Celebrating Winter Solstice

THE SHORTEST DAY
By Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen,
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing, behind us — listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight
This shortest day
As promise wakens in the sleeping land.
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.
Welcome Yule!

Celebrating Holly-Days

Some of you know we are super Solstice celebrators at our house. We toss off "Happy Holidays" as our most used greeting as soon as Thanksgiving rolls around and never stop. I am forever humming and singing Irving Berlin's "Happy Holidays" and try to avoid getting huffy when people insist on telling me "Jesus is the reason for the season."  OK, no problem for you but I see it more like:

I don't often reply with that, of course; that wouldn't be very holly-day of me.

And really, whose to say what all our friends, neighbors and community members celebrate through late fall and early winter? I'd rather include than exclude.

So (no surprise again) I find all this "war on Christmas" stuff silly. I think the only war is the conflict people have within themselves to simply be kind and accept others' differences and beliefs.

I am fond of this image credited to Dave Lieberman (found on Joey DeVilla's blog a few years ago)

There's alot to be said for this. I'm all in.