The Magic of the Season

Well, that was a delicious day! I hope that everyone had as nice a meal and time spent with loved ones as I have been having...Life can't get better then the week of Solstice and an old fashioned Yule time. For me, it's always the food that does it, but there are other things too.

I never realized it until a couple of years after my oldest child was born, but each Christmas that rolls around on the calendar adds another layer of memories. Of course they are mostly associated within those precious boxes that only see the light of day a few days before the season.

At least at our house anyway. A few days before Solstice, the Christmas boxes with all our seasonal memories come out. It's as if I am opening up a time capsule of some sort - there are decorations we made each year - marking the stages and phases of the children's growth but also so much more...

Each year I buy one or two items to add to these boxes - not just anything either - something that really appeals to me in some way and adds meaning to where we are for that year. For instance I have lovely blue glass stars from Galway and a book from my very first Christmas in Ireland with the cut out shapes we still use every year. 

And there are homemade snowflakes, coloured chains, hand made Solstice bells - some are quite wrinkled now and won't be around much longer. However, they will be replaced with the same types of art and crafts. 

What does all of this mean? Perhaps it means the energy of each Christmas is contained in those boxes. Each year with ceremony and in sacred space, they are opened up, carefully placed around the house and another year of love, peace and fun is added.

This year I have considered long and hard what sort of energy we are generating and what might the 2012 energy layer look or feel like. From where I am right now, it looks bright, gentle and kind - and at the end of this season, when all is said and done - those decorations will return to the boxes while the energy 'matures'.

I think we are only beginning to touch on the magic of this season...and I hope you are finding joy in yours,

April

Each seasonal touch adds to the magic!