Just Delicate Needles

Just Delicate Needles


It's so delicate, the light.
And there's so little of it. The dark
is huge.
Just delicate needles, the light,
in an endless night.
And it has such a long way to go
through such desolate space.
So let's be gentle with it.
Cherish it.
So it will come again in the morning.
We hope.

--by Rolf Jacobsen
Translated by Robert Hedin

Winter officially begins today, which means that we’re celebrating Winter Solstice around this house. Winter Solstice is one of my favorite Earth and seasonal celebrations because of the very reason it exists—it’s so connected to the Earth, the seasons, and the sun.

The history of Winter Solstice celebrations is pretty interesting, dating back thousands of years before people understood the cycles of the Earth. Our far back ancestors feared that the Sun would not return and they would be left in darkness, so they held elaborate ceremonies to coax the Sun back. Solstice, which literally translates to ‘Sun stops moving,’ usually occurs on December 21, but sometimes occurs a day on either side.

This is the shortest day of the year, with only a little over nine hours of daylight for us here, and we celebrate the return of the light as the days gradually stretch out longer now.

If you want to welcome the return of the light too, here are a few ideas for ways to make Solstice special: welcome the rising sun, take a walk outside and enjoy the winter world, eat by candlelight and use as few artificial lights as possible, listen to Wyndham Hill music (I like the Celtic Christmas collection), gather food to donate to a food pantry, string bagels dipped in peanut butter and birdseed on a tree for the birds. We plan to have a bonfire in the backyard and drink hot chocolate, and tonight is even a full moon!

There are a few books on the Winter Solstice at the library that are excellent: The Shortest Day by Wendy Pfeffer, The Longest Night by Marion Dane Bauer (both kids books), and The Winter Solstice by John Matthews, which is an excellent history of worldwide Solstice and Christmas traditions. Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas!

Have yourself an eco-friendly Christmas

I’m looking at the calendar and I see that there are only (gasp!) eighteen shopping days left till Christmas.


I may start to panic at some point, but nah, not yet, because I’m keeping it simple. That is always my goal, but it does take conscious effort to not be swayed by savvy marketing and incessant whispers of more, more, more!

But wait. Doing, buying, and having less is the goal, so that’s what I’m trying to keep in mind. One of the books I read this year was The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard, (www.storyofstuff.com) which breaks down our over consumption and its resulting effect on us and our planet.

Considering that landfill waste increases considerably after Thanksgiving, here are some earth friendly thoughts for a holiday season that treads more lightly on the Earth.

1. How will your consumption affect your enjoyment of the season? Will buying new ornaments/snowman sweaters/reindeer antlers for every family member really enhance your holiday? Can your kids still have a happy Christmas without a Pillow Pet™?

2. When out shopping, bring your own bags. Having reusable bags that you can tuck in your purse or coat pocket makes it easy, and they hold so much more. Take your reusable mug, too, for the inevitable coffee shop stop.

3. Buy green, buy local, buy used, buy handmade, buy sustainable. Check out www.etsy.com for artisan wares.

4. Consider gifting not just ‘stuff’ but experiences. How about music lessons, art lessons, theater tickets, sporting event tickets, museum memberships?

5. Use less wrapping and packaging. Reuse gift wrap, or wrap in kraft paper, which can be reused and then recycled, and reuse those gift bags that we all collect.

6. After the holidays, recycle your real Christmas tree (more on that in another column).

The Art of Celebrating

With the Summer Solstice last week and some birthdays coming up, I’ve been giving some thought to how we celebrate these special days. My family marks time with our Earth Cycle calendar, a beautifully illustrated poster; a circle which marks the months, seasons and the solstices, equinoxes and moon cycles.


Our celebrations are simple. Most importantly, I want them to be fun and pretty much stress-free. For our summer solstice celebration, my husband and kids simply roasted marshmallows over a backyard bonfire and caught fireflies. I was with my amazing book club women and we discussed ‘living closer to the numinous wild’ (Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, from Women Who Run With the Wolves). It was a perfect evening.

And then the birthdays. Again, it’s simple. I don’t do fancy cakes, parties, or order custom printed M&M’s. But what we do is from the heart. We string up a special birthday banner, the birthday child wears their birthday crown, and we show pictures and tell stories of each year of the child’s life, while they walk around the ‘sun’ (a colored ball) holding the ‘earth’ (another colored ball). They beam and feel so loved as we laugh and tie our stories like strings together, weaving them into a fabric of their life. We give a few simple presents, but they are not the focus.

On full moon nights we wait and watch for the moon to come out, and run up and down the sidewalk in the moonlight, maybe in playsilk capes, and soak up some moonbeams. And this July we’re resuming our Summer Soiree, which we haven’t done for a few years. We look forward to re-connecting with friends on a hot summer night. It will be simple and perfect. And that, to me, is the Art of Celebrating.