Yule Plans?

[Labrys]

Yule is my favorite holiday.  Samhain is my most somber and duteous...but Yule makes my heart sing.  I save every candle that burns in the season...never letting any burn down, because later, at times of great need I be-spell and use these remnants because I am certain they have absorbed and hold all the blissful energy of the Yule season!

Since I am solitary, all my rites are small and homey:

Saturday evening, after visiting friends, we will settle in at home to celebrate Yule. This is the night we will light the Yule fire in the fire place, started with a stub of burnt log from last year's fire, and we will sweeten it with custom home-made incense. 

We celebrate the eve of the Solstice, Dec 20th, as Mother Night.  Mother Night is a Nordic custom for reverence of female ancestors and deities, somewhat vaguely refered to as the Disir.  Vanadis (Freyja--the VANir DISir) will be on my mind, and in my heart!

A ritual cake will be taken from hearth-side to the Labyrinth outdoors to honor the honored dead fallen in war.
This was baked yesterday and decorated today...it will be blessed over the Yule Fire and accompanied by a libation cup of mead.

A small potted fir tree will come indoors and drip melting snow as it goes....to be decked with real beeswax candles for the night-lighting to summon back the Sun.

Music will play and the family deities and ancestors will be welcomed....and we will sink into thought at fireside, and likely I will not go to bed till midnight...if I go to bed at all!  On Sunday morning we will open gifts and plan a dinner to share with friends in the afternoon.

A Merry and Blessed Yule to you all.....share your favorite observances, please?  It need not be of some ultra-orthodox "show" time thing, but even an example of homey pleasures that make the season both holy and joyous!

[Still Kate]

Hello Labrys,
              Yule plans? ....  well, its my Birthday so Ryan and Jon usually plan something and I get a surprise.

I do my Yule Celebrations the day before. Unfortunately, I don't have an open fire so we don't have a Yule log but we have a chocolate one instead. I decorate the house with Mistletoe, Holly leaves and Oak twigs and fir wreath on the door to celebrate continued life.  I light my candles on my altar and my ritual follows a celebration to welcome the Sun God back to life. I also give thanks for what we are lucky to have.
Yule, is one of my favourite rituals as the Winter is my favourite time of the year, everything is so beautiful jewelled with frost and ice in the mornings and so deeply dark at night, almost like velvet. I'm always amazed at natures beauty.
I also feel its a time for contemplation. To sit quietly and think about the re-newing of the seasons and looking forwards to the new life that Spring time brings and with it, new beginings.

So I'll spend the day with family and most likely go out for a meal with them all in the evening.

Have a wonderful Yule.
Blessings
Kate.

[Labrys]

Ah...I love the chocolate Yule log cakes.  I make one myself about every five years or so!  A most peaceful and peace-inducing Yule log! 

A lovely Yule to you, too!

[Lark]

I decorated yesterday.  Nothing splendiferous, just some very pretty poinsettas and scented candles on the mantle over my livingroom fireplace.  And the CD player is loaded with some lovely music, mostly Celtic seasonal harp music that I am fond of.

Today I will decorate my altar for Yule.  (It is generally set up to honor Sekhmet and my Egyptian Gods but Yule does not fit into Egyptian mythology).  There will be many candles to light the Sun's way home, and fresh greenery from my woodlands.  And of course the incense I made up specifically for the holiday.  My statue of the Horned Lord will be in a place of honor on the altar.

Tomorrow I will bake whole-grain bread made with honey to have with my evening meal.  The grain symbolizes rebirth and the honey is sacred to the Sun. (The bread will be shared with the wild birds on the Solstice.) And dinner will be a comforting stew of beef and barley such as my ancestors might have enjoyed on this night.

Then I plan on keeping an all-night vigil until the dawning sees the newborn Sun slip above the horizon.

Here's wishing a blessed Solstice to all.

-Lark-

[Labrys]

That sounds so peaceful, Lark!

We had a very simple supper prepared yesterday morning.  We feared the storm blowing in would take our power out.  So I changed plans mid-snow drift, lol.  I made a bread pastry and stuffed it with smoked and regular salmon with onions, celery, mushrooms and a juniper based spice mix.  The whole thing was shaped vaguely fishlike and baked to be eaten later at room temperature.  We had our favorite teen over to help with our very simple rituals; she has become such a dear to us I now can't imagine Yule without her.

We have company invited today, but with the heavy snowfall last night, not sure if anyone will make it.  So far, the power is still on, but if it goes, the beef will go out to the grill instead of in the oven!

[Catherine]

I'd like to wish everyone a blessed Yule. I hope you all have a lovely day.

No big plans here, I have a sick husband and step son to take care of today. I do plan to find some time tonight for a  quiet celebration once everyone is in bed for the night.

You've just gotta love it when life steps in and changes all of your best laid plans.

[Labrys]

Finally, a  pic of our little fir tree, brought in for a night of ribbons and beeswax candles:



And the light rings that we use instead of a cut tree:



And the Yule Fire on the Eve:

[Sorsha]

Thanks for sharing these pics!
Looks like things in your world were very merry indeed!

[Labrys]

Well, if not merry, lol, at least well-lit.

We are fairly serious round here; and tho' our personal world has been tranquil, the bigger planet sure hasn't. 

[Sorsha]

Well, if it makes you feel any less alone, aside from things in the world that are obviously on a much grander scale, our world here has been like living in a snow globe as of late; which would be fine with me - if only people would stop turning it upside down every single time things start to settle.  *grrrr*

[Labrys]

LOL...oh, I hear that.  It was VERY snow-globe here.  So much that most get-togethers and outtings were cancelled; thus a very quiet Yule.

Now melted...but a new storm is to blow in tonight.  I like snow globes (do not ignite the 'why do they put frakkin' glitter in and not 'snow' in snowglobe' rant, lol), but geez, it sure makes a mess of things. 

[Silaria]

This was perhaps one of the best Yuletides I've had in many years.

The night before Yule, after two years of trying, we (my husband and I) were finally able to have a Yule dinner with my "Sister" (a very dear friend who is like the big sister I never had; we also practice together), her husband and an acquaintance I haven't seen in about 4 years. It was a wonderful night of laughter and playing card games.

On Yule, my Sister and I joined a public Yule ritual held by a Coven we are investigating. It was such a warm and loving experience; and felt like coming home. We both hope these experiences with the group continue as we start to study with them. (Their Wicca 101 class probably won't be offered again until the spring and they select their dedicates from this group.)

[Lark]

Yule was lovely here.  Brock got home on Christmas eve and was able to stay until Sunday around noon before heading back to Atlanta.  We had a wonderful time just staying home and spending time together.  This temporary living apart is for the birds.  All we want for the New Year is a permanent civil service job for him somewhere in Texas!

-Lark-

[Labrys]

I am so glad he got home, I had been wondering about that and didn't have the nerve to ask!

[Lark]

Atlanta is only a 5 hour drive from here (assuming the weather is OK over Monteagle) so we're trying to make a point of getting together at least once a month.  He'll be home here on the weekend of 1/17 and I am going down there on 1/31.  It isn't perfect, but it's what needs to be done to get where we want to be.

-Lark-