Happy Eostre

Our family had a great time together on Eostre.  (Minus my husband who was at work and Duckling who is with her mom)
It started off as any other school day.  The kids got up and left for school.  I then proceeded to fill their baskets with goodies and hide about 42 eggs through out the house.  I also left a note saying to leave all eggs where they are until I got home.  Then it was time for me to head off to work.

When I got home all was normal, Boys watching tv and Ladybug playing on her Ipad.

Blessed Solstice and Merry Christmas

The boys on the beach with the sun rising

Our family enjoyed a very wonderful holiday season.  We celebrated Yule and then enjoy Christmas with our families.  This year we were very lucky to have beautiful weather for the Solstice.  We woke up at 6am and the children checked out their stockings from the Yule fairies.  Then we all headed out to the beach to watch the sunrise.
Thanks to the weather being so nice and almost warm (60 degrees), we spent much longer enjoying the beach and sunrise.  We wrote

Blessed Yule!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Soltice!

We are celebrating ours all over the place this year, due to work and family stuff.  Wednesday night we had our big Yule dinner and invited over family to join us.  Saturday we will be going out to watch the sunrise and write messages in the sand to the sun.

The kids have been very understanding.  We almost never miss the actual soltice.  We know it's important to celebrate and do our ritual even if it's not on the exact day.  Looking forward to better planning and the ability to celebrate on the soltice, because I can just feel it in the air.

~Earthy Mom

He finally gets it

My seven year-old is finally gets that we celebrate Yule and the rest of our family celebrates Christmas.  I know it's not that big of a deal that they confuse and merge the two together.  Because reallyboth holidays are about spending time with family and friends.  My parents even

Celebrating Lammas

Just like almost everything in our hectic lives, we celebrated Lammas late.  (It's even taken me over a week to finish this post.)  But that is ok.  I've learned to accept that fact and move on.  What's most important is that we celebrated and enjoyed two awesome days together as a family.  (part of our family was gone one day)

The kids and I made spiral cookies.  I really enjoy baking with my kids.  It's one of the few times when I slow down and let go of the control. 
Everybody gets to read the recipe, measure out ingredients, pour ingredients into the bowl, and st
 ir/mix everything together.  And lets not forget about the best part licking the spoons!  We chatted

Beltane Handfasting...

with non-pagan guests.

As some of you may know, I was recently handfasted to an amazing man.  The challenge being that we're Pagan, we wanted the ceremony and reception to capture the essence of Beltane, and most of our guests aren't Pagan.  This was made easier because most of our friends and family know (to some extent) that we're Pagan.  The day was beautiful and everything went perfectly.

We wrote our own ceremony.  One of our debates was whether or not to have our officiant say "Goddess and God".  It was important to us that our guests enjoyed the day as much as we did.  In the end we decided, what harm could come from those words.  And it was very important to have the ceremony reflect us, our beliefs, and incorporate our children.  A very special part was our family sand ceremony.

Now we will celebrate the creation of a family. The couple will first pour their sands into the vase, showing that their marriage is the foundation of this family. Their sands mix together and symbolize their bond of love and respect that can never be separated. Now as each child add their sands, we are reminded that though we are all different people, it is our individuality which adds a unique color to the tapestry of a family. Like the sands poured before it, so these sands will also mix and be unable to be separated.

We poured our dark green and blue sands.  Then each of our four children added their sand.  Bug light green, Monkey red, Duckling purple, and Potato yellow.  This was a tangible way to show how even though we are all separate and different people, together we make an inseparable family.



Belanos Table



Maypole on Var Table



 For our reception, we gave each table a God or Goddess name.  I had read somewhere (while I was working on the seating plan), that numbered tables could hurt feelings.  That was a good enough reason for us to add different Deities to the decor.  The center piece on each table was a small Maypole.  The May Poles was definitely part of the plan from day one.  What better way to celebrate a Handfasting on Beltane than with a May Pole.  I suppose if we had the time and space, it would have been lots of fun to have everyone dance around a bigger Maypole.  We did keep one to use on our home Alter. 

To make your own Maypole - Altar Maypole Centerpiece

I wanted to have a bonfire, but that wasn't possible at the location for our ceremony and reception.

All of my concerns about completely coming out to all my friends, family, and his family I didn't have anything to worry about.  Everyone enjoyed a day of celebrating, singing, and dancing.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.

My advice to any of you partially or fully in the broom closet, make the day about you and your love, don't worry too much what others may think, and enjoy your day together.

~Your Earthy Mom



To Read what my sister thought of our Handfasting.

Thanks to Victoria Chapman, Melissa Meadows, and Shana Boss-Hill for the pictures.



My bouquet





Late to Spring!

Spring time is actually here!  My family just celebrated Ostara last weekend.  We have been so busy with planning our wedding that the actual date came and went.  So being flexible with these kinds of things, we planned our celebration any way.



Tomato Seeds



Cucumber and Zucchini seeds



This year we did a split two day celebration.  Saturday morning was spent eating candies and starting plants for our garden.  We are planning to make our first garden this year.  So far we have cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes.  The kids loved getting in the dirt and planting the seeds!



Beginnings of a garden





Cutting Blackberries for dye



Sunday we made natural egg dyes for the first time.  This project was very time consuming, kind of messy, at times frustrating, and most of all Lots of FUN!  Grownups started with doing the cutting.  Our oldest wanted to help, so we figured why not.  We showed her how to use the knife safely and let her go for it. 



Pouring the Dye





After we cooked up each dye all of the kids helped with straining and pouring into bowls and cups.



Smelling the Dye



Onion Dye

Commence the egg dyeing extravaganza!



Beet Dye



Blackberry dye





Blueberry Dye



Spinach Dye







Onion Dye

Since this was our first time making the dyes, it was kind of an experiment.  Here's what we did.

• Fresh Blackberries - light purple - finely chop and boil in 1-2 cups of water then strain.
• Fresh Blueberries - dark/light blue - finely chop and boil in 1-2 cups of water then strain.  (one of our favorites)
• Fresh Spinach - very light green -  finely chop and boil in 1 cup of water then strain.  (we didn't like how this color came out)
• Onion - golden yellow/orange - Take the skins off two onions.  finely chop them and boil in 1 cup of water then strain.  (one of our favorites)
• Beets - light pink - We used canned beets and finely chopped.  We boiled the beets and the juice from the can.  (Next year we plan to use fresh beets if we can find them)

All in all we had a great weekend and are looking forward to watching our plants grow.  In a few weeks we should be able to move the plants outside to the garden.  Keep your eyes out for posts on how our garden is doing.

~Your Earthy Mom



Tis the Season for Yule Decorating

The New Year is here and I've been looking around my house at all the decoration that need to come down and be put away for another year.  My oldest daughter wrote a poem about me, which stated I had OHDD (Obsessive Holiday Decorating Disorder)  It's true I do love to decorate and Yule is one of my favorite holidays to go all out.  I've been collecting winter holiday decorations since I was a child, so you only need to imagine what every available space in my home looks like.  So before everything comes down and I go thought the tedious task of putting it away, I thought I'd share some of my favorites.



Maiden, Mother, Crone and re-born Sun God




Pagan Nativity Scene

 







 





   
   I just made and added this "Nativity" scene this year.  I've been holding on to an incomplete Christian Nativity set my mother gave me when I was a child.  It just rolled around in a box because I only had these four pieces left.  With a little bit of time and some craft paint, I brought new life this special  childhood memento.



    I painted the Maiden, Mother, Crone triple Goddess white, red, and black.  Their faces are silver for the moon.  I still need to pick up some gold paint for our re-born baby Sun God, so for now he is just yellow.  We added the Stag to the group for the Horned God.  I planning to add more animals to the scene next year.





this year we used bright fun colors for light side of sun



Every year since my oldest was 3 years old my children have made sun decorations for us to hang from the ceilings.  We color or paint one side black to represent the days getting shorter and darker.  The other side we use yellows and oranges to represent the re-birth of the Sun God and the coming brightness.  I try and make our craft a little different each year.  We have used glitter, paint, crayons, foam to decorate.  To make the sun we have drawn our own, used a paper plate, or printed out pictures to color in.

   While working on our craft, we talk about Yule and what it means to us.  We'll re-tell the story of the Sun God is getting old and tired.  How during the longest night of the year he sleeps in the arms of Night, to be re-born bright, shiny, young and new!  This time we spend together has become a fun and wonderful family tradition.

My dancing reindeer definitely isn't a Yule specific decoration but he is one of my favorites.  The kids can't stop playing with him through out the entire month of December.  The funniest times are when my little guy and the baby I watch start dancing too!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Scents of the Season

I love the scents of the Holidays!  Gingerbread, pine trees, pies and cookies baking, cinnamon, cranberry, and vanilla just put me in the holiday spirit.  I buy scented candles so the yummy aromas fill our house and add the light and warmth of the season.  What I don't love are the toxic fumes that candles produce.
Think about what popular candles are made from.

• They are made of paraffin wax, a byproduct of petroleum. When burned, this candle wax can be a respiratory irritant.
• Scented candles typically get their aromas from artificial fragrances made with phthalates, which can affect the hormonal system.  They also release toxic chemicals (such as formaldehyde and benzene – both of which are linked to cancer) into the air. These toxins may trigger or aggravate asthma and allergies, and may cause headaches.
• Some candles have metal core wicks made of lead or lead-containing alloys. When burned, they may emit airborne lead and present a lead poisoning hazard to young children. Lead is toxic to a baby's brain.  These candles are now banned in the United States but may still be found rolling around in drawers, and imported candles may still have wicks with lead.

I now buy soy or beeswax candles.  They burn longer than traditional candles and release less soot from the wick.  Soy candles are also renewable and biodegradable.  And the best part is they don't release any toxic chemicals into the air.  Another way to bring Holiday aromas into your house is to make your own natural scents.  Try boiling cloves and cinnamon sticks in a pot on the stove.  You can also use citrus peels, cranberry juice/extract, nutmeg, or plant or flower petals to create other aromas.  Be sure to keep it out of reach of little hands.  Poking cloves into an orange creates a wonderful holiday scent.

Hope you enjoy these wonderful holiday aromas as much as we do.