Sweet Solstice

Here's to hoping your winter solstice was as blissful as ours:


We had been invited to, ahem, play pool by one of our friends to mark the occasion. Given our history of having incredibly special solstice celebrations, we were a tad crestfallen by the mere notion of going to an effin' pool hall for solstice. Thank goodness our eyes happened to glance over an advertisement for a traditional Celtic solstice gathering at a yurt (a yurt!) not too far out of the city a mere minute after we had reluctantly penciled 'play pool' into our daytimers.


The celebration was amazing, and I must say the property where it was held was pretty much my dream land. There was a gazebo, the yurt, a medicine wheel, and a regular home, too. I wish I had more photos of the ceremony to show, but it didn't seem appropriate to be snapping pictures while everyone else was blessing the yule log fire...

As is our tradition on solstice, Marty and I read our cards and we also drew runes.


(Our runes (just like us!) are extra special. They were gifted to us as a wedding present by one of Marty's friends. He retrieved the stones from the top of the sacred mountain Yamnuska in Kananaskis, die cast them with the rune symbols, and then painted them white. Funnily enough, both Marty and I drew the exact same runes we did when we first moved to Victoria ('Journey' and 'Opening').

This is the first year where it really doesn't feel like Christmas is right around the corner, and I kind of like it that way. In the spirit of leaving the nest for good, I'm all for establishing new holiday traditions, though we did purchase a new tree ornament this year again. Hence, this year for Christmas, Marty and I will be cozying up to watch a marathon of Desperate Housewives on DVD. How festive!