Winter Solstice Celebrations

The winter solstice is celebrated on December 21st, the day with the least daylight of the year. If you are wondering why and the world, we would want to celebrate this, let me explain. 🙂

The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, also means the longest night of the year. In my mind, the best way to take on a long night is to light candles around the house. It gives a sense of warmth, and that gentle light gives my soul a hug. To add to this warm glow, I made candles to light outside where they are placed on the steps leading to my front door, adding to the celebration.

Isn’t this pretty?

The Christmas tree lights will accompany the candles as I snuggle on the couch under a warm blanket with my hands wrapped around a toasty cup of pumpkin soup for supper. An after-supper treat will be a good book while still curled up on the couch.

The winter solstice can be looked at as a time of rejuvenation and the birthing of new ideas and goals for the coming year. Take this time to reflect on the past years’ blessings, hardships, and how far you have come. Then give yourself a hug for the amazing job you did! I mean it, a hug!

Each day following the winter solstice, gets a little more daylight added to it. As a sun lover, some warm sunshine on my face, especially in the winter months, makes me right down giddy, that alone is something wonderful to celebrate!!

I think it is important to find ways to celebrate a time of snow and cold instead of dreading the coming of colder months ahead. Here are some of my favorite things……

~The St. Lucia procession that kicks off the Christmas season. With a beautiful celebration of light, on December 13th, women and young girls walk in a line holding candles or have a wreath of candles on their head. They usually are in long white dresses with a red ribbon about their waist. I once told my sister I want to try this, and she thought it was a very bad idea to walk around with lit candles on my head, she may have a very valid point, but I might have to do it and not tell her till after. 🙂

Saint Lucia

~The aroma of fresh baked Gingerbread cookies, Glogg (one of my favorite warm winter drinks, especially on Christmas), and a pan of simmering water on the stove with sliced oranges, cinnamon sticks, anise, cloves, pine, and a few cranberries thrown in. Can you imagine a whole house filled with these amazing smells?

Last year’s Christmas smells.

~Cross-county skiing, snowshoeing, and winter hikes up the bluffs.

~The crispness of the air while wearing a thick wool sweater makes enjoying the chilly and downright freezing days so much better.

~And let’s be honest here, the promise of a hot cup of cocoa after is a great treat indeed.

If you have ever celebrated the winter solstice or have a favorite way to plow (no pun intended) through the winter months, please share by leaving me a comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas to add some extra cheer!

Happy Winter Solstice!

PS. My Etsy shop has launched!! It has eco-dyed and eco-printed items, artwork on wood, and coming soon, prints of some of my canvas paintings. Would love for you to stop over on Etsy and look for TheCreativeNaiad. Consider favoriting my shop and rumor is you will get a notification when new items are posted. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!