On Festival Fatigue

One of the conversations I'm having with mamas this week that is coming up over and over again is what to do about celebration or "festival fatigue." 

Christmas came and went. Okay for some it goes on until February 2nd, while the activities have  for the most part come and gone. What is left for some is fatigue. I call it "festival fatigue." Trying to do it all.

My advice comes out of my own life experience when I tell you that less is more. Children need a mom who is present and cheerful far more than they need another event to celebrate, for daily life is truly the celebration.

That the sun rises and sets and shines each day is something to celebrate. The wonder of clouds floating by is something to celebrate. Snowflakes falling. Snow on the ground. A cup of warm tea on a cold day. A candle with dinner. Holding hands with family before dinner to sing a song of gratitude.

We are surrounded by beauty and have so much to celebrate each day, in the simplest way.

Some words I wrote nearly to the day on January 12, 2011:

"If you have time to do the laundry, prepare the meals, do the dishes, clean up after, sleep adequately and go outside everyday and still have time leftover, then take up the celebrations. Otherwise, just light a candle with meals and celebrate being together, being sane and having quiet moments." If you'd like to read more, it's here.

Mamas, we all strive and struggle and want to create conditions for our children to have the very best childhood. I want to remind you today, to remind yourself everyday, they do. They have you. And each day is a new day with something simple to celebrate. It's already there. Ease up on yourself. (I include myself here) It is not about the decorations or crafts. It is about what lives in your heart. 

Take your child in your arms or on your lap, have a good snuggle or rocking time. Just be present. Be there with yourself, and your child. Play a lap game or a finger play. Tell a story from your childhood, something simple that you remember.

This really is the foundation of rhythm. Of being present in the moment. Of simplifying the activities in the day so that we (me included) can just be here in the moment.

Warmly,

Set a Pretty Table

:: Clarity ~ Intention ~ Care ::

What is it?

Set a Pretty Table is 52 Weeks of Enthusiasm and Nourishment and Thoughtful Intention for Tending the Hearth you call Home

Within the very word Hearth, we find Heart and Art ~ (heart)h and he(art)h

H{e(art)}h 

Set A Pretty Table will inspire you through 52 weeks of tending the hearth, (heart)h, (he(art) with a simple, enthusiastic reflection, tip or suggestion for each week to support you to create an atmosphere in the home that reflects your values...

• Each Sunday you'll receive an inspiration, suggestion, tip or reflection for the week.
• We have a private meeting place to connect and share over the topic each week 

The messages encourage and inspire you to take simple steps to bring beauty and rhythm to your life in very simple ways. They will inspire you to look within, as well as to stretch yourself outward to try new things: to paint, draw, color, sing, model or become more aware of the natural rhythms surrounding you.

“The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.” 

~ Thomas Moore

Call it "Where the rubber meets the road," the way to put into practice what you hold dear. Simple. Slow. Satisfyingly. Finding beauty, truth and goodness in the art of the everyday.

Each week brings its own unique and distinct inspiration.

I invite you to join this community for the next 52 weeks.

I was inspired to create this community, by the notion that it is attention to the little things in life that count. That the little things matter the most. The Ordinary Arts.

That's why I am calling it Set a Pretty Table.

A table is a place where we come together to nourish ourselves.

To set a pretty table is to make an effort to bring rhythm, beauty and our love, manifest as attention, to the moment.

Each person's perspective of beauty is unique. It is limitless, full of possibility.

Beauty shows up in the small, simple touches, as well as the grandiose and passionate statements.

Beauty, and love, are everywhere.

This course is meant as an inspiration to bring it to the table.

Both literally and figuratively.

As individuals. As parents. As teachers. As caregivers. As grandparents. As hearth tenders. As heart tenders. As artists. As soulful beings. As human beings.

We focus on the ordinary arts.

When we approach our days with this in mind, we are creating mindfulness. It helps us to become more present in the moment.

If you've taken my eCourses before and found the reflections and questions for you helpful, and loved being part of a community, you'll love this course.

It's simple and slow paced yet packed full of depth and meaning.

It's a Simple, Slow and Savory approach to the whole year.

Join a community of hearth tenders and home makers to journey around the year together with 52 weeks of Set a Pretty Table.

Bring a Friend 

Because this is a brand new program, and a brand new year, and it can be fun to try new things with a friend, I am inviting new members to sign up with a friend, with a two for one enrollment opportunity. 

One person enrolls for $99 and sends me the name of the second person who is sharing the membership. This offer is on the table until January 15th.

 

:: Sign Up is Closed ::

Included with Membership for Year Round Members of Celebrate the Rhythm of Life 

Simple, Slow and Meaningful

We’re in slow motion this year, still lingering in the mood of sweet slowness that follows Thanksgiving. We’re stuffed with roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, spicy chickpeas, cranberries and all the goodness of the Thanksgiving table.

 It’s warm inside and wet, cold and gray out of doors. I'm waiting for the snow.

We’ve unplugged from the busyness of the world, partly by choice, partly by force. My son was in an accident just before Thanksgiving and got quite bashed up. He is now on the mend, thanks to what must have been divine intervention, as well a very skilled surgeon, and a wonderfully kind hospital crew, for whom I feel enormously grateful.

With surgery and broken bones, there's lots of down time for convalescing. We canceled our travel plans and stayed put. It has been sweet.

As we move along in the season of Advent, I ask myself what matters most to me? The people I care about. My family and friends. My work. Cultivating community. Ample time. Being fully present in the moment.

How do I live these values as we approach the busy holiday time of year, with so many events and activities  beckoning us to join?

I begin with a checking in on our family home rhythms. The pulse of our daily life can tell us a good deal about what’s going on.

Next I look around and begin right where I am. In the days of slow and simple. Right here. Right now. And I savor it.

Rhythm

This word is used quite often with Waldorf education.

What is rhythm? What is the rhythm of life?

Rhythm is movement, flow, pattern, form, pulse, cadence. Rhythm is a place between polarities, that of being stuck and rigid on one end and that of flowing wildly in every direction without form or the ability to pull in, complete expansion at one end, contraction at the other.

Rhythm is the place of healthy movement between the poles. Like breathing, if we contract too much we are gasping and quickly exhausted; this can be very stressful with no out breath. If we are in one long out flow of breath for too long, we may not be able to rouse ourselves to action when necessary.

Children thrive in a place of healthy rhythm. Rhythm provides balance, ease, strength, reassurance and predictability, a feeling of safety and calm, much needed in this hectic world. To find the harmonious rhythm is a process in this busy life, a process of striving to find the rhythm that best serves children and family life.

The young child incorporates the rhythms of life into his or her very being by internalizing the experiences of the external world into his or her very being. The experience of harmonious rhythm that surrounds the child is taken in deeply by the child. A healthy relationship to rhythm nourishes the sense of balance, the feeling of calm and the ability to rouse to action and then withdraw and flow into the next activity. Rhythm helps form good habits. To find and provide a healthy rhythm is a form of discipline rooted in guidance through deeds not words.

Nature provides external rhythm with the cosmic flow, the natural rhythm of the movement of the planets and the stars , the rising and setting of the sun, the waxing and waning of the moon and the turning of the seasons.

Rhythm is also internal with the rhythm of the body which includes breathing, with inspiration and exhalation, the rhythm of the heartbeat, the pulse, the rhythm of the menstrual cycle and the rhythm of the unfolding soul.

Before birth, the fetus knows the rhythm of the mother's body, of her heartbeat and breathing, of her sleeping and waking, of her active time and quietude and of the light of night and day. The mother often knows her child's pattern of movement and sleep in utero.

The newborn child develops a rhythm of heartbeat and breathing, of eating and sleeping, of active observation, exploration, and movement, as well as quiet dreaminess. Rhythm that we provide for the infant includes breastfeeding, the sucking and mother's heartbeat provide strong rhythm and warmth, rocking, cradle and lullabies.

The toddler's rhythms expand from those of eating and sleeping and play to joining in activities of the household which might include the rhythm of the day, the week, the month and the year. Nursery rhymes, rhythmic songs, rhythmic ring games, finger plays and the telling of simple rhythmic stories are ways to bring rhythm to the toddler.

Activities of the daily rhythm include laundry: washing, drying, folding, putting away, meals: preparing, serving, enjoying and clearing , washing dishes, sweeping the floor, mopping the floor, bringing out the compost, feeding the turtle, rabbit, dog, cat or hens, making the beds, turning down the bed covers, taking a bath, hearing a story and going to sleep.

Weekly rhythm might include soup stock day, soup day, baking day, craft day, ironing day, shopping day, cleaning day, trash day and family day.

Seasonal rhythms for us in New England include the harvest, apple picking, applesauce, apple crisp and apple pie making, leaf raking, scarecrow building, pumpkin picking and carving, seed toasting, salve making from the garden's calendula and lavender, gingerbread men baking, snow shoveling, sledding, skiing, bird feeding, seed planting, garden tending, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry picking, preserving and cooking, pesto making, beach going, swimming, kayaking and harvesting the garden through out summer and fall. The food we eat reflects the season with warm comforting soups, stews and roasts in winter, baby greens, peas, lettuce and rhubarb in spring, summer's bounty of fresh vegetables and herbs and the harvest of fruits, grain and vegetables in autumn.

Festivals that we celebrate include Michaelmas, Halloween, All Soul's Day, Martinmas Lantern Walk, Thanksgiving, St, Nicholas Day, Advent and the Spiral Garden , Christmas, New Year's Eve, Epiphany, Valentines, Mardi Gras, Easter and the summer solstice. The stories, songs, finger plays, food and decorations, often from nature, return each year like the seasons, the familiar forces of nature take hold of the earth in a breathing sort of way, a predicable assuring way with a past we can look to and a future to anticipate, with balance and ease.

And so dear reader this ends my first real post. I will continue with more specific elements of how we celebrate the year in future posts, as well as make some musings and meanderings as to the why.