{This Moment} 4:45pm Solstice Night

{This Moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you are inspired to do the same leave a link in the comments section for all to find and see. Wishing those who celebrate a very happy Hanukkah and a very merry Christmas this weekend. xo

On Winter Solstice

Ice lanterns. Solstice gifts for the birds. A new sun tree topper (to replace the one we made four years ago). Nature School ornament making class. And lanterns hung in our Solstice tree on the longest night of the year. The last one is a new addition to our Winter Solstice celebration and one that was inspired by the Little Bear Winter Solstice episode. We have loved Little Bear for almost ten years now, yet never thought to hang our lanterns in the tree until this year. Oh, how I wish this idea had occurred to me years ago!

Our celebration yesterday was absolutely lovely. Quite possibly the most lovely one we've had. It was such a perfect way to welcome the winter and the return of the sun! xo

Solstice Blessings

Deep peace of the Winter Solstice to you. 

Deep peace of the falling snow to you. 

Deep peace of the love of friends to you.
Deep peace of the gentle deer to you.

Deep peace of the moon and stars to you. 

-Author Unknown

Solstice blessings from our family to yours! May the return of the sun be welcomed and celebrated by all! xo

So Proud

The smiles on their faces say it all! Between receiving their dance team jackets tonight and going out as a team to perform random acts of kindness afterward I'm not sure today could have been any more incredible if it wanted to be! When they returned to the studio after their many adventures this evening they seemed to be standing a little taller. Maybe it was because of the jackets. Or maybe it was because of all the good they had just done ("Mama, we bought someone a Christmas tree!"). Or maybe it's a combination of both. Either way, when they returned they seemed a little bit older, a little bit more proud, and a little bit more connected as a team. It was definitely an incredible day from start to finish! xo

The Fourth Light Of Advent::Love

The fourth light of Advent is the light of man.
The light of love, the light of thought, to give and understand. 

Love is patient,; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way;it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.  -1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Back On The Slopes!

A gloriously snowy day for the first day of ski team was a dream come true for these two! xo

One Last Visit

 This is the eighth Christmas by Candlelight that they have visited with (this) Santa. For a few reasons we weren't originally planning to attend Christmas by Candlelight this year, but when we heard that this year would be his last (he's retiring after twenty-one years) Dave and I knew that we had to make one final visit with him happen. For a family who isn't big on Santa there really is something very magical about this particular Santa. If I didn't know better I'd say he's the real deal! 

 Since we had originally told the girls we weren't going to Christmas by Candlelight this year we felt it was only right to tell them why we had changed our minds. They were excited to see him again, but a bit sad, too. This Santa is the only one they've ever visited, and I know they looked forward to chatting with him each year. And I think he looked forward to their visit, too. I've long felt that he remembered them each year. Maybe that's silly but it's always felt that way to me. 

If I'm being honest, I do believe that his retirement comes at the exact right moment for our girls. At (almost) ten-and-a-half and (almost) nine years old this very well could be the final year of Santa for them anyway. A natural ending if you will. And those kind of endings really are the best, most gentle kinds, I do believe.  

And so, after our visit I decided that it might be wise to mention this to the girls. 

"Next year, even if there is a new Santa, how about if we skip visiting him? Let's leave the Santa visits for the younger kids and let our time with Santa visits end with his retirement this year. What do you girls think?"

They agreed that it was a lovely idea. 

"And you do realize what this means, don't you? It means that you get to become part of the Christmas magic now. It means you get to help make Christmas magical for those who are younger than you. You get to be Santa's helpers, if you will, spreading Christmas cheer and magic for all those who need it. Do you think you'd like to do that?!"

As you can well imagine, if you have been a reader of this blog or a friend of ours for any length of time, the girls were definitely up for being part of the magic!

And so, with that, we say a very sincere thank you to this very dear soul. Thank you, Santa, for making their childhoods (and my mamahood) a little more magical. Thank you for eight years of wonderful visits at Christmas by Candlelight. They will forever be some of our most cherished holiday memories. xo