Before I start up homesteading , there was a flow when I wanted to “ turn off ” Christmas . With endless rows of medallion on display at big box shop even before Thanksgiving , Christmas felt like it had been take over by consumerism . It seemed ugly and garish . I wanted no part of it .
Slowly though , as I ’ve choose out of the interminable shopping for gifts that wo n’t be think of a few months from now , I have found my way back to screw Christmas . By focusing on long - stand custom and bringing fear back into the picture I see Christmas in a new lightness .
Here are some path I have found to contribute signification and beauty to lionize a homestead Christmas .
1. Celebrate Winter Solstice
The wintertime solstice is the unretentive 24-hour interval of the year . From that point forward , days begin to develop longer .
December 25th , the day of the month determined by the Church to be Christ ’s natal day , also used to be the date of Winter Solstice on the old Romanist calendar . This is n’t just a coincidence . It ’s an crucial symbolic representation of our connection with nature .
For cultures without well-to-do access to electric light , it ’s easy to understand why the turning decimal point toward more daylight would be deserving celebrating . For perceiver of the Christian custom , it also makes unadulterated sense for baby Jesus , the bringer of Leslie Townes Hope , to be stick out on such a significant solar day .
Whichever mode you see it – the birth of Christ or the prolongation of daylight – fete the transition from dark to light is a hopeful one . For me , Christmas has become a reminder of the mode old basket rummy with new , of the wheel of nature , and a doorsill of promise .
I celebrate the beginning of this transitional metre of year by reflecting on the year past times and planning for the year ahead .
2. Burn a Yule Log
A yule log is n’t just any logarithm . It ’s a symbolic representation of kick downstairs with evil and intentionally set out on the path of commodity . In the Christian tradition , it intend the sentence before and after the climax of Jesus .
The yule log should be a long - burning , dry logarithm that is sure to catch fire . Ideally , it should incinerate through most of Christmas Eve and light on the first try ( for good fortune ) .
Part of the Noel logarithm , sear and cooled , should also be kept as a monitor to do good throughout the year . commit it in a locating that will reinforce your sense of yule , or joyfulness , at reconciling your past evils and commit to do future in effect .
If possible , the yule logarithm should be given or received as a gift . Since not many people practise this custom any longer , it might be hard to retrieve participants .
If you have neighbour or family with wood range , you could offer them a yule logarithm and encourage them to partake the tradition going forward . Then , maybe down the route , you ’ll get a yule logarithm given as a gift as well .
The Francis Scott Key to making this custom meaningful is to do it with your full attention . Perhaps sing about the import of the yule logarithm with your kinfolk before you light the log .
Consider having everyone wordlessly ponder on the things they wish they had done differently in the twelvemonth before . Then , each person could partake in one good act they hope to do in the future .
you could also burn the yule logarithm as a nongregarious tradition . practice a journal to reflect on your mistakes and plan good deeds for the year ahead . Spend some quiet clock time mull the burning logarithm .
When removing the log to preserve it for the year , check that to use fire pair of tongs . Extinguish the flames using a bucket of water . Then set aside the log to dry out before giving it a post of purity in your house .
Next year , use your fond Christmastide log to start your next Christmas logarithm as a symbol of continuity of your efforts to do trade good with your life .
In addition to your traditional Noel logarithm , grace your Christmas tabular array with a spectacularyule logarithm dessert , to also emphasize this custom .
3. Make Natural Decorations
Throughout account , gather and making your Christmas medallion on Christmas eve was a common tradition . Food cookery and cookie ornaments were made in advance . However , fresh garlandsand Zea mays everta train , andputting up a tree diagram , were activeness done as part of celebrating a homestead Christmas on Christmas Eve .
Most holiday ribbon now are made of , or look like , evergreens . In the past tense , though , people would only go outside and collect whatever innate elements they ground beautiful .
In desert areas , tumbleweed and dried brush might have been used , and in mountain areas , evergreens and pine cones were vulgar .
In a sense , natural decorating was about arrange nature ’s giving on a footstall ( or a tabletop ) and honoring them . The key was tofind natural items , in winter , that could be assembled andmade beautiful . Decorations would then be returned to crumble in their natural environment after the holiday .
You may not be able to make ornaments that look like what you ’d bribe from a store . However , you could make unique and beautiful items that no one else can duplicate . Homemade decorationsare works of artistic creation and are infinitely more interesting than the store - bought poppycock .
4. Bake Like Old Times
Even today , baking and Christmas go hand in hand . However , in days gone by , all the commercial-grade ingredient we bank on today were not available .
Fruitcakes , mincemeat pies , dry out Malus pumila pie , and spice biscuit were made from ingredients put up by the mob earlier in the twelvemonth . These item were sweetened by sorghum , maple , dearest , and molasses , not march shekels . Flour was ground freshfrom non - GMO grain .
To recreate this experience , use historical recipes that rely on countryfied fixings . This can carry you back in meter and connect you to a more seasonally - grounded baking experience .
you could grow your own ingredients , dry your fruits , utilize a factory togrind your flour , etc . Or , you’re able to buy authentic ingredients from speciality producers and make treats with more traditional spirit . Either means , stick to pre - industrial traditional ingredients .
Dried apple piesare an well-fixed place to start . you’re able to find unsweetened dry apples at the food market storage if you do n’t have your own . Then make the batter usinghomemade butterand overbold ground flour . Substitute sugar for a less - processed topically availablesweetener .
Do as much as you may by helping hand . Be thankful for your ingredients ( knowing how much piece of work drop dead into growing them ) . Savor the flavors and simplicity ofold - macrocosm cookingwithout the overly processed ingredients and complicated kitchen gadgets favored today .
5. Join the Slow Gifting Movement
One of the thing that gravel me most about modern Christmas solemnisation is the emphasis on giving and receive gifts that will be obsolete or forgotten in a brusk period . Those kinds of gifts cost money , make waste product , and often harm the environment .
Slow gifting is n’t quite the international phenomenon that “ slow food ” is . Yet , it ’s catching on . in particular in lighting of the minimalist trend , people do n’t need ( or need ) more tchotchkes or non - long-lived trade good to care for in their lives .
Once upon a time , oranges were a favored Christmas natural endowment . orange were rare , expensive , and bear with them a sense of sun and warmth when shipped by caravan to frigid places in sentence for Christmas .
This is why thing like clove - encompass orange and cinnamon - scented orange slices are common in home ornament devising today . They are throwbacks to the times when oranges were still limited .
In the age of everything being useable all the time , it would seem like a joke if you give someone a basket of oranges for Christmas today . This is why we keep attempt to get up with novel and novel things to give each other every class . We ’re seek to see the modern - equivalent to Christmas oranges to offer our loved ones .
This is becoming firmly and harder to do , given the stride of technological institution . Yet , we can still slow it down . We can give things that convey a sense of meaning , experience , and are particular in the way that oranges would have once been .
Part of what makes some talent so much good than others is the intention of the giver . Withhomemade giftslike cockle scarf and carve spoonful , the Divine puts their time , love , and get-up-and-go into those gifts . When you encounter them , the spirit of the giver is embody in the work .
Still , when someone gives you a scarf joint , and you ’ve got 10 others in your closet , the initial intent of the gift promptly gets miss in the overburden . However , if someone notices that you are always using a cutting plank like a hot plate and knits you a heavy - duty wool trivet that matches your kitchen … that ’s a bit unlike .
Makinghomemade giftsis a big fashion to practise sluggish gifting . However , using your natural endowment to make your loved one something unique and exceptional that they need is even better .
I have given several gift visiting card for things like wine tasting , pedicures , and art moral that were never used . So , when I say “ create experiences ” — I do n’t intend give multitude a gift card so they can go have the experience on their own . That does n’t seem to play out all the clip .
As homesteader , though , we have skills and puppet to offer experiences that other the great unwashed would happily devote for as gift . For representative , I once paid $ 70 for a soap - ca-ca course of instruction . Now , when someone I care about aver they daydream of making soap , I know what to get them for Christmas .
For the low-toned price of lye , I can give my liquid ecstasy - interested admirer and family a homestead grievous bodily harm - do experience . Usinglard I rendered , andgoat ’s milkfrom my ruck , plus equipment I already have , I can produce an experience others would pay a lot to have .
I also get to spend clip and partake my skills with my loved single . Plus , to them , something I regard normal likesoap - making , is an experience that they ’ll think back forever . Sharing homestead experiences is the kind of gift that keeps on giving .
Conclusion
Celebrating a homestead Christmas does n’t have to be a giant spend - fest that leaves you broke , worn out , and empty - smell at the remainder . It should be a time of caring , sharing , and savoring simple experience that sum up meaning to your time of year .
On that note , I wish you all a wonder - filled season of real cheer , reflection , and hope for the twelvemonth ahead !
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