Solstice on ice

Our friend Rowan invited us to celebrate the Solstice at her beautiful ancestral country house. We had planned a bonfire with some music playing, but the weather had other plans... We braved the freezing rain to play some games Steph had prepared (from the great book Games Children Play), in the dark with glow stick props!

We rushed back inside for great food, warm apple cider and a spot on the beautiful brick bench beside the chimney. Danny played contrabass beside their cute Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and we listened to some vinyls (wow, we sure have forgotten what real music sounds like. It felt like the musicians were there with us in the room...).

Little ones had fallen asleep on the couch by the time we were ready to go our separate ways... There was a thick layer of ice on the cars and the roads were as shiny as skating rings... We did less than 500 m before deciding that it was way too dangerous to try to make it home, very carefully turned around and crashed in our friends' guest room.

Waking up to the snowy fields that we could see from the bed reminded us of our old farmhouse (a lot of that house reminded us of it, actually). We ate leftover vegan Carob chai spice cake with cardamom icing (OMG, that cake is sooo good!) by the fire and took turns going outside in the freezing rain to snap some photos (next post!).

On the drive back home, there was lots of tree branches on the road. The poor trees were arching over from the weight of the ice... At some point, there was a blue electric fire over our head, where frozen trees and electrical lines met (covered in ice, the trees act as a ground). What a solstice adventure!

By the Christmas tree

It was a long time since we had worked passed midnight side by side on different documents. I think it was last year in our trailer, somewhere in Texas, maybe, typing with only one hand while we warmed the other under our thighs (who knew we would find snow in New Mexico!)...

Everything was so quiet inside and out, a veiled since, like the one that fills the air only when snow is falling. As I painfully walked down the stairs (Oh! The first cross-country ski outing of the season... after more than 3 years without skiing...) to get a glass of water, our beautiful Christmas tree was calling me to sit by it and revel in the magical moment. I asked JF if he felt like taking a break and sit with me. We didn't have any big conversation, we were there, together, content. There had been some sewing that day, some last minute shopping, a circus class, some caroling, and a fair bit of bickering and tears, but at one o'clock by the Christmas tree, all I could feel was gratitude and love. Lots of love for that sweet family of mine. And a bit of excitement for the weeks to come!

 

Their first recital

Aïsha at the grand piano, alone on the stage of the Vieux Clocher de Magog, proud and sure of herself.

Mathilde was among the firsts to play her piece and the only one to play the soprano flute.

Mara had decided not to be part of the Christmas show (the violon sure takes longer to master...) and she was very happy to simply watch the show with us. It was very sweet to see her eyes shine when she watched her sisters on stage!

Game nights

Something I really enjoy in my life right now is the game nights we organize with our friends on week nights (almost weekly). In our busy, fast-paced world, who has time for board games on a regular basis? Well, we make time for them (we play board games pretty much daily here, and every single night last year when we were traveling)! It is such a great way to connect, laugh and relax together. 

Please leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite board games are. We'd love to discover new ones!

Everybody loves a good game of Scattegories!

Advent

Some upcycling projects on the go (not much success so far...), but Mathilde is quite happy with her t-shirt and bolero, her creative ideas, of course!

Our family Christmas gift arrived early in the mail and we thought it would be better to put it to use right away instead of waiting... We all need a daily dose of green juice at this time of year! And with the Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800XL, it is so much faster than with our old Champion juicer (like 15 min instead of 45 min to make enough juice for all of us!).

We talked about Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Light, and we played games of Dreidel (a game that involves a spinning top marked with four Hebrew letters). It is so interesting to learn new traditions alongside my girls!

 Gingerbread cookies, of course!

 And a beautiful Santa Lucia crown  brioche!

First snowshoe outing

We are determined to take advantage of winter this year while we are in the North! Having a national park right in our backyard makes it easy, and not having to conform to a week/weekend schedule makes it even more enjoyable! 

Snowshoeing in nice fresh snow in the biting cold (well, after living for 5 years in the Yukon, I have a hard time saying that -16 is biting cold, but my cheeks tought so yesterday!) is so much fun!

Reaching the shelter with a woodstove. The same shelter I snowshooed to with my dad when I was barely older than the girls...

 I remember playing on the beds just like they do now... and smiling with excitement when my dad produced a piece of chocolate (or chocolated covered cookies in this case) out of his backpack!

 And warm homemade strawberry sauce...

As we walked, I told the girls how my dad got a frostbite on his nose right here when we were snowshooing on the lake at -40 with the wind chill and how we stayed in that same shelter until he got a bit better...

 I am so thankful for cold red cheeks, snow that makes my world much more luminous and for this very patient and loving man in my life...

  And for the 3 o'clock light these days...