Home in Time for All the Parties

We came home just in time for all of the holiday celebrations. Peanut and I went with the 4-H group to sing carols for one of the retirement centers.

And we hosted our annual Solstice party, where Santa made an appearance, and Bean came home just in time to join us.

Our friends brought a goat to sacrifice on the fire,

(which was a little big for our fire pit, haha.)

And we had good food and fun and games all night.

Traveling is so fun, but being home with friends and family feels at this season feels right.

Longest Night

Shortest day of the year/longest night means it's time for our solstice celebration. 

We ended up with a new fire pit for the occasion because earlier in the day when I was cleaning out the logs we'd thrown in a few months ago, the whole bottom started disintegrating! We got a few years of use out of it before it finally rusted through, and we can't really ask for more from a freebie we picked up off the side of the road.

We had a fun group--5 families including a couple of grandma's here for the holidays. Lots of good soups, salad, and bread, too many cookies, and so much fun. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions--love ringing in winter with a warm fire and friends.

Santa even paid us a visit, haha.

Peanut decided to put his gnome beard to use, stuffed his belly, and invited the kids to come sit on his lap. (The kids were all paid actors, though.)

And now the days only get longer!

Solstice Revised

Thanks to a broken ankle, high school still being in session, and the only driver at home feeling under the weather, all attempts at a solstice hike were thwarted, but I decided that was no reason for Peanut and I to stay home all day.

So we managed a bike/knee scooter trip to the park in our neighborhood. It was really slow on my part, but we made it and Peanut rode around the park for a bit while I sat on a bench.

It was so nice being outside with sunshine and trees and dirt. I really haven't gotten out much for 6 weeks and am relieved that I can start going a little farther than our backyard. 

Peanut and I also took our reading out into the backyard. He needs a couple hours a day outside to finish off his 1000 hours outside this year, so we're going to have to be deliberate about our choices.

Baked a few more cookies, too, because. . .

December 21st means friends and food around the fire!

The kids have all grown a lot since our first solstice party 2018 and I love seeing them all interacting.

As usual, the kids and teens end up in the house or scattered around the yard, and the adults take over the fire. 

This year, the younger crowd ended up filming a Santa short and playing games,

while the older ones eventually pulled out all the instruments. They usually make an appearance at some point on these nights.

These two girls sang for us.

And we had lots of kids on the piano playing whatever Christmas songs they know.

I love this time of year. It's not the only time we entertain, but the parties in December have an added level of fun. And I love knowing that this is the longest night and we will only be getting more light from here on out. It helps take the edge off the (relative) cold we'll feel for the next couple of months.

Celebrating the Shortest Day

The kids and I went for a solstice hike and found fog! It was perfect for the first day of winter. We may not get snow, but fog and the damp cold feel very wintery to us.

I chose a section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail near the John Muir National Historic Site. We climbed Mt. Wanda, where he roamed with his daughters when he lived there. I think we would have had beautiful views if it hadn't been foggy, but we'll have to check it out on another day.

Mushrooms! I'm always excited to find fungi :).

After lunch, it had mostly cleared up and we did get a view of the hills with Mt. Diablo in the background from the hilltops on the other side of John Muir's home. We never made it close enough or high enough to get the Bay View that is there, but we had heard fog horns all morning and could see a layer of fog over what I think must have been the edge of the Suisun bay.

We did see a LOT of cows. Some were right next to the trail and made us a little nervous, but they mostly just stared at us.

The spot where the trail goes under the freeway and right past the John Muir site has murals from spots that John Muir loved. It was a fun surprise when we came to this spot. I still want to come back some time when the house and grounds are open so we can see the orchards and other parts of the property, but with all the shut downs around the state right now, we knew this would be a hiking only day.

We finished off our day with roasting hot dogs over the fire and a warm bistro salad that I've fallen in love with (and convinced everyone else that it's pretty tasty, too.) Daddy-o had to go inside after dinner to teach an English class that he's been doing on Monday nights through our church (though attendance was pretty light--he's hoping it's just because of the holidays and that people will come back in January, but the person over the program is convinced that the consistency is important so they will continue to hold class each week no matter the time of year, and for the few who did come, it probably is very important.)

The kids and I stayed outside by the fire, reading a couple of books about winter and advent, and then telling jokes and playing games. There was a lot of laughing, a lot of being cold, and a lot of sugar consumed. It wasn't the same as our solstice parties we've had the past couple of years, but same as the evening I spent camping alone with the kids this summer, I realized that when we invite other families to join us, I pretty much don't interact with my kids. They're with their friends, I'm talking with mine. This year has been full of traditions with the twist of turning them into true family time, and I kind of like it. Having a balance would be best of all, but for now, we'll keep embracing all the dedicated family events.

And finally, Bean and Peanut continued their celebration by sleeping out in the backyard to get their hour requirements in the range of doable for the last 10 days of the year while the rest of us went in to get warm, haha. They actually slept very cozily in our smallest tent and didn't get up until after 10 the next morning, so I'd say they were comfortable enough!

The days only get longer from here!

WInter Solstice, Observed

Because the actual shortest day of the year was spent at Grandma and Grandpas house, we moved our solstice party to the 23rd this year. We had clear skies and cold weather, perfect for hanging out by the fire and drinking hot chocolate.

17 kids meant lots of chaos, noise, and shenanigans (we had 3 spilled hot chocolates in the house in about 15 minutes time!), but I think they all had a blast. They played the piano and ukuleles, swung on the hammock, pulled out board games, and ran around the house in circles, literally, haha.

I got this cute picture of my mom with her buddy for the evening. Apparently, little A brought out some coloring stuff and plopped down by my mom and then told her stories for a really long time. 

Such a great celebration for the return of the sun--can't wait for the days to start feeling longer!

A Hygge Christmas

That was our goal this year--to have a hygge Christmas (although I just read that the adjective is actually hyggelig, so I guess we are technically trying to have a hyggelig Christmas, but at this point in the game, changing the name seems unlikely, haha.) 

Hygge is a Danish word that roughly means cozy. After spending a weekend in Solvang celebrating our Danish heritage, I decided that this was the perfect principle to try to incorporate into our Christmas. I'd been hearing about hygge a lot over the past year or two (although I'm pretty sure that comes from being a homeschooler and the various feeds and podcasts I follow relating to that because most people I talk to do not, in fact, know what hygge means.)  The idea of trying to make the holidays cozy and calm, celebrating with friends and family, but reducing the frantic busy-ness that takes over each year sounded perfect because this fall has felt the opposite of hygge to me and I was ready for a break from the crazy.

However, saying we're going to have a hygge Christmas is one thing--making it happen is a whole different game. To say we've struggled is an understatement. Illnesses have had half the family (and many friends we've had plans with) feeling down through a lot of this month. The kids' break didn't start until Friday, between Bug and Bean, they have activities Monday-Thursday that affect dinner and the rest of our evening as always, Christmas cards have been a struggle every step of the way, and securing the right presents (and kids trying to make presents for each other) has been stressful. There have been some tense moments that are certainly not in the realm of calm and cozy.

BUT--we have tried to bring some cozy into our home. We have sat by the tree sipping warm drinks, we've lit candles, we've snuggled up for books and movies in the evening. Not selling hot chocolate has made a huge difference in our weekend evenings, and that has been nice. I can't imagine how overscheduled this year would have felt if we'd tried to do that as well.

And we've had a few different families over for various celebrations which has felt very hygge. We had friends come for a family night and going to see the lights at Deacon Dave's, another group come for a solstice bonfire and dinner outside, which was the highlight of my week--a few hours of just eating and enjoying friendships while sitting outside.

We've also gone to others' homes as well. We got to hang out with a group of my friends from high school and their families last weekend, which was awesome. 

And we had a couple nights with my brother who stayed with us while on his annual December business trip. What's better than some uncle arm wrestling time?

Getting to share some cozy, relaxed time with friends has been magical, and we still have more to come. And I'm hoping that as the Christmas preparations are winding down, we can slow down and really embrace the coziness and love these next couple days. 

The Longest Night of the Year

I think I've found my new favorite way to celebrate Winter Solstice--fire outside under the Christmas lights, hot dogs and marshmallows, neighbors and friends stopping by (okay, so that had nothing to do with solstice, and everything to do with the fact that we live across the street from a light extravaganza and the kids were selling hot chocolate at the other end of the driveway.)

It was a beautiful evening and we had fun hanging out outside, and loved sharing our fire with the cold Deacon Dave goers/workers. And now I'm just excited that the days will be getting longer from here on.

Over the River. . .

Or leavin' on a jet plane would be more accurate. We got up early (4:15 for some of us), loaded up and caught a direct flight to UT. Peanut, who was about 4 hours short on sleep, didn't fall asleep until the last 30 minutes, of course.

These two happily watched movies the whole time.

And then, to grandmother's house we went!

Early flights and changing time zones makes for a weird day--we'd been up for 9 hours by the time we got there, but it was only lunch time. The excitement carried us through to late afternoon, but then we were all done. Kids were all asleep before 7, and I was out 15 minutes later. Felt like an appropriate celebration for winter solstice. We'd already stollen a couple extra hours, but it was time for a long winter's nap.

The Changing of the Season

We got lucky with a really pleasant day for the start of winter and decided that the perfect way to enjoy it was to head to the new ropes course out at the White Water Center.

The kids had so much fun!

Being part monkey, this was right up their alley.

There's quite a variety of challenges as you make your way through the course.

This girl was right at home.

I thought it was pretty fun, too. Definitely a different type of workout than I'm used to!

We feel pretty lucky that we live somewhere that has these surprisingly warm winter days, but that we also get a little snow here and there. It's the perfect mix.

We'll be back for more rope play for sure!