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Feb 15

Birthday boy

Yesterday we celebrated our sons 9th birthday! How the years really fly by!  As I watch him grow and change from a baby, toddler, infant, junior…he emerges slowly but surely into the man he will one day be, and I am always amazed at just how easy to please he is.  He really is a very grateful child, and is always pleased to receive any gifts at all let alone a chosen something.  He very rarely has a gift picked out that he simply ‘must have’.

Every birthday I make and decorate a cake the night before their birthday, and every year I struggle to come to terms with the fact that no matter how ‘arty’ I think I am, cake decorating is not something that I can do.  I often end up in tears at the state of the cake when compared to some of the other cakes I’ve seen.  For some stupid reason, I have allowed myself to believe that I must bake and decorate a spectacular cake for the children to be happy….. and for me to be a good mum. I know that’s ridiculous, and this rule has only ever applied to me. I have never thought that all Mums should bake and decorate the cake. Just me.  One rule for me, and another for everyone else ;-)

It really doesn’t matter anyway, because this year I baked and decorated a cake to the same standard that I always do…. with one difference… I remembered to remember that every birthday morning, no matter the state of the cake, my son is always amazed and ecstatically excited that “like always, the cake is amazing Mam.”

We spent the afternoon at the bowlplex with his old buddies from school an ate some birthday burgers…. and cut his birthday cake.

As he does every birthday he went to sleep with a smile on his face after his “perfect birthday that couldn’t have got any better.”

We home school, I’m supposed to be the teacher… but as usual I just learnt another lesson from my son.  His attitude of gratitude is inspiring.

Feb 5

Gratitudes

Today’s gratitude.

  • Our warm and cozy home
  • Snow, and the opportunity to stay at home and enjoy not having to leave
  • A Pantry full of food
  • That I get to hear the conversations of the children in their imaginative worlds
  • For all that Homeschooling has taught me

Feb 3

{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. Inspired by  SouleMama.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

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Feb 2

Signs of Spring on a cold Winters day :-)

Wow… A whole month away from the blog!…. and it just seems like a good day to start a day.  My last posts were from our Solstice celebrations, and today’s will start with another new ritual and our celebrating of Imbolc.  The sun really is on her way back to us, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it is quite noticeable.  The days are getting longer and little signs of life are visible with shoots of green emerging from the cold and frosty ground.  We’ve got a bit of an Imbolc display on our window sill, to remind us that even if its dark, gloomy and rainy that the seasons will inevitably roll on…and soon we will be basking the suns warmth again.  Today, however, is not a gloomy day.  On the contrary.  The sun is shining bright and appears even brighter as it reflects off the white snowy hills.  What a beautiful day.

Our Home School Group will be meeting today to do some candle and soap making, just some other activities inspired by Imbolc.  We’re making rolled bees wax tea lights and an easy melt and pour soap with added essential oils.

We’ll make today a special by taking every opportunity to notice the changing of the seasons, making bread, a family meal…. and as long as the weather stays good, I’m hoping for a bonfire and some mulled wine.

On another note: I’ve been making an extra big effort to pursue some of my interests, which means that in the month of January I did some sewing and made the kids some trousers and a skirt.  I also embarked on a journey I’ve been too scared to start (the dreaded fear is another story) … I’ve taken the plunge and started my Yoga Teacher training course.  I’ve completed the first weekend of a 2 year course, which meant leaving my family for a weekend driving up to North Wales to the most fantastic location and spending a very intensive but very relaxing weekend of Dru Yoga teacher traing.  Its going to be a long haul…. but so worth it.

Dec 31

Saying Goodbye to 2011


This New Year we’ve introduced a ritual that I hope will become a family tradition.  It was inspired by Pixie Cambell and her mother of all releasing ceremony. It was meant to be done for Solstice, but we didn’t learn of it until a day later.  This year we created little fabric bundles, in which we put little pieces of paper containing the things that we didn’t want to take with us into the new year.  Then we burnt them in the fire.

Such a simple little act and the whole family joined in happily and easily.  I thought it may be difficult for some of them to to think of things to write, but it seemed to come to everyone with relative ease.  Just goes to show really, we all have something within us that we’d rather not carry around.  No matter how big or small that something is, I don’t think its healthy to burden ourselves with it, especially if it stops us from moving forward.

It was lovely to do this together for the first time, all cosied up in the living room with the log burner…..but next year, it would be nice to do this out doors with other family and friends.  If only the weather were a bit more reliable.

Now that the unburdening has happened….. Its time for celebration and PARTAY! :-)

Hope you have a wonderfully healthy and happy New Year!

Dec 30

{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. Inspired by  SouleMama.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

*** *** ***

Dec 26

Our Winter Celebrations.

Celebrating Solstice is not something I used to to. Its something that I have recently found comforting when I realised I needed more. I am not in anyway religious, I consider myself a staunch Atheist, but I’ve been feeling like I was looking for something, needing something to feed my soul. I don’t mean soul to be anything spiritual or religious. I just mean that space that needs satisfying, the space that we feed and it makes us feel connected…. to the rest of the world/other people/nature etc.

There is one thing that we do all have in common, one thing that governs all our lives, human, animal, plants etc. We are all governed by our place in this universe, by the sun and our orbit, by the positions of the other planets. This fine balance, that if any of it were different, we would not exist like we do…….and maybe not at all. All religion aside, we have this in common.

These things, we are not taught through school. We’re often not even taught these things by our own communities. These things are learned through a desire to learn more about who we are and our place in the universe.

This year our winter celebrations have allowed me to understand our need for tradition and ritual, and consequently I have enjoyed this Christmas more above all others. Other years I have just been going through the motions, just doing what needed to be done, doing what is expected. This year I feel I’ve understood why. I’ve never been completely satisfied with celebrating Christmas in the past, always done it, but always out of obligation. This years 12 days of Christmas are a real celebration of the difference between the solar and lunar calendars……and I’m enjoying every day of it.

Make any sense?

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