Getting Ready For Yule

Of late I have been busy at my sewing and embroidery machines whipping up this years decorations. The most time consuming project was the winter rag quilt. I am happy with the way it turned out even though it didn't end up following the well planned chart I had drawn up. It is no surprise to me that despite my best efforts to be organized about it all, that I managed to mess up the carefully planned design in the first two rows. Being the artist I am (lol) I decided to go with it and redo the entire design.  I love the holly and pine cones as representations of Yule. It's also a theme that can be used all winter long.

back of quilt

Although I take the tree down at the end of January, (no tree this year thanks to a little devil kitten called Spike) I do keep up many of  my Yule decorations, which include snowmen, deer, owls and greenery. I always get some fresh garland and a fresh wreath for the front door. While the garland lasts only a month, the wreath stays up for the winter.
The mantle in the family room is my seasonal altar. For Yule, this year's theme is gingerbread!

Gingerbread land

I went "shopping" in my crawl space and found some gingerbread items from years past that fit quite well with the set of lighted gingerbread houses and mini Mercury glass mini trees I got this year. The Wheel of the Year is a focal point for as I'm sure it is for many pagans. I like to decorate the house accordingly as a tribute to each season and the corresponding holidays. When I refresh my house, I also refresh myself. At the same time, I am also keeping myself in the moment and enjoying and appreciating the uniqueness of each season as the wheel turns.