Celebrating the Vernal Equinox with a labyrinth, fire, and s'mores

The Vernal Equinox brought with it the opportunity to celebrate with a mindful ritual.  In past years, we've planted something outside to help mark the first day of spring (or, given my tendency to have great plans but only so-so follow through, the first week/month of spring).  This year, however, my church held a labyrinth walk and bonfire to celebrate the change of seasons and I was thrilled to have such a cool event already planned that we could take part in.

As is their habit, the kids mostly ran through the labyrinth joyfully rather than walking mindfully, but that seems to be just about right for their respective ages.

And who doesn't love a big fire?  My young ones were fascinated by the bonfire until we broke out the makings for s'mores at the small campfire just across the field.  I don't know what E2B liked best, roasting the marshmallows or throwing small branches with pine needles into the fire and seeing them flare up impressively.

However you marked this day, I wish you a happy spring, friends!


"And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere'
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."
~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ritual Roundup - celebrating Leap Day with wackiness

As I've shared here previously, one of my favorite parental tasks is establishing and maintaining family traditions and rituals.  So earlier this week I posted the following on my personal Facebook page: "Offbeat question for all of you...does anyone have any special ways to recognize or celebrate leap day?"  To which friends responded with gems like "I make a point of going to work and not getting paid for it" and "I jump out of bed in the morning."  While good for a midday laugh, they weren't exactly what I was looking for.  (Though, to be perfectly honest, I thought I'd give getting the kids to "leap" out of bed a try.  Instead I ended up trying to get Miss Intrepid - who showed up fully clothed in my bedroom at 5:45 this morning - to sleep in, Princess Wonder woke up long before I did, and E2B was not even remotely interested.  And really, can you blame him?  Not my most inspired plan, that.)

I also ran a number of Internet searches that turned up party and game ideas that tended to focus around frogs.  The frog cupcakes were cute as were the felt and ribbon frog bookmarks.  Still, I was looking for something that was not only easily repeatable every four years, but something that would also be appealing to the kids as they got older.  Until they're too embarrassed to be seen in public with me, that is.  Which leads me to what we did do today.

Inspired by a "wacky day" photo my friend Ryan posted on Facebook of her daughter dressed for school in - amongst other things - a tutu, I decided to follow suit with our own brand of accessorizing.  Although I suspect Peanut's choice of clothing was inspired by Wacky Wednesday and Dr. Seuss' birthday coming up on Friday, I thought that donning wacky clothing for a wacky day like Leap Day was apropos.  We went out for dinner - though I could see us doing this at home in future years (especially when my kids are old enough to be embarrassed by me!) - wearing some special gear.  I offered to the kids that they could pick out a wacky hat for mom to wear at dinner.  They jumped on the chance and picked out something special for me to wear.  Dressing up mommy was quickly followed by dressing up themselves.  Their wacky ware went through a number of big and little adjustments up until the point that mom declared everyone done and we hit the road.

Without further ado, here we are!

Wacky ware version 1.0

Honestly, the kids took it easy on me with this combo

Wacky ware version 2.4

And, yes - we actually wore it outside of the house!

It might be a bit premature to call this a ritual, but I have high hopes for where this wackiness will take us when Leap Day rolls around again in 2016.  In the meantime, I hope you have a happy, wacky Wednesday, friends!


"Don't be afraid to look silly."  ~Tara Strong

Winter Solstice - Celebrating the Return to Light

In an effort to be mindful of the changing seasons and the rhythms of darkness to light in the world around us, we made and lit beeswax candles this evening after I returned from a peaceful and meditative Winter Solstice service.  (I will take the kids to walk the labyrinth tomorrow - their energy and the mood of tonight's labyrinth walk were not in alignment.)  The last time we made these candles was two years ago and the kids and I missed it last year.  In fact, I was surprised by how many times they've mentioned it and asked when we would make candles again.  I believe that this is an example of a family ritual in the making although it was not necessarily intended to be.  Sometimes these just call to our spirits, don't they?

Wishing you a bright Solstice from our family to yours on this longest night of the year!

"Long, these nights of Winter, rain dancing in the shadows lit by stars of wonder,

this light born anew...

Joy,

a seed in my heart, kindled by this deep rest, when all is silent, all is holy, all possible...

Wake,

from dreams of slumber and live this gift of life, this path of twists and turns unknown...

Be the sound that is you...

a precious spark singing into the coming dawn..."

~Lea Goode-Harris

Ritual Roundup - Keeping kids in touch with extended family

Hmmm...I started this post last Tuesday, but clearly I haven't managed to do much - okay, any - posting over the course of the past week.  This post has been rattling around in my mind, because the topic itself has been on my mind (especially since our most recent family reunion), and I'm excited to finally get it written.  I'm also hoping that those who stop by this space will share their own ideas and experiences on today's topic.

As I mentioned in this post, I am a big believer in establishing and nurturing family rituals both for big events and for everyday moments.  Not only do rituals and traditions offer a sense of fun, home, and continuity, but I think that they also offer opportunities for connection.  In the case of extended family members living in other towns and states, I would like to find a way to establish some rituals or semi-regular activities to help keep us all connected (especially for my children and their cousins).

The May 2007 issue of Family Fun magazine had these ideas to offer:

* Create a perennial birthday calendar.  Keep a list - organized by month - of family member birthdays decorated with family photos and craft materials from around the house.

* Host an annual Christmas ornament exchange.  Each cousin/family member is randomly assigned the name of another cousin/family member for whom they will make or purchase a holiday ornament.

And my personal favorite:

* Start a linking letter.  Create and circulate a newsletter supplemented with photos, mementos, and holiday treats.  One family sends this "care package" to the next, which adds its own materials and pops it back in the mail to the next branch of the extended family.  When the package makes it back to the original family, they simply remove their old news and photos, add updates, and send the whole thing on its way again.

The ideas presented in this article, and what has been on the forefront of my mind, have been focused on children.  Of course, I'd love to hear any ideas that others have about special ways of staying connected as adults with siblings, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, etcetera.  Between Running Man and I we have three siblings and only one of them lives in the same area.  We have some fun little ways of staying connected and, oddly enough, they all seem to involve some item of questionable value.  Take this clown, for example.  Creepy, don't you think?  I'll share more on this little guy, his history, and his adventures another time.

We found our favorite scary clown wrapped up like corn-on-the-cob in our grill...about 7 months after it had been placed there.

So I ask, what do you do in your family to nurture fun and connection with family members who don't live in the same area?

Happy Tuesday, friends!


"A cousin is a ready-made friend for life."  ~Anonymous

Ritual Roundup - End of the School Year

One of the tasks that I take most seriously as a parent, and that I most enjoy, is establishing and maintaining family traditions and rituals.  While there are some traditions that we enjoy as a family (having a fondue dinner on Christmas Eve - something that I did with my family growing up and that my mother did each year with her family - is one example), much of what I have tried to foster with my husband and children are rituals rather than traditions. When I first heard the word ritual used in this way I found myself thinking about religious rites and found it to be off putting in the context of daily family life.  However, I soon found it to be my word of choice when referring to the activities we undertake as a family after discovering Meg Cox's fantastic book - The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Everyday.

In her book, Ms. Cox states "...the dictionary says that traditions are 'beliefs and customs handed down from generation to generation,' whereas a ritual is 'an action repeated' or 'an established procedure for a religious or other rite.'  I think ritual can convey something more recent and spontaneous: something we've done just twice and plan to do regularly.  And something small and daily.  Ritual is a much more inclusive word, covering the vast range of life's compelling ceremonies, from a simple grace or goodbye hug, to elaborate festivities like Christmas and weddings."

She goes on to say that "family ritual is pretty much anything families do together deliberately, as long as it's juiced up with some flourish that lifts it above humdrum routine.  Repeated words or actions, special food or music, or a heightened sense of attention can provide the juice.  I wouldn't call it a ritual if you sometimes sit on the front steps and blow bubbles with your kids, but if you do it every Friday and then have graham crackers and milk and call it your 'welcome-to-the-weekend party,' that's definitely a family ritual."

Most recently we found a special way to celebrate the end of the school year. Ever since E2B started preschool, we would let him - and now he and his sisters - pick out a restaurant that he (they) would like to eat at for dinner on the last day of school.  Once E2B reached elementary school last year and he was to be surrounded by neighbors also running off the bus in excitement, I felt moved to help create a larger and more immediate celebration.  What has evolved is an excellent example of how collaboration can make a good thing even better.  It started with the idea of having an ice cream social outside when the kids got home, as we had done on the first day of school, with each family providing a different topping.  However, upon further reflection it made sense - because the last day of school is a half day with students arriving home just before noon - to serve lunch first.  In the end our excellent community of neighbors all pitched in to cover the cost of pizza, we followed lunch with ice cream, and then the kids enjoyed playing together.  Another family set up a slew of water toys and the afternoon quickly evolved into one big water fight.  It was a good, good day.  

This year we were a little bit more deliberate with our planning and, although the overall elements remained unchanged, it was even more fabulous than the year before.  One neighbor brought out towels and blankets for the kids to sprawl out upon.  Several provided drinks.  An intrepid pair filled hundreds of water balloons.  One family set up a slip and slide and pool in their front yard. We once again had a delicious lunch from the local pizzeria.  After eating their fill of pizza the kids joyfully engaged in water balloon battles and all manner of water play.  We parents learned our lesson from last year (when we ended up picking up most of the pieces of spent water balloons ourselves as the kids scattered) and announced to the kids that ice cream would be served only after they picked up all of the balloons.  About three minutes later it was done and the kids dug right into their sundaes.  Several hours after the end of school celebration commenced a storm blew in and it was the perfect time to wind things down and allow the kids to recover from their fun with some quiet indoor time.

In addition to the larger celebration, I wanted to do a little something for E2B and Princess Wonder (finishing up their 1st grade and kindergarten years respectively) that I had first attempted several years ago.  I made a "welcome summer" banner for the kids to run through.  The last time I tried this E2B was distraught by the prospect of ripping the banner, so we only admired it from afar.  This year both of the big kids, and Miss Intrepid in their wake, were glad to run through.

Banner number one - another is hung across the doorway behind it so that E2B and Princess Wonder would both get a chance to break through.

 

No aspect of this celebration was very complicated, or even terribly sophisticated, but it was tremendously fun for the kids (and parents, too!). These are the sorts of experiences I want to create for my children and part of what I hope will make up fond memories for them as they grow up.  This is the power of creating family rituals.

So I ask you - what rituals does your family observe to celebrate the end of the school year?



"Anthropologists have never found a human culture without ritual, and psychologists say it's the early comfort rituals we perform with our infants that give them the sense of security essential for human growth.  Knowing there is always someone there to pick you up and kiss the boo-boos makes it possible to keep taking steps into the vast unknown."  ~Meg Cox from The Book of New Family Traditions