celebrating the solstice

i've long wanted to do something special to celebrate the winter solstice. i saw a tiktok that suggested that you write down 13 intentions, cut them apart and fold them up and put them in a jar. then, every day for 12 days, you burn one of them without looking at it. then my sister sent me that very same tiktok, so i decided this was the year to begin celebrating the solstice with this ceremony. i convinced the child and her friend to do so as well. on the 13th day, you open the last intention and read it and it's the main one for your year ahead. it will be interesting to see which one remains. it felt really nice to do something to mark the shortest day before the light begins to turn again. 

happy halloween!

despite a bit of culture shock when our guests began to arrive a half an hour before the appointed time, we survived the halloween party and even had a very good time. i got lots of great pix, but am not sure how cool it is to show photos of someone else's kids on my blog, so i'm afraid i'll be keeping those to myself. it was a big success - and i have to say a huge thank you to karen for the toilet paper mummy idea. it worked a treat!

best investment ever?  a smoke machine. totally made the party.

tomorrow i'm on the long road to manila, so i'll catch ya on monday!

happy halloween one and all!

xox,
/j