Happy New Year! Wishing you all an even better year this year with many blessings and memories to be made!
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Sorry, for some reason my “Comments” don’t work in “themes” and finding help in the themes section is like chasing my own tail so I’ve reverted back to “the old days”. Comments should be working fine now. 
Here’s hoping you all had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful upcoming New Year!! We had a good time. We had the kids from the 19th through the 25th and opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We figured it kinda sucked for the kids to open gifts on Christmas Day and go home an hour later! My oldest son was there with his girlfriend and it was just a really nice time. For Doug and I, it’s all about the kids and watching them and for the kids its obviously the gifts but about being together too. We had an excellent, excellent ham dinner that everyone kinda pitched in and helped with and then I played Santa which is my favorite part! I wrap each and every gift, even those in the stockings and that way the kids feel like they’ve gotten more because they’ve opened more. I learned that trick years ago when the kids were small and it was a very lean year. This next year I’m going to put away $100 a month towards Christmas. Some say that’s a lot and it shouldn’t all go to commercialism but when you’ve got 6 kids, you’ve got to do something! Besides, Christmas is my favorite holiday even though I’m a Pagan and so I don’t mind spending it on something I love!
Wishing all a very blessed Yule!
Yule Lore (December 21st)
Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were “wassailed” with toasts of spiced cider.
Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.
The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder’s land, or given as a gift… it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze be a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.
A different type of Yule log, and perhaps one more suitable for modern practitioners would be the type that is used as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.
Deities of Yule are all Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses, and Triple Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the secrets of metal work. Brighid’s flame, like the flame of the new light, pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda’s cauldron assures that Nature will always provide for all the children.
Symbolism of Yule:
Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspect, Planning for the Future.
Symbols of Yule:
Yule log, or small Yule log with 3 candles, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, christmas cactus.
Herbs of Yule:
Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.
Foods of Yule:
Cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb’s wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).
Incense of Yule:
Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.
Colors of Yule:
Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.
Stones of Yule:
Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.
Activities of Yule:
Caroling, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule
Spellworkings of Yule:
Peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.
Deities of Yule:
Goddesses-Brighid, Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother. Gods-Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man, The Divine Child, Mabon.
–Adapted by Akasha Ap Emrys For all her friends and those of like mind–
Copyright © 1997-99 Akasha, Herne and The Celtic Connection wicca.com. All rights reserved.
I took the kids to see Christmas lights tonight. It’s always been our tradition every year except last year when I was going through chemotherapy and just couldn’t walk. We usually go to Naples Island in Long Beach where the houses are on the canal are absolutely beautiful. Million dollar homes are decorated to the hilt and I have just as much fun peeking inside the windows as I do looking at the lights. I love to see how people decorate their homes and often wonder if I had that much money if I would have the same tastes? Tonight we didn’t make it to Naples as Trace was really sick with a cold. We went to a neighborhood in Huntington Beach instead that was really nicely decorated. We stopped at the corner 7eleven and I bought everyone hot chocolate and a furlined hat for Trace. We walked the neighborhood and had a really nice time. Poor Trace was pooped, though, by the time we got done. Doug had to work tonight and while I’m extremely grateful for the money, I missed him.
Things like this are almost bittersweet. One one hand I am so grateful to be alive to carry on with my traditions and on the otherhand I find myself reliving the horrible feelings of a year ago. I’m almost glad we didn’t make it to Naples tonight as it was an almost eerie, creepy feeling to know I’d beat death for a 3rd time. I’m so acutely aware that most people don’t battle cancer 3 times and win and I’m also keenly aware that there most likely will be a next time and that I might not win that battle. I take each day as it comes and I think from here on out I’ll change my traditions a little bit from the past so that they’re new and fresh for the future! 
This (click on the word “This”) is a really cool website! It tells you the songs that were most popular on a certain, particular day:
My Birthday, March 25, 1966 was “The Ballad of the Green Berets” by S/Sgt Barry Sadler
Doug’s Birthday, March 10 1965 was “Eight Days a Week” by the Beatles
My Highschool Graduation, June 16, 1984 was “Time after Time” by Cindi Lauper
My oldest son’s Birthday, March 11, 1985 was “Can’t Fight this Feeling” by REO Speedwagon
My middle son’s Birthday, July 31, 1991 was Everything I do (I do it for you)” by Bryan Adams
My daughter’s Birthday, October 12, 1992 was “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men
My Wedding Anniversary, March 10, 2008 (yes, we got married on Doug’s birthday, his choice lol) was “Love in This Club” by Usher
OMG I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face!! My daughter came home from her dad’s house where she had done some Christmas shopping. She asked me excitedly, “Mom, do you want to see what I got Dad?” Of course I replied. She unwrapped the gift and proudly held up a……………
Flyswatter!!!
OMFG!! My precious daughter!!! ROFLMAO!!!
By Pam Young
I was at Michael’s (the craft store) in the late afternoon when I
heard a conversation in the next isle between a mother and her
six-year-old child.
“Oh, Mama, look at this!”
“Uh huh.”
“I love this!!”
“Uh huh.”
“I have one don’t I!!!”
“Uh huh.”
“You made it for me didn’t you Mama!!!!”
“Uh huh.”
As I listened to the excitement and love for her mother in the child’s
voice and the drone of her mother’s responses, tears welled up in my
eyes. I thought about how many times I’d done the same thing with my
children when they were young. After all, I had a centerpiece to
make, a decoration for the coffee table to think about, colors to
consider, people to impress and not enough time! At that moment in
Michael’s I would have given anything to go back to just one time in
the isle of a store, hear my child’s voice and not miss what was
really happening. Love, joy adoration. The stuff of Christmas!
My kids are grown now and I’ll never again hear their little bell
voices exclaiming their joy over something. That time is gone forever.
I had to get to the next isle and see the child! With tears streaming
down my cheeks, I peeked around the corner and looked at the child’s
happy little face. She had a dress on and her hair was dark brown in
shoulder-length curls. She was holding a Christmas stocking with a
Santa Claus on it. She looked up and smiled at me. Then I looked at
her mother. She was tired. I could see it in her eyes but when she
looked into mine she smiled seeing my love for her child and the moment.
I told her what had gone through my mind listening to their
conversation and with misty eyes she said, “Now you’re making me cry.”
She dabbed her eye with the back of her wrist, “Thank you, I needed
to hear this. I get so busy and it’s easy to neglect her natural
enthusiasm.” I told the mother it was obvious that the child had not
been neglected, because she was such a happy child, and that I
understood how easy it was to get wrapped up in our own thoughts and
miss these holy moments.
I left Michael’s knowing I wanted to write about this. Your children
adore you and they are like little joy dispensers, especially during
this time of year. Since it is also an especially busy time for you,
it can be so easy to miss those gifts of love and joy your children
are eager to give to you. They are gifts that can’t be wrapped up
with festive paper or charged on American Express. Stay awake! This
is a holy time.
Merry Christmas!
Pam
The long weekend wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. Some of our kids couldn’t go to the party and so we didn’t have to drive as far. The weekend ended just at the last moment when a child we were babysitting got on my last nerve. Thanksgiving itself was nice. We went to my nephews home and were welcomed with open arms. It’s his dad’s side of the family as Mark and my sister have been split up for years. Because of the crap that went down in their breakup and the crap that my sister talked about Mark, I’ve never really gotten to know that side of the family. It was really nice to get to know them without my sister involved! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving as well!
