressed in crystalline hoar frost. My breath escapes me at times when standing out in it. It is so beautiful and just begs for quiet and reflection. It is still dark now at 8am but I anticipate today's rising sun and hope it will be clear enough for spectacular colors and morning "elfin" glow (Dea's word for Alpine glow when she was little) on the mountains.

Inside on solstice is a different story!

The glow of wood burning in our stove and the light of our many candles and lanterns warms our home and souls. Today, my hopes are that Lo and I will enjoy the morning outside and an afternoon of making beeswax candles and ornaments, cookies, reading stories...bathed in light and just being. The sweet scent of bees wax and it's beautiful warm color adds to the glow within. I just wish Dea and Huz could be a part of it-they have to work today.

Lanterns and candles we have been working on:

Lemons, walnut shells and seed pods make great vessels for beeswax candles!

Tomorrow our light will return, little by little, every day. I look forward to it but am also grateful for it's unhurried return... and the lingering of winter color.

Celebrating Advent-Week 4, The Human Kingdom

With this 4th light of advent
We honor the fold.
We give thanks to humans,
the young and the old

Bless the earth's people
a wish for peace among all
hand in hand, united,

together standing tall

Bless our family

and friends far and near
where there is so much love
and connection so dear

Woman's day

Last week my friend, Nature Lady, hosted a crafting and cookie exchange at her house. It had been awhile since I was able to attend one of these lovely get-togethers and this female-infused creative chat time was something I really needed! And this time, I actually got something done! What usually happens is that I scramble to get all my crafting paraphernalia in the car and by the time I get to Nature Lady's house I realize I've forgotten some key component in the making of the particular craft that I'm working on. Like the sewing machine.

I was totally thrilled with myself for making alot of headway on the crayon roll I'm making for Lo. I SUCK at sewing-both hand and machine- so this was BIG for me! And so nice to accomplish this in my friend's warm home among other like-minded mamas, hearty soup, sinful cookies, and good conversation. It hearkens back to an older time when things were simpler, more in tune with the natural, and more connected.

And here I sit on the couch plugged into my new laptop. As much as I LOVE it and can't wait to really take my photography to the next level with it, I think I'll put it away for now. (For the vulgarly decadent Chocolate Star recipe, buy the latest Better Homes and Garden's Ultimate Cookies.) Off to bake more cookies and enjoy the new 23 inches of snow we have!

Outside...unplugged.

Celebrating Advent-Week 3, The Animal Kingdom

Beneath night's dark blanket
a white candle is lit.
A warm Advent gift,
the flame of human spirit.

With this 3rd light of Advent
We give thanks to the animals
To beasts large and small
Who reflect back our souls

Bless the friendship
and wonderment they provide,
Their gifts of self
nourish our lives.

Bless the deep knowledge
and the lessons they offer,
about caring and loving
And sharing Earth with each other.

(This week's gift from the Advent faeries is this sweet Buntspechte donkey -from the Puppenstube ;) -Just in time for our reading of Mary's Little Donkey!)