Christmas Traditions...

[msina]

I remember one year when I was young we had some parrafin. We wanted to make candles as gifts, so we rounded up all the broken crayons and set them in the double boiler with the parrafin. We used some Avon jars that had contained scented lotions. They came out better than we had any right to think they could. They were gifts we could be proud of that year.

[msina]

Oh Star!! Thank you for saying something. I know what you mean, when family and friends are far away and finances are a bit stretched it can be difficult. Try to do ONE thing just for you. Splurge on something from the grocery store that you don't always buy, get new mittens, any little thing that's for you personally. Your insight is priceless. It can be harder for older people, to accept a "gift" than to take the leftover zucchini off your hands.

[Abbymoulton]

Star,
Thank you for putting that out there. It is so much more fun to do it the rest of the year. Great warm feelings that will keep you warm throughout Christmas and the winter months. Bless you all this Christmas season and the new year to come.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by msina

Oh Star!! Thank you for saying something. I know what you mean, when family and friends are far away and finances are a bit stretched it can be difficult. Try to do ONE thing just for you. Splurge on something from the grocery store that you don't always buy, get new mittens, any little thing that's for you personally. Your insight is priceless. It can be harder for older people, to accept a "gift" than to take the leftover zucchini off your hands.

Well I am a gonna... despite trying to save every last cent for the coming move, I have scheduled a 'sacred stone massage' for myself tomorrow afternoon. This is a most wonderful experience that I try to do 4 times a year... it involves cozy, comfortable, round stones (that my massage therapist gathered herself from the beach in RI where she learned this technique) of various sizes placed on parts of your body to help warm and relax you, while she works on the body. It takes about 90 minutes, and is a full-body experience that grounds me and puts me back together like nothing else I have ever experienced. And it is not cheap... but it is worth it especially THIS time of year.

Then I will go home, make my potato soup and bake my homemade multigrain bread, break out the blueberry jam I made this summer and the libkuchen for dessert... pour myself a glass of cranberry juice with a splash of rum and sit by the fire (portable propane heater, in this case...) with a single oil lamp and contemplate the bottom of the year... the turning of the wheel... a year that will bring much change, move me north, bring a good friend home, and bring big changes in my spiritual life as well. Maybe I'll drum and likely I'll sing... and most likely I'll crochet a bit on the "rag" rug I am making, 'cause I can do that by the light of a single lamp. and then I'll arise before the sun (as I can't stay up all night like I used to so easily anymore.... ) and whoop and holler and greet the sun when it comes over the horizon shortly after 7 and await with curiosity the surprises of the new year.

[corgis]

Originally Posted by starwalker

Well I am a gonna... despite trying to save every last cent for the coming move, I have scheduled a 'sacred stone massage' for myself tomorrow afternoon. This is a most wonderful experience that I try to do 4 times a year... it involves cozy, comfortable, round stones (that my massage therapist gathered herself from the beach in RI where she learned this technique) of various sizes placed on parts of your body to help warm and relax you, while she works on the body. It takes about 90 minutes, and is a full-body experience that grounds me and puts me back together like nothing else I have ever experienced. And it is not cheap... but it is worth it especially THIS time of year.

Then I will go home, make my potato soup and bake my homemade multigrain bread, break out the blueberry jam I made this summer and the libkuchen for dessert... pour myself a glass of cranberry juice with a splash of rum and sit by the fire (portable propane heater, in this case...) with a single oil lamp and contemplate the bottom of the year... the turning of the wheel... a year that will bring much change, move me north, bring a good friend home, and bring big changes in my spiritual life as well. Maybe I'll drum and likely I'll sing... and most likely I'll crochet a bit on the "rag" rug I am making, 'cause I can do that by the light of a single lamp. and then I'll arise before the sun (as I can't stay up all night like I used to so easily anymore.... ) and whoop and holler and greet the sun when it comes over the horizon shortly after 7 and await with curiosity the surprises of the new year.

What a beautiful way to spend the day, evening and sunrise. Brings a smile to my face to think about how relaxed and ready you will be to bring in the New Year.