Winter Solstice

 

It's been a year since the great Mayan apocalypse of 2012 and I'm still here to write about it, so I guess we can breathe easy and celebrate yet another solar event. Winter Solstice is the shortest day or the longest night of the year ... in the northern hemisphere anyway. While David is enjoying long days and hot weather in Adelaide, back here in Boston it gets dark at 4pm and it's mighty cold and bleak.

Though the winter/summer solstice was actually on 21 December, Lin's earth-centered group and pagan friends celebrated a bit later, so everyone could get together. They welcomed me warmly as usual as they ritually ushered out the darkness and short days of winter and welcomed the lengthening days to come. Though it's not quite noticeable yet, the sunset is a minute or two later each week. On the 21st, we had 9 hours 4 minutes and 40 seconds of light in Boston and today we're already up to 9 hours 6 minutes and 17 seconds of daylight. We're really making progress.

People have been celebrating the sun's annual journey for millennia ... solstices, equinoxes and all the smaller milestones in between. The pagan Wheel of the Year is especially good at acknowledging and celebrating the sun's odyssey from the rebirth of Spring to the dead of Winter. Each has its own time and reason.

Unlike the solstice group, however, I do not intend to wait around until springtime and summer in Boston to enjoy longer days. I hop on a plane to Australia in just seven days where the warm, long summer days (and David) are waiting for me.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my true love sent to me …

Four galley updates

Three e-mailed errands

Two bigger duffels

And a Christmas morning greeting on Skype

Merry Christmas to All

 

Merry Christmas! What more can I say on my favorite holiday of the year? David and I are not together geographically (sigh!), but we're together in spirit. I'm spending Christmas morning with my sister and her family … and Jelly, of course. We're drinking mimosas and eating decadently large, gooey cinnamon buns and opening our stockings. We'll head over to spend Christmas afternoon and evening with our mom, Bea.

David is … shall I really tell you? … working on the boat. What a surprise! We'll celebrate our Christmas together when I return to Nine of Cups … 12 days and counting.

The Nine of Cups Twelve Days of Christmas countdown:

On the first Day of Christmas my true love sent to me … Christmas morning greetings on Skype.

We wish you everyone ... health, wealth and love in 2014 and the time to enjoy them all.

Christmas Stockings - A Family Tradition

 

Every family seems to have its own traditions for the holidays. Some go to midnight services on Christmas Eve and celebrate when they come home. Some don't put up their Christmas tree till Christmas Eve after the kids have gone to bed. Some open presents on Christmas morning; others open them on Christmas Eve. Lin's mother-in-law, Lucy, is Italian and prepares a huge Seven Fish Feast on Christmas Eve. Traditionally, we open our presents on Christmas morning, but it's the filled stockings, not the presents, that get the most attention. Yes, we are traditional stocking stuffer aficionados.

Tradition has it that on one Christmas Eve St. Nicholas overheard that a poor family needed help, but would accept no charity. So he secretly tossed some gold balls into their stockings which were drying by the hearth. A happy ending to that story and the word spread and, well, you know the rest.

In our family, we stuff each others stockings to give Santa a break. I stuff Lin's stocking and she stuffs mine. We both work at stuffing stockings for as many people as we expect on Christmas morning. We have had a wide variety of Christmas stockings over the years. I've determined that the best ones are those that stretch. Though it's definitely more difficult for the person filling, it's much more satisfactory for the receiver, e.g. me. There are rules about stocking stuffing. First, no big orange in the toe like Mom used to do … that's cheating ... although reading more about the history of the Christmas stocking, the orange is symbolic of those gold balls, so I guess it would be okay in a pinch. (I'm sure Mom never did it for the symbolism.) Coal is allowed if it's warranted … that naughty or nice thing is at play here. Come to think of it, sometimes we tend to reward naughty … but that's another story.

So back to the rules … all items must be wrapped with care and tied with ribbon. The stocking must be filled to overflowing … extra items can be laid on the side of the stocking, if necessary. We usually add a fancy stocking topper that's suited to the individual stocking owner and can be used as a Christmas ornament in subsequent years. The actual contents of the little gift boxes and treats is really inconsequential. It's the anticipation of unwrapping so many tiny little packets that's the fun part. Lin and I always work to surprise each other … in one way or another. There's a tin of inedible veggie pate that's traveled from continent to continent for over a decade as sister stocking stuffers.

Everyone who's present Christmas morning gets a stocking, including our pets. I can remember a huge family Christmas which involved nearly 20+ filled Christmas stockings. Now, those were the good old days ... although I must admit filling that many stockings was a challenge. I relied heavily on Santa that year.

This Christmas Eve, I'll fill just Lin's stocking and my mom's. David is back in Oz where our usual stockings are packed in a plastic bin on the forward bunk. I'm hoping that Santa doesn't forget him.