St.Lucias Day

ST.Lucias Day was definitely a memorable holiday this year. It was better than I could have planned.

I planned to celebrate it yesterday (the actual holiday but that just didn't fit into the books) .... so today I woke up to a roaring storm. It knocked power out across the entire county and knocked trees over left and right. Our power never went off for more than 5 minutes but it flickered the entire day. We watched from our windows the wind throwing Christmas lights, outdoor furniture and the rain blowing sideways. 

I got my trusty ole' cast iron pot ready to cook soup on the woodstove just incase and got the boys to help me break open our bounty of walnuts we harvested off our property this year. It was like trying to break out of jail (well, in jail would be correct , not out) trying to open those shells without cracking them. We managed to get a heap of usable shells. I broke out the double broiler. Crossed my fingers the power stayed on. I poured in the beeswax and let the house begin to flourish with the smell of honey. We didn't have wicks, so we scavaged through my trusty crafting desk and got ourselves some string and made homemade wicks (instructions to come on later post.) We made the most adorable little walnut candles. After we were done the boys played with the wicks and wax and expiremented with making different size and shape candles of their own. We got 1 usable birthday candle out of it and a cat shaped candle with a wick for a tail. Later that day we made tissue paper lanterns with a mason jar and made a little handle on it. The boys were so excited they couldn't wait to use them. It had barely turned dark and my oldest immediately jumped up. He wanted to go shut the chickens with his new lantern. Well, as long as mom and all the dogs went with him for protection. So we went on a night journey across the property. We light up all the Christmas lights outside, shut the chicken coop and even went and got the package left at the gate. All under the light of one little candle in a homemade lantern. The smile and pride that radiates across my sons face was worth every second. He was a proud (knight?) carrying his lantern for everyone through the dark. Tomorrow to cap off all of today's celebrations we will read Lucia and the Light as the celebrations continue on until The Solstice. 

The apple star

The best way to tell a Waldorf story is to read it yourself first and familiarize yourself with it. Once you have the basic concept of the story, get the supplies you have to make the story come to life. I have a beautiful basket of ladies scarves I collect from thrift stores and yard sales. They come alive in all sorts of ways. The blue ones become waterfalls, the green ones become lush valleys of grass and the sometimes they are tied on the backs of chairs to celebrate special occasions. 

Once you've got your supplies ready, set the scene. Invite them to the "play." Act out the story from memory. It's okay if you forget parts, you will have memorized the basics. The acting out is what makes it so magical. Every time I tell a story it changes slightly. Once you've told the story, let the kids play with the pieces and tell stories of their own. Once you've told the story a couple times , ask them to tell the story. You be the audience for their best performance. 

There are many variations of this story but this one is my favorite. 

There once was a little apple seedling who sat lonely in a field, as night fell upon her she looked at the sky twinkling above her. The apple tree became very sad , for she wanted a star all of her own. Then much to her surprise the night fairy came down from the sky above and asked her "why are you so sad?" The little tree explained how "she just wanted one star to keep to herself", so the fairy granted her wish and told her, "when you become a large, mighty tree, I will bring you are a star... As the months progressed the young tree matured into a sapling. Shortly after, King Winter came to visit and blew his tremendous winds throughout the land, knocking the poor sapling around and breaking off her branches, but she recovered. The young apple tree grew stronger and bigger throughout the years and was visited many more times by King Winter and every time broken down a little more. The apple tree was still sad and lonely and still wished she had a star of her own until one day she had awoken on a beautiful spring day and looked out at her branches and much to her surprise, saw beautiful pink flowers. The apple tree was finally happy and so excited that she had her own beautiful flowers that she forgot all about the stars.. Throughout the spring her blossoms turned to baby apples and she was overjoyed with excitement to be a mother. Soon into summer the apples became larger and started turning hints of yellows and pinks when the Night Fairy appeared. The apple tree had forgotten all about her star wish and explained to the fairy that "I no longer need a star, for I have never been so happy before." But, the fairy still gave her what she wanted and went and kissed every apple, turning them red and ripe. The fairy told the apple tree that inside every apple baby of hers is a beautiful star. To this day, every time you open an apple, you will behold the apple trees star.

(im unsure who the original author of this tradition waldorf story )

While telling this story, we used these storytelling items.
: a small handful of clear plastic jewels (The Dolllar Store, craft section)
: a small handful of small gold bells (season item only The Dollar Store, christmas section)
: one earthy toned scarve
: King Storm gnome
: Night Fairy
: Wooden tree
: Acorn

We layed the scarf out and planted the apple seed (acorn)
Every time we mentioned the stars I would slowly pour the jewels and bells from one hand to the other above the scarf, so they glistened with the light and the sound was entrancing

Once the tree was large and mighty, we put the wood tree in our story.

After our story the kids played with the jewels and bells, exploring the texture and sounds. They used wooden bowels and little metal cups to separate and explore. They also were given scoops and tongs.

We cut up an apple after to study the star.....

Leaf spiral

During one of the warmer days this week we went outside to enjoy the day and burn some of our energy. While we were outside we grabbed our rakes and made a spiral to walk through out of the leaves that had fallen. It came out so beautiful and so much larger than pictures can do justice of. . Even our little feathered friends enjoyed the day walking through it And catching all the bugs we had uncovered. We  are going to make homemade laterns and walk a moonlit walk through it on St.Lucias day. 

Advent spiral

This year we redid our count advent spiral. It always feels like a good time to craft up a new Gnome. And in the spirit of Advent , we welcomed King Winter to our collected and gave him the temporary home on our advent spiral. We are only a couple days away from St.Lucy day and the days are getting darker earlier, cabin fever is setting in and we are all for crafting quietly and staying indoors. Today we made dried orange slices for our advent spiral in the name of Lucia. We went to the library yesterday and checked out the book Lucia and the Light. A couple days ago we made a spiral in our  yard out of the fallen leaves to walk. On St.Lucy day we plan to walk the spiral with homemade lanterns. 

Faux Wendy's Frosty

If there is one thing I look most to "in the form of snacks and drinks" this IS IT!!!

I look forward to these all year long. My absolute favorite..

Its not very often I can talk myself into a frosty from Wendys...So this is the identical healthy version.

Start saving all your ripe bananas now...When they get ripe, break them into halves or thirds and throw them all into a ziplock bag and freeze. When you get more ripe bananas, do the same and add them to the same bag...

recipe

About 2 or three handfuls of frozen banana pieces

(Ground chia seed) (Use a coffee grinder) (2 tablespoons)

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of raw cocoa....

(They said u can substitute the bananas for icecubes, but ive never tried it)

blend all in the blender

B

Faux Tuna Fish Sandwich

For a year or so after the Japanese Fukushima radiation leak, I stopped eating seafood. I missed it terribly, but the news articles of it showing up on the west coast terrifies me. I had to think of the safety of my family and kids. Even though it sucked terribly and I missed seafood I came up with alternatives to fight those cravings in the mean time. One of my biggest cravings were tuna fish Sammies (or so they are called in our house.) I found this recipe in some of my searches and I was so surprised with the taste I ate it every single day for a week.




One can of drained garbanzo beans (save the juice in a cup).....then add a couple scoops of mayonnaise, salt and pepper...Blend in your blended until slighty chunky (like tuna fish)...if it is having a difficult time blending add a little of the cans juice to it.....then..I mixed in diced up pickles, onions and celery...(you can do your own toppings however you like)..I toasted my bread the dark brown I love...add it to it and mmmmmmmmm!!! My kids loved it, I loved it, tasted just like tuna fish ...my husband was reluctant to try it, but actually enjoyed it after a lot of convincing to just try it....

Sourdough Lunch

I love making this for lunch in the summer when my garden is bountiful....I toast a slice of sourdough bread and top it with a slice of tomato..Then top the tomato with slices of mozzarella cheese...for the sauce..I use a small handful of oregano (no stems), a small handful of rosemary (no stems) about 2 or 3 cloves of fresh garlic cloves, enough olive oil to give a good sauce thickness, salt and course pepper....puree and top over the cheese......