We've had a rare stint of sun. Nothing like coming out of the damp winter for a few bleary-eyed days in the sunshine. There's been lots of garden planning, yard work, dreaming of warmer months. The garlic is fully sprouting and the lettuce is coming back in. By the end of the month we'll have seedlings on the windowsill-- I'm waiting for the full moon as I'm planting by the lunar cycle this summer as an experiment.

 we made a snake house to combat slugs: pile of rocks + warm slab of rock

 fur and sunshine

"sun worship"

Very Belated Christmas Photos

naturally, i disappeared for a month and it's probably way too late for anyone to be interested in december photos, but nonetheless...

birthday morning

Christmas Eve (yes...that is a dancing, talking bear...) 

homemade Ukrainian feast 

new years eve at the farm... i am sitting on a suped up dirt bike 

in a "man shed" of course

new years day, we sent a paper lantern out over the ocean

Sebastian visits Hinterland dressed at forest gnome. 

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

We're walking the fine line of Christmas and the ambiguous yet-to-be-properly-defined holiday that we'd rather celebrate. We're not Christians and as parents we're crusading against over-consumption and abundant materialism, so Christmas is a frustrating time and a delicate one. We try not to be too overbearing with the Christmas lovers in our life, as long as their enthusiasm doesn't cross too heavily into our minimalistic values, as long as they don't muddle our more important parenting tactics.

But we have a homemade tree, we have lights, we have an advent calendar which a dear friend made and leant us this year. We have candles, cards, ornaments, stockings. These are nice things. Almost all the things we  have we've made, or a friend has made, or a relative has given us. Everything has a story and Sebastian always wants to hear it. 

Somehow Sebastian knows all about Santa Clause. He doesn't know what he does exactly but he knows a lot considering we haven't gone there. This year I think we're procrastinating making some holiday decisions, just enjoying the season. But we can all agree that Christmas time is going to be a constant and relentless attempt to avoid consumerism and materialism. This year I don't want to get hung up on fighting anyone. I just want to enjoy the season. December is my most important month. It's my birthday month, and it's a time when I feel the most connected to the earth, and it's a time when I absolutely cherish living here. I've travelled home to be on the Coast every single year, no matter where I am because I have my own private traditions with this place in December. This year, family-wise, there will be lots of winter walks, hopefully some snowshoeing, lots of lights, and lots of crafts. 

Holiday Crafts

Most Decembers I'm fairly unimpressed with the Christmas season. I skirt along it, half-in half-out. This  year I was more prepared. I have more energy this year than I can remember in a long, long time and Sebastian is at a decent "activity" age. I combined my procrastination for creative projects with the holiday spirit. I had a head-start, too, somehow, even as my second-to-last grad school semester wound down, or should I say amped up in deadlines and such demands. We've had a few days of "waiting for the telephone woman!" (which is Sebastian's sweet way of saying we've been without proper phone and internet for half the month and have spent at least twenty hours in the last two weeks cooped up waiting in vain for the f$*&@#$# phone technicians to arrive... haaa...) which meant we had a lot of craft time. It started with tree ornaments. I wanted a really nice, porcelain-type DIY dough, not the yellow grit of salt dough, but when the day came to make them I of course didn't have the internet to look up an alternative dough recipe so salt dough it was. It turns out salt dough doesn't take an imprint very well, so ornament day turned into an exercise in medium. We scoured the house for anything we thought might make a more aggressive imprint than, say, lace or feathers. The winners were a throw-back eighties Tupperware lid, a toy Sheriff's badge, a rubber doily and Bananagram tiles. The thrills of being without internet! Next time I would use this dough.

We, and by we I mean I, also felted some balls. I have to admit, felting has always creeped me out for irrational reasons, and beyond that I don't love the aesthetic. But I wanted to try make a garland and thought I should give felting a try. I do like the look of balls and bought some really nice angora wool with kind of a pink, red and white blend. I haven't assembled the garland yet and have a few more balls to make. It's pretty time consuming, another good one for waiting for the phone guy. There has also been lots of cookie making. Rosemary lemon shortbread is my favourite. 

Morning Snow

We woke to our first snowy December morning today, and very likely our only one of the year. Sebastian and I had planned a forest hike for today before we woke, so it was extra exciting. By the time we had our wool and rubber boots on it was already slushy. But we're not far from the mountain. You're never far from the ocean or the mountain on the Coast, and sometimes I forget that. There's a head trail by our house and we were in the forest on a steep incline to the mountain in about ten toddler minutes. I have to say, Sebastian was the trouper of the two of us. My feet were cold as usual, but he wanted to "keep going up!" Eventually we veered off and found the park off the country road. There's always snow in the mountains here, and I've long pronounced this year winter of the mountain. So it begins!