Blessed Winter Solstice! Hail to you, the longest night of the year! In past years I’ve celebrated alone (with the exception of one memorable cold-weather ritual) but not this year. This is the first time Xander gets to stay up all night (or at least try to). So far we’ve gone out for dinner, made decorations for the outdoor tree (bird feeders and popcorn strings, which we’ll put out tomorrow morning), played a few board games, had snack(s) and are now watching Lord of the Rings. I’ve also got a tarot reading planned (for both of us), more snacks, and (if we’re awake enough) some more baking before we greet the sun’s return.

There are many interrelated themes to Winter Solstice: endings and beginnings, for example, and darkness giving way to light. I also feel gratitude for the light that returns, a gift from She-That-Is to the world, and a renewed sense of faith in that which I cannot name, that which is larger than we can comprehend or imagine. It has been a season of endings, but it is now a time for beginnings.May the light shine anew this morning for us all. Blessed Be!