Merry Christmas and Solstice (Miyo Manito Kisikaw)

We had a small Solstice celebration yesterday playing games and reading together.  As both Joel and I are sick we kept it low key.  We read "Mouse Celebrates the Winter Solstice" by Terri Mack.  The story is simple, but speaks to why we feast at mid-winter and the pictures are a blend of cartoon and west coast style backgrounds.  I quite liked the combination.  It balances nicely the modern and traditional.  We also read "A Coyote Solstice Tale" by Thomas King which is a quick read taking on the cost of consumerism to our spirits and it's impact on our ability to focus on what is really important in this time. 

Tonight I want to keep it simple.  I like to have a conversation with the girls each year  about people who may not celebrate Christmas or who may not find Christmas is a happy time.  It might also be a good time to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas video.  The sound track to this program is one of my favorite for the holidays, not including Bing Crosby of course.  Where else can you get both Irish and Hawaiian Christmas songs together?


Given the mild weather I am going to try and get my silhouettes of the winter stories set up outside and to tell the whole story out there.  It has been too cold the past few years for this.  I want to get them set up each with a candle behind them so that we can walk through the story.  I still need to prepare replacement lambs as they have gotten lost.  Otherwise we are aiming for simple.  We are planning for an indigenous meal with wild rice, salmon and berries.


Thinking ahead to the new year, I am going to try and decolonize our food.  This one scares me a lot but I think it is time.  I have written previously about my fear of starvation and my inner Witigo and all the resources I have found to support this reclaiming of food.  I need to do this for me and my family but food is comfort and changing ideas about comfort will be challenging.  Have you undertaken this task?  What have you learned?