barn raising

11 February

Rhythm of the Home: the nature candle

I was a guest again this past Thursday over at the amazing Rhythm of the Home talking about our nature candle.  I'd love to see you there!

2 February

In Pursuit of the Good Life

I'm excited and honoured to be guest blogging for the month of February over at Rhythm of the Home!  This week I talk about the pursuit of the good life.  Looking forward to seeing you there, and every Thursday following!

27 January

pants!

I've been waiting for a bright day, bright-ish even, to show you Coco's new woolen trousers!  The stormy west coast may be perfect for imagining mermaids in the misty seas, but the wintry overcast light here can prove difficult for taking photos.  Still, as chance would have it, when I saw some great ones here just yesterday that are also made of wool, and when the sun came out, it seemed that was all the push I needed to get these pants photographed.  There are lots of great versions of these trousers out there, but the inspiration for our woolen Quick Change Trousers (pattern by Anna Maria Horner) came from 100% from Ella, whose clever idea to pair wool and flannel together seemed to me to be just perfect.

Perfect for keeping warm, perfect for throwing rocks into the sea, perfect for playing, baking, and long rambles in the woods.  And jumping, they are perfect for that too!

22 January

the fresh new year

There's been so much I've wanted to talk about here since our Christmas festivities!  Most importantly, I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your families.  These celebrations with our loves are indeed so very special.

The progression of Christmas, from Advent to the New Year and onward to the end of the 12 days of Christmas, flew.  I feel like I've come away from these past holidays with a little more wisdom on how to navigate them, in our family, in the future.  I am mama to a two year old, and so we are freshly setting our family values, traditions, and rhythms as we go along (two is an incredible age, isn't it?  So much to enjoy together with great little conversations that bring the world of childhood to life.  I am so thankful for my daughter's ability to bring the magic forward, always). 

Somehow, this year, I lost sight of the beauty of the quiet and precious space in between Christmas day and New Year's eve.  Without even realizing it, I found myself approaching those lovely days as regular ones, and though we kept with our intention to slow things down, in retrospect I wasn't mindful of that intention.  It wasn't until New Year's Eve that I became aware of how I'd let a little magic slip away.  Our holidays leading up to Christmas were so full in the best of ways- St. Nicholas Day, the quiet of Advent, the joy of watching Coco truly begin to take in the idea of Christmas, beloved family visiting- that afterwards there seemed a bit of a void.  I think I approached this as "things are back to 'normal' now", rather than remembering that the in between time is so magical in and of itself.  Next year, this will be my Christmas gift to my family, to stretch out the magic a little longer.  To spend that quiet in between time a little more mindfully.

I love January for it's freshness- you can't help but feel it, can you?  After Martinmas and Advent, and all of the introspection those celebrations bring, things just feel so bright and clear.  I don't make New Year's resolutions, but after realizing we overlooked some treasured holiday days, I am carrying with me some important thoughts for 2012.  Mindfulness.

We spent 2011 slowing down more than ever before, and I want to continue to do so but while being mindful of this intention. 

To be mindful of the gift of calm that comes with simplifying one's life. 

To be mindful of drawing my family close and working every day to stay connected, even in the busiest of times. 

To be mindful of how much media enters our home- I am thankful for the internet and Downton Abbey, but I'm also aware of how easy it is "quickly check email" multiple times a day...and Facebook, and Flickr, and Ravelry.  Oh my, and Pinterest!  Especially with a smart phone.  I am mindful of wanting to scale this back.

To be mindful that the most important things in life are not where you live and what you do.  The most important things are those you establish in your home, within your family.  These are the things that will carry you through.

To be mindful of myself, what it takes to renew my own soul, and taking the time I need to do this. 

I'd love to know what your thoughts are for the New Year!  May it be a wonderfully full and adventurous one for all of us!

21 December

Wintering

Our winter days have been oh so full:

- planning, anticipating, preparing and welcoming the arrival of family, celebration, and winter!

- trimming the tree, gathering holly, and decking the halls.

- loving little 2 year old party dresses and shoes!

- making peace as best we can with the urgency out there in the world- lots of rushing happening outside our front door as our suburb quickens it's pace under the pressures of the season.

- enjoying closing the door on it whenever we arrive home, and seeking out the quiet areas in our neighbourhood...there's no one rushing in the woods!

- taking the time for one more mug of tea; one more cup of homemade stock.

- cutting in half the amount of decorations we've brought out, the items on the to do list, and streamlining a certain little one's collection of toys.  Simplifying, clearing the space, making room for more magic.

- finding a comfortable balance between introducing the excitement of Father Christmas arriving on Christmas Eve, and the symbolic spirit of Christmas, to a two year-old.

- befriending so many birds this season!  The whiskey jacks eat out of our palms in the snowy mountains, and the chickadees, juncos, sparrows, and finches come in droves to our feeder.

- dreaming of a time already so dear to my heart when we will celebrate the holidays in a smaller, quieter community on a little patch of countryside.

- and in the meantime giving thanks for the shelter and peace this lovely, old house provides.

- taking the plunge further into gluten free baking.  Gluten free is most definitely a necessary way of life for us now, and one I'm more comfortable with when avoiding the abundance of rice, rice, rice.  Whole grain is fine, but I'm welcoming quinoa and sorghum flours as our family baking staples.

- indulging in turkish delight!

- marveling at the sweet world of a two year old in all of her determination, wonder, and incredible love and empathy.  Feeling very sure that mothering a little one (through all of her ages) is the best thing I will ever do!

- loving the connections I'm making with all of you on this blog; the emails, the discussions in the comments, the support, and the shared desire to live more meaningful, more simplified lives rich in family connection, foundations and magic.  There is a real slow family movement underfoot, and I'm proud to be a part of it with all of you!

I'll be back soon to share our further celebrations of Advent and our honouring of Winter Solstice!

13 December

St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas is a kind and understanding fellow, so he didn't mind that he had to visit our house on the eve of the 7th, rather than the 5th.  Because we were away, the magic was a little belated, but just as wonderful to celebrate.  I had thought of bringing the festivities to my mom's so that we could honour St. Nicholas day in a timely fashion, but even though my mom's seaside cottage is about as close as we can get to a home away from home, I still think it's so important to celebrate these rituals in our home.

We set out a nice carrot in the wooden klompen and Coco was very excited to think this mystical Saint would be arriving to feed his donkey and to leave a little magic.  In the morning, she was jumping up and down in anticipation of what might be waiting for her by the front door.  St. Nicholas didn't disappoint with a few gold coins, a clementine, and a little velvety, woolen pocket doll. 

Yes, I'm glad we waited until we were home from our beach combing and crafting days away.  Celebrating here, within these walls, stirs the magic and casts a spell that I want to capture here.  I was glad, too, to have the wooden klompen as our St. Nicholas shoes.  You really don't have to have special shoes to celebrate, but in our tradition I really wanted shoes that were separate from our daily life.  Magic shoes, if you will.

And always the magic draws closer.

- from The Christmas Magic

9 December

the second light of Advent shine

I'm finally catching up a little on a busy week around the house.  (oh, as soon as I wrote this I spilled my full mug of tea with milk all over the couch.  Some days are just like that, aren't they?).  Ahem, anyway, yes, it has been busy.  Busy in the good- among other things a two day getaway of crafting and beach combing with my mom, aunt, and Coco, and we got our Christmas tree!  And busy in the not as good- among other things we're all a little under the weather and it seemed there was a spell on my laundry pile this week as it only seemed to grow (despite one load a day).  Never mind.  More than ever when things speed up I have learned to let things go.  When the tree comes in the door and there's dusty boxes of ornaments all over the place, the laundry in the dryer can go another day unfolded.  When there's woolen pine cones to make for a special order, the wreath can wait until after dinner to be hung in the window.  And so it goes.

One thing I don't let go of, though, are our festive rhythms.  This past Sunday, we honoured and welcomed the plants into our Advent celebration.  Because of our colds, Coco hasn't explored the plants as much as she did the stones, but I've really loved having so many favourite plant species grouped together in one bowl- lichen, sage, lavender, eucalyptus, holly.  Ancient plants with such powerful abilities to heal, comfort, season and celebrate.  This little bowl, it seems, is symbolic of all of this.

In the second candle of Advent shine

The plants and the berries on the vine,

The green grass and the lovely tree,

And all the flowers that we see.

Now the plants are on the earth,

Waiting for the Winter’s birth.

2 December

enjoying

Exploring Advent this week.  The stones, shells and crystals make their way in and out of the bowl; marvelled at and studied by little hands.  Coco has always loved rocks and I believe she takes after her great-grandfather, a geologist, in her fascination of them.  Sometimes, the animals from our nativity come to visit (and often the nativity is in parts as favourite pieces get carried around and join in with other play).  I am loving the 2's.  So much exploration and interest in everything that is going on, and always on board for what the day holds. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend!  I so enjoyed the comments back and forth this week.  Looking forward to hearing more of your reflections for the second week of Advent. 

30 November

the first light of Advent

Sunday was the first light of Advent.  I have to tell you, this ritual that I only knew to be Advent calendars some 4 years ago has become such a meaningful celebration for me and such a symbolic marker of time.  I was first introduced to the concept of the four candles by my wonderful Catholic neighbour, who explained to me the meaning for her and how they celebrate it in her home.  Then I did research (of course...I'm always researching things) and found that Advent was symbolic of a time of waiting- in most cases, waiting for the arrival of Christmas, but in our case, also waiting for the news that our family was growing.  Since then, Advent has held this special magic for me. 

Now we have a 2 year old who just participated in her first Advent Spiral ceremony at school this past Sunday.  What a difference a few Advents make!  There are so many elements of Waldorf that resonate with me and fill me with pride and confidence in the educational choice we are making.  Advent, and the celebration of it in the school, only deepened this for me.  Cedar boughs were laid out in a spiral, and the children were given candles held in apples which they then, one by one, carried to the centre of the spiral to light from a larger candle.  They then set their candle down on a gold star in the boughs and in doing so the darkness in the room turned to a beautiful orange light as the spiral was set aglow, thus symbolizing the warmth of light in all of us, even in the greatest darkness.  Needless to say, my eyes were blurry with tears as Coco took her teacher's hand and walked quietly to the centre.  Grateful for her, grateful for her chance to learn in this environment, grateful for the teacher she already loves, grateful for the spell that fell over all of us.  The lyre music; the celebration; the hush.  She was so sure of herself, and there was no hesitation.  Her face glowed from the light of her candle and I felt as though we were all living in a magical storybook (to which a dear friend would answer, you are!). 

Later, and after Coco proceeded to eat her Advent apple, we brought Advent into our home with the lighting of our first candle at dinner.  Our Advent ring only just arrived yesterday, so we improvised with our first candle- a beeswax tealight surrounded by the treasures of this first week's celebration.  This year is our first in honouring the four elements with each new week of Advent.  First the stones, minerals, bones.  Second, the plant kingdom.  Third, the animals and, finally, the fourth light honouring humans.  I think I could stay in the stone element for all of Advent.  I love the variety of the crystals, the calcium in the shells, the rocks, the beach glass.  It brought magic to the table, indeed.

The first light of Advent is the light of stone-
Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

28 November

the season is upon us

This is the time of year, isn't it, when all of our intentions to stay slow and mindful are put to the test?  I admit to playing my Christmas music from time to time for a couple of weeks now...okay, 3 weeks, but how can I not fill the house with wintry and festive fiddle music?  I do get, though, that for many people hearing carols the day after Halloween is just too much and despite my love of Celtic carols, I agree.  There are lots of reasons that the seasons are pushed, mainly to encourage people to buy, buy, buy, and through that we lose the sacredness of what we're actually celebrating.  It's too bad, but totally understandable, that the holidays are stressful for so many people.  Simplicity gets so lost under the weight of it all- decorating, gifting, cooking, buying, preparing, rushing. 

Christmas is my favourite time of year.  I love it for its beauty in the bringing together and celebrating of those we love in our lives.  And the celebrating of something greater than all of us, whatever that may be for each person.  That's the magic, right?  What makes it special is the very part we can't quite put into words and explain. 

Though I have a lot of Christmas decorations that have been handed down to me and acquired over the years, I've decided that this year I'll be very choosy about what comes out in an effort to help capture that magic.  Our house is already full enough, and I don't want the decorations to make it feel overwhelming.  Some garland, a nativity set, the tree, of course.  It will be enough.  And through that we can focus on the true meaning of the holidays.  For us, we'll turn toward the ritual and tradition that fills this season- Advent, St. Nicholas' Day, Christmas.  In many ways, the it's the addition of these added celebrations that help in slowing down to take in the moment.  Knowing, too, that how we choose to celebrate is also choosing what kind of experience Coco will have.  Will it be lots of in and out of the car, gifts upon gifts to tear open Christmas morning, and other busyness?  Or will it be reverence, stepping slowly through the festivities, taking it all in like a deep breath; enjoying and creating the space for her to fall in love with the season. 

I had this chance as a child.  The magic of all of it lives deep in my heart.  We always had a tree, the special Christmas books were brought out each year, and the same friends visited us every Christmas Eve for a moonlit walk through the woods in search of a yule log to burn.  It was the same every year, and looking back I'm grateful to my parents for nurturing the magic in these very simple ways.

What I love about blogging and my time spent on the computer is the daily reminder of my best intentions.  Both through writing and reading, researching and learning, I've come to be able to cultivate those parts of life and living that I wish to celebrate.  As we approach a very big season, celebrated in very different ways across the globe, I look for inspiration in how best to create magic for Coco, and for myself and Sean, and I turn toward our values and family intention in bringing that magic to life.  I'll share our celebrations here over the coming weeks, and I would also love to hear how you keep things simple and special in your home as the holidays begin.

Yesterday was the first day of Advent.  I'll share more on this later, but Advent feels to me like a lovely quiet hush that falls over us and transforms the days and weeks before Christmas into a time of inner warmth and ritual; days spent telling stories, lighting candles, and inviting the peace of the holidays to settle in.