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. ;)

Crafty Yule present for me!

I don't get many presents at Yule time. Our focus is mostly on the kiddo. He also has his own Yule "advent" calendar.  I was thinking to myself, I wish I had my own advent calendar... one that give me an awesome treat every day!

And then I thought of this. I made little boxes and glued them together, decorated them and made "Mama's Merry Yuletide Spirits" advent calendar. Rather than stopping at Yule (which is not the same day every year) I went to the 24th, because I needed the even number of boxes and also though Yule ends for me before xmas, I still spend time with family for xmas... and maybe I still want to keep getting little "gifts" for myself to fortify myself for the season. ;)

I think it turned out fantastic and I can't want to use it all next month!

Blessed Yule