Happy Winter Solstice!

Today at 12:47 PM, don't come knocking on our door. We'll be locked in the basement.
It's time once again for me to force nature on the kids by making them celebrate what I think should be a holiday.
Our winter solstice tradition has been, in the past, to drink hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows which is all well and good, but as usual, I am feeling like I need to bump things up a notch.
A read an article in some chicky magazine that I don't really care for about the ways that women celebrate certain things. One very wise woman celebrates the winter solstice by turning off all of the lights and having an entire evening by candlelight.
Sounds romantic. But I'll bet my bottom dollar she doesn't have 3 small kids.
So I'm putting them together, my old idea and her storybook one, and at 12:47 PM we'll be in the dark of the basement, drinking hot chocolate by candlelight.

A very happy winter solstice it will be.

Forget not our little animal friends

We have a simple Christmas book by Nancy Tafuri called "Counting To Christmas" that continues to be one of my favorites. In this very simple book, a girl counts to the big day by doing different events. Days 1, 2, and 3, she makes cards. Then she sends them. Etc.
But my favorite part of the book is that she makes outdoor animal treats as a gift to the creatures who live near her house. There are strung dried fruits and popcorn and more.

For me, it seems a no-brainer that we should be gifting something to the animals which entertain us so much all year long. Our bird feeders are in constant change-- watching the cardinals come, the blue jays scare the others away, the woodpeckers devour the suet, the goldfinches that seem to come from nowhere by the hundreds. Sometimes we just sit and watch without even knowing.

There are also the deer and the squirrels who bounce up and down on our squirrel bungee apparatus, and in the warmer months, the wave of frogs and toads that sing us to sleep and let us catch them.

So we're going to follow this little wise girl's countdown this year and make some simple gifts to give to our friends in the woods, and maybe next year we'll once again be blessed with another beautiful show to watch and enjoy.

HOMEMADE BIRD FEEDERS

Here are two things to try!

Pinecone Classic
Hook a pipe cleaner around the end of a pine cone where it attached to the tree. Coat the pinecone in either peanut butter or vegetable shortening and get it nice and gooey. Either roll it in birdseed (the easiest) or else stick on there various nuts and berries such as raisins, peanuts, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and even Cheerios. You can then roll it in birdseed if you'd like to cover the bare spots. Hang it up nearby, and remember it might take the birds a few days to find it.

Popcorn and more strings (Animal candy necklaces!)
String, using a needle, popcorn and other such foods. Raisins, Cheerios, pieces of apple, etc. will all work great. You can do one long string or a few shorter ones. Make sure you use sturdy thread, and when you're finished, decorate low branches or shrubs with your animal candy necklace!