Welcoming back the Light

The winter solstice has come and brought with it the shortest day of the year and also the return of light. In Arizona, this transition can sometimes be lost since our weather is quite mild. Our family has been trying to really mark this time by noticing the world around us. The kiddos have noticed a shortening of days. Eamon recently remarked that he is looking forward to summer and more daylight. We are relishing the cool weather and eating our dinners by candlelight.

Wednesday night we lit a fire to mark the beginning of the longest night. We lingered reading stories of wintertime and learning more about the solstice and astronomy. We talked about what the solstice is and how is has figured into so many religious celebrations throughout time. Today we measured our shadows and plan on doing this again a few more times for comparison throughout the year. We also put tape on the window to mark the sun's position. We will watch how the sun moves in the horizon based on our tape mark.

Do you do anything to mark the solstice and the changing of seasons in your home?