22nd Day: What Night is This

What Night is This (youtube)

  The 22nd day was our Yule celebration!  The tradition stemming from Germanic and Nordic tribes in celebration of the solstice will mark the shortest amount of daylight in the year.  We loved going to the solstice celebration in KC every year and decided what better way to continue that tradition at our new home than bringing a bit of light to the dark.

  We waited until the cover of night to begin and- let's be honest- it wasn't long of a wait!  Our Yule started with a little feast of our own.  To make it a bit more special we put out glow sticks on the table.  We purchased a couple 20 packs of glow stick bracelets for a buck each at the dollar store and arranged them on the table.  Cheap, easy, and a cool effect.  We did this for Marshall's space birthday and he couldn't get enough of it; even doing it a few months later for Yule the novelty of it still hasn't worn off.

We did multicolor sticks to mimic the northern lights and made Marshall's
chair have sunrays coming off the back

Yule feast- chicken nuggets for him and chinese for us

  After dinner we let Marshall take the glow sticks and start forming new shapes.  He made different letters, transformed himself into a bug, and made a snake to slither across the floor.

  As a nod to Yule, we lit our own "pyre" with our Yule logs.  It was a pretty warm night out so it was pretty enjoyable to be outside and around the fire.

Happy Yule 2015!

  We also busted out some glow stick rocket-copters a friend gave us.  Marshall loves shooting them up into the night sky.  Hopefully the light catches up there and brings the sun back!

Marshall pulling it back on the slingshot

Twirling through the air

  The night ended with stories of the past year, and dreaming of the next, in front of our more modern Yule log.  

Also reading Marshall's new gift he received from his teacher for Christmas

  And yes, it's the Yule log with Nick Offerman silently drinking whiskey.  Feel free to click the link to bring some Yule cheer in and celebrate the coming of light!  

  The 22nd day is finished and there's only two more days before Christmas.  Can you believe it?  We are so excited for Violet's first Christmas and how Marshall reacts to the presents we've been collecting all year long for him.  Stay warm, everyone, and rejoice for the days will now start to get longer!