Spring is returning!

I was pulling out stuff to set up our seasonal household altar and pulled out all the decorated eggs that have survived the years. I decided to put them in one of my bowls on the altar, but before I did that, I took this picture.

Ostara season was never the Sabbat I resonated most with, but as my covenmate says, it is the herald of spring. As I get older and dislike winter more and more every year, I am coming around to her way of thinking! So I particularly enjoyed putting this year's spring altar together. 

I wish more of the eggs we've made over the years survived. But if I blow them out, they are super fragile. If I go traditional and leave the raw egg inside, sometimes they don't make it. But at least I have these. And we'll make more this year. :)

New tattoo

I had been planning to get a tattoo that commemorates having my son. I fell in love with this wolf design, which has enough similarity to my siberian reindeer that it works for me. 

It's on my front shoulder, with the head turned toward my heart but it's forward motion away off my shoulder... very much like my son!

For those that might not know, my son's second middle name is "Wolfe".  I am very happy with my newest tattoo! My artist is K-Inks Tattoo, she has done ALL my tattoos.

Blessed Imbolc!

Blessed Imbolc!

One of the traditions of Candlemas is to make candles.

So I got things set up and Kevin and I made beeswax candles. First we dipped. I used a clothes drying rack to hang the tapers between dips. That worked very well.  Kevin enjoyed doing it but I ended up doing most of the dipping, as it's a long repetitive process. But not as long as you'd think... the wax builds up quickly.

Once we were done making tapers, we poured some pillar candles into empty juice tubes. You need to make sure to buy the juice tubes that are cardboard so that you can rip off the cardboard when the candles are set.

We ended up with some lovely candles when we were done!  We use the tapers for meals at the table, to make eating together a little fancier. The pillars are used mostly for magic. :)

A New Years Tradition

Every new year, usually the first day where we are home but the kid goes to stay overnight with grandma, I set aside the day to watch the entire collection of Alien movies. I've been doing this for over 20 years now. I do this because I could never get through the first Alien movie, it was too gory for me. I was in my late 20s when I was finally able to sit through the whole movie, and I watched it on TV on New Years Eve. It was almost a rite of passage for me.


I don't just watch the original Alien movies with Sigourney Weaver, I watch them all, even the spin-offs. Except there's one that I watched this time around that I thought sucked so bad I won't watch it again... I rented it from Amazon Prime and I am SOOO glad I didn't buy it. I don't even remember the title.

This year, I decided to complete a project that I had bought the felt for a year or two ago. I decided to make a plushie face-hugger. I've always wanted one as a companion for watching the movies! So I set up a craft table in front of the TV, loaded up pictures of plushie face-huggers on my computer screen for inspiration, made some popcorn and filled up a jar with rum and coke, and got down to the business of movie watching and crafting.

I very nearly got the plushie done by the time I'd watched all the movies.  I had a little detailing to do with embroidery stitches later, but I got the basic form completed by the time my son came home from grandma's on sunday!

He wanted to pose with it for a picture, and then he announced that he loved it so much he wanted one of his own!  Well, it was a lot of work to make one, and I had no desire to do it all over again. Fortunately, he was okay with that, he said he'd make it himself, and make it smaller. So I set him up making his own!

Neither of them are quite done yet. I still need to add my embroidery details and he still has to finish his. But I'm sure they'll be done and ready to cuddle come the next new year, when I do this all over again!

Yule Greetings!

Blessed Yule to all of you! May you enjoy the company of your families at this time, and stay safe if you must travel.

My son is happy, he opened his gifts and now he is ready to eat a fancy feast at our yule table. He loves it when I set up the table all fancy for us. :)

Many Hands House Yule

Each year, weather permitting, we head over to my covenmate's house for a big Yule party. We love going, it's so packed with fun traditions!

We always start the night off with a vegetarian potluck feast. Wonderful food!

Not long after, Melanie sits the kids down and tells them the story of Mother Berchta, an old germanic Yule figure who brings gifts to kids. (or not, if they've been bad!)  Then Chris dresses himself up as Berchta and appears at the door, "GOOD YULE YOU ASSHOLES!" is her traditional greeting. LOL  The kids love it, they are a little intimidated by the figure of Berchta, but they know she brings them a gift (dollar tree gifts!)

The evening festivities also include a mummers play. It's always short and funny. :) 

Later after dark, if it's not super cold or snowy, the older boys spin fire for us. They are amazing at it.

The night isn't complete without lots of dancing, including the traditional Mr. Roboto that the Many Hands family always does, every Yule party. Everyone joins in!  There's nothing like celebrating the season with people of like mind!

Yule time is near!

We set up our Yule tree. :)

It's artificial, and it was a pre-lit. As you can see, some of the lights no longer work. :(   When I take it down, I will remove all the lights, they are just clipped on. For now, we have to make do with a half-lit tree.

We have a number of little traditions with out tree. A couple of very old ornaments that go in certain places. My kid does most of the decorating. Unfortunately we have cats who won't leave low-hanging ornaments alone so we don't hang anything on the lower 2 feet. Between that and the missing lights, our tree looks decidedly odd.

Kevin always wears his santa hat to decorate. This is, of course, one of his favorite holidays. ;)