A Relaxing Holiday – Julia O'Donovan

This Winter Solstice was an amazing one. There was a 0° conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius and it was the longest night and shortest day of the year. I really felt the energy of such a powerful day and I think that it’s a good sign for the year to come. Joel and I took advantage of the heightened energy to write our New Year’s intentions and since I have the previous years are written in the same journal, I took some time to reflect and review them.

Almost unbelievably, my moon time arrived the night beforehand. I couldn’t believe that it not only arrived the late evening of Thanksgiving, but the night before the Solstice. Thankfully, it was an easy one this month so with Joel’s help I was able to make Swedish meatballs and roasted potatoes for dinner (/^o^)/

I made a massive batch of ginger biscuits from a new cookbook Joel bought for me, ScandiKitchen Fika & Hygge! I’ve never made anything like these before so it was fun to try something new – and of course, I had to coat them in chocolate! I think the spices and the subtle flavor from the orange zest go really well with dark chocolate coating. They really bring out each other’s flavors. We actually intended on giving some to a couple of Joel’s colleagues, but they were so good that we ate all of them ourselves

We planned on starting our Lord of the Rings marathon week on Yule, but then I mentioned that we should watch Alien soon. That changed Joel’s mind instantly and long story short, we ended up watching that instead of lotr Not exactly a cozy movie to watch while you cuddle and eat ginger biscuits haha. But it’s one of my favorites so I enjoyed it all the same 😁

Every year that passes, I become more accustomed to celebrating the seasonal holidays. It is not something my family has ever done, so Joel and I have had to do a lot of research, and from that we’ve started establishing our own traditions. I become more confident in my knowledge about the celebrations and customs as time goes on, and I think that by the time we have children we’ll be able to raise them with a solid foundation of our practices.

I wish that Joel and I could connect with nature more right now for the solstices and equinoxes, but something I’ve learned is that it all starts in the mind. I’m becoming more aware of what and how to celebrate in the space that I’m in now. If I can’t go out in the snow and sit next to a fire, then I’ll do some midwinter cleaning, bake something special, write my intentions, and make my home as cozy as possible. And that’s exactly what I did!

Since I started celebrating Yule, it has become one of my favorite holidays. I no longer feel pressured to do all of the typical things that most people think they need to do during December. I realized this after learning that Yule is supposed to be a period of rest and reflection. Feast and gatherings as well, of course, but in a more subdued sense.

I am so excited to see what new traditions I have for the 2021 Winter Solstice, and to keep strengthening the ones I have now.

I hope you had a magical holiday. Talk to you soon ♥