December goals

This is what I have managed to achieve this month:

• Get the Christmas decorations up.

I have done this.

• Find a Christmas tradition that I can do with the wee ones.

I have made out a list of traditions, and while I have not done many of them this year I will make sure that next year I will plan out things better and get them done (I am far too good at putting off doing something until it is too late to do them)

• Celebrate the winter solstice.

I did this. The wee ones enjoyed it as well. It is the first time that I have celebrated the winter solstice.

• Clear as much of the clutter away as possible. 

I have done this. while I still have a mountain of clutter to go through I can actually see the progress that I have been making. that is keeping me motivated and ensuring that I keep at the task until all of my clutter is gone.

I think I have done well this month. I did set myself achievable goals. This is what I need to do all of the time so that I always manage to achieve what I set out to achieve.

Getting inspiration

I have been watching the cleaning programs on the TV to inspire me to clean. They really do help me cdlean at night (along with my Japanese lessons)

Happy Christmas

We had a fun day celebrating Christmas. It was far from the supposed perfect Christmas (There were no Brussel sprouts or roast potatoes), but we had a nice time.

I kept off the computer and even though I did not get much sleep last night I was not snippy with the wee ones.

I actually enjoy Christmas day. I like to keep it as relaxed as possible. I always intend on taking them out for a walk in the afternoon but before I knew it, Christmas afternoon had come and gone without it happening. Ah well better luck next year. It would be nice if we could do something together on Christmas day, however relaxing together is also doing something together.

The main thing is that we had a nice day today.

Christmas Eve

I left the Christmas decoration making until last minute (not something that is strange to me) but I thought I would have time to make some decorations, but once I started doing all of the jobs that needed to be done I realized that there would not be enough time. I will get them done in the next few days though and make sure that they get done earlier next year.

We did spend some time watching Christmas movies. Sadly it did not really go as well as I had hoped though. The wee ones would not sit still. I need to improve the selection of Christmas movies for them. I need more animated films and ones that do not last as long. I think that it will get better not only when they get used to the tradition but also when they are able to sit still for longer than five minutes. It will also help when I am able to keep calm better as well (I allow to let myself to be influenced by others emotions too easily)

Happy Winter Solstice

And there was a lunar eclipse this morning as well. Sadly I missed a lot of it as I am not good at getting up, but I did manage to catch some of it and I did feel like I was a part of it. I should have made the effort to have got up to have seen more, but I did at least see it.

I put the pictures of the goddesses up that I drew last night and I gave a present to the wee ones.

I have now lit some candles and I will meditate to welcome in the new solar year.

I will get better at this as we do it more often but I am glad that I took part in the winter solstice this year. The wee ones also enjoyed it as well.

Bright blessing to all.

Winter Solstice

I have been looking on the Internet to find out how the Winter Solstice is celebrated. I must confess that until tonight I had no idea how it was celebrated (I never celebrated it when I was growing up)

This is what I have found out so far:

1. I need to decorate my home with colors (Red, green and white) and herbs of ancient ancestries. Array plants of the season, pine cones, holly and pine boughs. Mistletoe above the entrance brings good luck in the coming year to all who enter.
2. Visiting people and inviting others to visit me. I time for sharing time with those who we love and bringing about an atmosphere that sparkles and sings.
3. Share food and thoughtful gifts with loved ones. Winter solstice is a celebration of generosity and goodwill. Laughter rings out in the warm glow of candlelight and hearth fires.
4. Light the yule log in the hearth and let the flickering of candles adorn my home with their laughing faces.
5. Decorate my home with the images of the Goddess who is renewed from Crone to Maiden. The following goddesses are appropriate for this time of the year; Isis, Horus, Tonantzin, Holda, Bona Dea, Ops, Lucina and Belfana.
6. Honor the new Solar year with light. I will need to do a Solstice Eve ritual by meditating in the dark and then welcoming the light by lighting a candle.

You can see how Christmas has been created by using the winter Solstice. I think I can still do both though. I think that the present that we give for the Solstice should be something that we have made.

Christmas Traditions

I have been thinking about what I could do for Christmas traditions. Here is a list of potential traditions:

• Make Christmas decorations (From things that we have gathered from the local wood in the Autumn)
• Put up the Christmas decorations together.
• Make Christmas cookies.
• Sit and watch Christmas movies together as a family
• Go out for a walk on Christmas day together.

I think it would be nice to do some things together. Though I would also like to make sure that we also do more things together throughout the rest of the year rather than just once a year. That would also make the wee ones used to doing something like this. That will then hopefully stop the Christmas traditions becoming a chore.

Decorations

I have put up the Christmas decorations. I put them up last night. I think they look really funky and even though it is two totally different types of celebrations with their own special type of decorations, they do work well together (though then again I am am much more open minded about things being unconventional)

This is what the decorations look like:

December goals

I will not set myself much this month as I will have a lot to do.

Get the Christmas decorations up.

Find a Christmas tradition that I can do with the wee ones.

Celebrate the winter solstice.

Clear as much of the clutter away as possible.