Last year I post this: Holiday Celebrations, New and Improved about how as a family we have decided to make some holiday changes and build some new traditions. This is tough as we already have children with ideas of their own (I wish I had started from day one). But the transition has been and will continue to be a learning experience.

This year we will break away from the traditional craziness that leads to one day of toy frenzy to a more meaningful celebration. So all of you that know me might know that sometimes I really like to over analyze thing, so I decided to look at what is a celebration? Well according to Answers.com:

1. The act of observing a day or an event with ceremonies.
2. The act of showing joyful satisfaction in an event.
3. A big, exuberant party.
4. A large or important social gathering.
5. An expression of warm approval.

Dan and I have always struggled with how we wanted Christmas to be for us. I guess I will throw a disclaimer in right here: I respect everyone’s beliefs, I think that beliefs are very individual and everyone has to figure out what works for them. I mean no disrespect to anyone.

So as for Dan and I … we were brought up very differently when it comes to religion. Dan was brought up in a Lutheran Family that attended church weekly and was very involved in the church community. My family is Catholic but no one (that I am aware of) attends church more than for weddings and funeral. I could do several series of posts about all of this but really the point is that things were different or each of us and in all honesty neither seemed to be the perfect match for us as adults. So over the years we have  tried to shape our belief system to meet our needs. But I guess figuring out what those needs are is difficult sometimes. So by way of habit and going with family traditions we have celebrated Christmas with the idea that it was a time for family and then the material bustle that our society seems to love! In the past couple years this has just become too much for us and last year we decided to really explore new traditions.

Well me being the procrastinator that I am, along came November and I had not really thought much about what our new traditions were going to be so with much help from my mom, Dan, Caitlyn and some great blogs and websites we have some great things planned for this year. We will be celebrating the 12 Days of Yule, with a greater focus on the winter solstice and more ancient celebrations that occurred during this time of year. Did you know that the winter solstice has been celebrated for over 5,000 years and maybe closer to 10,000 years. Can we get any more traditional than that? Many of the modern traditions have been developed from these celebrations from so long ago BUT (at least for me) the reasons have been lost! The folklore and tales of tradition have been taken over by marketing and wish lists. As a family we want to go back to the more ancient beliefs and ways of celebration!

Now for many this may not seem like a big deal but for us we are learning and unlearning, devising new traditions (based on old) and shaping our holiday season so it is special and wonderful for us, our children and some day their children, and so forth!

Over the next couple weeks I will be sharing our twelve days of yule celebration ideas … if you have any traditions we would love to hear about them! We have lots of ideas that include: burning a yule log, nature offerings, watching the sunrise, burning wishes, great (and yummy) feasts, visits from Father Winter and the Winter Fairies, giving to others, learning about the history of the 12 Days of Yule and magical family time! For the first time in many years I am very excited about the weeks to come!