Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of our absolutely smashing family & friends a Merry Christmas!

Peace on Earth!

Io Saturnalia!

Winter solstice for 2006 will occur in North America on December 21.

The precise time depends on your time zone. In PST, it will be 4:22 pm; in EST, 7:22 pm.

The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

Throughout human history, the winter solstice - the rebirth of the sun - has been celebrated.

Check out this beautiful and informative site for more information, celebration suggestions and the history of solstice celebrations around the world: http://www.candlegrove.com/home.html

Ideas for celebrating with young children from the excellent resource "Waldorf In the Home" can be found at http://www.waldorfinthehome.org/celebrating_winter_solstice.html

To set the mood, try Humble's favourite winter solstice music -- Loreena McKennitt's incredible "To Drive the Cold Winter Away."

December 21- Winter Solstice Party
Celebrate the winter solstice outdoors! People of all ages are invited to participate in this event from 4-6pm on the winter solstice. Illuminate the shortest day of the year with your own handmade lantern. Then join the lantern procession through High Park, while listening to story tellers and drumming. Pre-registration is required and the cost is $4 per participant.

For more info call High Park Nature Centre at 416-392-1748 ext 6.

Saturne, Ancient Father, hear our prayer!
As we untie Your woolen bonds this year,
so let the hidden seeds be brought to birth,
and let Your Golden Age return to Earth.

HW

"And the Pudding! Oh, the Pudding!"

There we were, toddlers at the ready -- with rolled up sleeves and wooden spoons we stood over three huge mixing bowls, three huge greased and papered springform pans and 3,000 kilograms of Christmas cake ingredients.

All eyes turned expectantly to Humble as she stood amid the mounds of currants scanning The Ancient Family Recipe. Suddenly, an anguished cry broke the stillness..."Er...how many milliliters in a pound?!"

Somehow, we figured it out (we think) and there among the stacks of sultanas, the piles of peel, the abundance of almonds, the wealth of walnuts, the slew of citrus and the multiplicity of mixed candied fruits, we experienced an Epic Baking Event, complete with candied cherry foodfight, massive clean-up (including bath), and three rather nice Christmas cakes, if we do say so ourselves!

HW

'Soliloquio en las olas' ('Soliloquy in the Waves')

Si, pero aqui estoy solo.
Se levanta
una ola
tal vez dice su nombre,
no comprendo.

[Yes, but it's lonely here.
The wave builds
and breaks, speaking
its name, it may be: I understand nothing]

Pablo Neruda

Here at Free Range we have a lot of seafaring folk in the family, including Humble's sister who lived and worked aboard the Picton Castle and made the same voyage Laura was lost on. Our hearts go out to Laura, her family and the crew of the Picton Castle who continue to search for her.

Tribute to Laura at:
http://www.picton-castle.com/

Rainy Day Diversions

Oh, what to do with the boundless energy of Urchins Stuck Inside?

December is cold, brown and rainy...and with Humble's gammy leg we are not having a lot of Outdoor Adventures.

Without the sparkling heaps of snow they've been promised for months, the Under-Fives are swinging from the vintage chandeliers...so as a public service, we've compiled our favourite (deceptively simple) ways to keep them Occupied in a Wholesome Manner while saving Mother from turning to anti-anxiety medication.

1. Get Yer Ya Ya's Out!

a) Shake their Groove Thangs!

If you have a gammy leg, just sit on the couch with a book and yell encouraging things like "Shake it! Shake that thing!" and "Again!" Put on LOUD music. Try putting on something evocative, with a lot of different "speeds" (we like opera) and watch them burst spontaneously into strange interpretive dances! Fun for them, fun for you - nice and tiring.

b) Simple games!

Rousing games of 'Simon Says', 'Hot & Cold' and 'I Spy' are still fun! Clapping games, singing games, circle games...check out "The Great Big Book of Children's Games" by Debra Wise if you don't have fun Grandparents. Rousing games of 'Open & Close' using hallway doors are not recommended, as karmically challenged Humble will attest with a wave of her blackened thumb.

2. Holiday Madness

It's December, right? Have a tree decorating party, do the baking together, make & decorate a Gingerbread house (this is a multi-day thing), dig through the recycling and make decorations or, er... gigantic Festive Robots, like we did.

3. Thrilling Art Supplies

Have a reserve of really neat art & craft supplies that only come out in emergencies, like rubber stamps, beading kits, fancy ribbons etc. Help them make easy modelling dough and then play with it -- here's a good salt dough recipe:

Ingredients
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1-1/2 cups hot water (from tap)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil (optional)

Mix the salt and flour together, then gradually add the water until the dough becomes elastic. (Some recipes call for 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil at this point.) If your mixture turns out too sticky, simply add more flour. If it turns out too crumbly, simply add more water. Knead the dough until it’s a good consistency—then get out rolling pins, cups, bowls, straws, cookie cutters, spoons and let the fun begin! (copied from Gigglemoose.com)

4. Humble's Pick!!

The single most successful and perpetually entertaining thing we have discovered to do on a Stuck Inside Day, is to move the evening bath up! We like to bake a cake or do some really messy art, and then teeter on over (with Humble hollering "Don't touch ANYTHING!") to a nice big bubble bath full of toys & face cloths. The urchins have been known to spend all afternoon playing nicely together in the suds, and when they are finished, they are tired, happy AND clean!

Good luck, men.

HW

Gratitude

Awhile ago Scooby asked me "How did I get in here?"

"In where?" I asked.

"In here, inside my stomach?"

I looked over to see her patting her four year old stomach
and chest, looking at me expectantly.

"Are you asking why YOU are inside your body?" I asked.

"Yes. How did I get in?"

I was surprised she had already had the experience of being an entity "within" her body. After a long think I said "Nobody knows, honey. Nobody knows."

"Well, can we find out?"


Raised by an unwavering atheist in the miraculous beauty of the world, I always felt there must be something they weren't telling me.

A rural childhood spent traipsing field and forest gave me an abiding reverence for Earth and her creatures. In long, enchanted days wandering alone through glorious acres I found, among the unfolding plant and animal lives all around, mysteries so profound, beauty so euphoric and suffering so terrible, there seemed no alternative to some sort of spirituality to make sense of it.

Most of all, I wished to express the sheer joy I felt as a young creature just being alive in the wonders of nature, the almost unbearable gratitude I felt towards the blue skies and the kind trees. I understood why people had Gods, it was because they needed someone to thank.

In my house, critical thought and debating skills were actively encouraged. The dinner table was our Debating Club, and we reached soaring intellectual heights amidst great hilarity and spirited verbal sparring. Some topics however, roiled the blood of the Atheist and he would forget the Rules of Debate. Any mention of religion would trigger Thundering Lectures about Corruption Within the Church, The Miseries of the Dark Ages, The Fall of Feudalism and The Triumph of Empiricism.

Gods were for people who, through some defect of character or upbringing, found themselves unable to cope with the terrors of mortality. Religion was for the needy, the weak, the superstitious. No one said anything about what the Rational Grateful were supposed to do, if anything, with their rational gratitude.

Something I stumbled upon as a child that seemed sympathetic to the life singing all around me was Miss Bentley's grade nine Greek Mythology class. These dark, wondrous tales wove perfectly into the lives of the trees and creatures I shared the golden fields and deep green forests with, and I devoured the books she gave us like a starving person.

Deep in the fields, hidden from the Atheist, I leapt straight to pantheism, building altars to Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. I stalked rabbits (and cows) as Artemis, and trudged home, head bent against the rain, while the Mighty Zeus split the heavens. I had been given some names for the energies I could see and feel, a way to articulate the sacredness of what I experienced. This satisfied something. What I had been given was so rational, I was left starving for myth and legend.

Isn't it astonishing that we are going to live our entire lives and never know the answers to our simplest questions? Questions that occur to us when we are only four?

"Who am I?"
"Why am I here?"
"Where did I come from?"
"Have I been here before?"
"Are other animals conscious of the inevitability of their own death?"
"Why can't I pick a good cantaloupe?"

I couldn't tell my daughter why she existed or how she, in particular, came to manifest within a physical body. It is my hope though, to give the kids the tools to think about these things -- options that are not inconsistent with critical thought, that don't force them to choose between rationality and a sense of wonder. I hope to encourage them to continue to ask real questions, to remain alive to the everyday wonders around them, and to be ever grateful to our mysterious and beautiful mother, Mother Earth.

PS. Yes, I'm an athiest. Doesn't mean I'm not in awe of the Mysteries of Life.

HW

Wanted! Ultimate Rice Pud!

Well, the Brit genes have started to switch on, and the cubs have decided their favourite thing in the whole wide world is Rice Pudding.

Rustling about in the kitchen, we've tried several different recipes, but feel we have yet to reach Rice Pudding Nirvana. We are sending out the call for the Ultimate Rice Pudding recipe - if you think you have it, please send it on over to our Testing Kitchen and panel of hungry experts!