5 Ways to Take Exquisite Care of Yourself During the Holiday Season

The festive season is usually such a busy time of year. Now, with the pandemic ongoing and Christmas fast approaching, I thought I’d share with you 5 Ways to Take Exquisite Care of Yourself During the Holiday Season.

1.       Sit down and enjoy a cup of tea or your favourite soothing hot drink. Yes this may seem obvious but some of us begin skipping it during the day at this time of year when we can really use a few minutes rest.

2.       Have a bath and in the running water put a few drops of your favourite essential oils. I love using a combination of spearmint and lavender. If busy you doesn’t have time for or doesn’t want a bath, try just soaking your feet after a hectic day. Sitting on the side of the tub and soaking your feet in water with your favourite essential oils even for just 5 or 10 minutes can do wonders.

3.       Try a guided meditation. Many people find it easier and a more accessible way into meditation by listening to guided meditations. There are many free ones on the internet. Start with any that resonates with you and you feel drawn to. Even just a five minute guided meditation break can make all the difference.

4.       Write a gratitude list of 5 things you are most grateful for this holiday season. This can be combined quite nicely with the first item on the list, sitting down and enjoying a cup of tea or soothing hot drink.

5.       Write an affirmation for the day that will help you to get through what can be a hectic rush. Write it in your journal and or then where you can see it throughout your day such as on your phone, or on a post it note that you stick somewhere really visible to you. It can be something as simple as a reminder to yourself of what Christmas and the holiday season is really about. Or that you are in control of the food that you eat. Choose whatever works for you.  Here’s a blogpost with more on using affirmations  https://www.fionaharbour.com/blog/2021/7/17/give-affirmations-a-chance

 Practice any or all of these five tips and it will make a difference. Nurture yourself with loving kindness and compassion. And above all else remember to be kind to yourself.

The New Year Arrives and a Lovely Walk in the Countryside Scattering Walnuts

A walk on New Years Day

I am filled with gratitude as I look back on 2021 and think of the whole new year that lies ahead of us as I enjoy the present moment in these first few days of 2022. For me New Year’s Eve was a quiet one as usual, with close family and staying awake for the first time in many years to watch on you tube the countdown until midnight and the start of a new year.

With a new year comes the feeling of a new beginning and for me an excitement and newfound resolve to simply get things done that are important to me. I do make plans for the year ahead but I do not tend to make New Year’s resolutions. At least not lately in the last few years.  

On New Year’s day we went for a lovely walk on my folks’ property where I have been visiting, along with my dog, Charlie. We walked across the first field to the stream where we crossed over and soon saw signs of many coyotes. In the snow we found quite a number of tracks of footprints of coyotes and then came upon large black feathers where they had caught a bird of some sort. As we walked through the second field my dog had his nose to the ground to examine all the footprints. We weren’t sure how recent the footprints were as the snow had fallen a couple of days before. But we didn’t think they were fresh.

We made our way over to near the edge of the property where there is a beautiful path that takes us through the trees. As we walked there were pine trees on the left and mostly tamarack or larch trees on the right. Beneath the trees there was a soft carpet of needles. It’s protected from the wind and there isn’t as much snow in there so the walking is easier and the beauty is, to me, breathtaking. It’s my father’s favourite trail on their property, and one of my mother’s favourite trails.

Wild turkey tracks in the light layer of snow were in abundance along the trail through the trees. And we saw rabbit tracks and signs of a mole or vole having burrowed along and leaving a track through the snow too. We reached the gulley that we had been heading for in the middle of the second field and came upon a cluster of rocks that I love to see. It is a collection of rocks likely from pioneer days when the farmers had to clear the rocks out of the fields so that they could farm the fields. They made a few large piles of rocks on the property and I always feel that there is a certain air of fairy magic in these places and feelings of yester year. I’m not sure why that is but I just always get that feeling in these rock pile locations.

The rockpile has a magical atmosphere about it

We then walked along the gulley pausing to scatter walnuts that we had brought with us, scattering them across the field around us. The walnuts had fallen to the ground from walnut trees near the house. My folks had already collected and then scattered close to two thousand walnuts so far last year. They take the walnuts to a place on the property where they would like walnut trees to grow and then just throw the walnuts about there, scattering them so that they will hopefully grow into walnut trees. Even if only ten percent grow into trees, that would be two hundred walnut trees which would be lovely.

After walking along the path in the gulley, scattering walnuts as we went, we headed back across the second field towards the house. We saw many more coyote tracks as we went, and rabbit tracks. After crossing the stream again we walked along a trail through the black locust trees. One larch tree had fallen down across the path. It had broken half way up the trunk, likely during a recent wind storm, and about twenty feet lay fallen, crossing the path that we were on. As we didn’t have a chainsaw or an axe with us, we went around the tree, and my father will return later to clear the tree from the path.

Wild turkey tracks

Heading towards the shrub garden we came upon many more tracks in the snow, this time wild turkey. We have seen many wild turkeys on and near the property over the thirty five years my folks have lived here. But on our walk we just saw the footprints and tracks in the snow.

With it being time for a lunch, and tiring from walking across snowy fields, we decided to head in to the house, and with that, our lovely new year’s day walk was over. I’m looking forward to coming out here to my folks’ property in the countryside in rural Ontario, Canada as much as possible in the year ahead. Being in the countryside, and with family is good for my soul, and my dog loves it too. For us, the new year is off to a beautiful start. I hope that the new year brings each of you peace and happiness.

A Quiet but Joyous Christmas

Christmas arrived and it was quiet but joyous. It was tinged with sadness as well for me, as my grandmother had passed away in late November, just one month before what would have been her 103 birthday today. She had been my last remaining grandparent, and in addition to the normal grieving process, I now have the realization that it is the end of an era.

I try to enjoy as many holidays with my family as I can, for these are the seemingly small and simple things that to me, are part of making memories. My folks arrived on Christmas Eve and stayed for a few days. For me it was a Christmas of good family company, too much delicious food, and enjoying the blissful feeling of the moment.

Charlie’s footprints in the snow

On Christmas morning my father and I took my dog for a lovely walk in a large park like setting that we drove to, instead of our usual walking routes. My dog was overjoyed and had his nose to the ground except when he was looking up in the trees for squirrels.  There was a little snow still on the ground but it was a few degrees above zero. We saw very few people but the ones we did see wished us a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Back at my place, the Christmas dinner that I had planned was a beefsteak pie and a very rich mashed potato dish along with two vegetable dishes, broccoli and butternut squash. However, after a leisurely lunch, and some time on the phone sending Christmas wishes, I realized that the beefsteak pie preparation of the filling and cooking time for the pie was 4 hours and that I had run out of time unless we wanted to be eating a very late dinner.

I changed course and instead of making the pie, just made the filling, which resulted in delicious rich stew, but without the additional one hour of baking the pie in the oven. And with only one hotplate working on my old stove, I was then not able to make the mashed potato dish (which had been going to be a mix of mashed potatoes and parsnips combined with sour cream, cream cheese and chives). I needed the hotplate for the stew which of course must simmer for a couple of hours. So I ended up instead roasting the potatoes and parsnips inside the oven.

My mother helped me in the kitchen with the food, and everything came together and we eventually enjoyed a Christmas dinner of stew, roasted parsnips and potatoes, and butternut squash. For dessert I had made a clementine cake made with almond flour and with lemon zest. I had made it a couple of days before, and saved it for Christmas, but the taste gets better each day. On the table my simple centrepieces were homemade using bowls filled with limes and surrounded by cuttings from my shrubs outside.

Homemade centrepiece

Clementine cake

Snowladen shrubs after Christmas

In my neck of the woods, which is in Canada, we celebrate Boxing Day which is December 26, the day after Christmas and which is also a holiday. This year on Boxing Day, my father and dog and I all went for another lovely walk in the morning in the large park like setting that we drove to.

Back at my place after the walk, lunch was an array of cheeses and baguette slices, as well as toasted baguette crisps with rosemary, olive oil and sea salt. The cheeses were a Canadian cheese called Oka, Gouda, goat cheese, Boursin cream cheese with basil and chives, Stilton with mango and ginger, and Havarti with dill. We had a green salad, tomatoes, cucumber, and bean salad. For dessert, we had my mother’s homemade mince pies. Later on, dinner was leftovers from Christmas day, although we did have to cook more potatoes and parsnips, and then clementine cake for dessert again.

Detail from Boxing Day lunch

Homemade mince pies

Although I missed seeing my dear nephews due to precautions due to the pandemic, and the rest of my sister’s family was far away where they live in another part of Canada, it was still a good Christmas. It has been about remembering the way that I want to feel at Christmas, enjoying the moments, and the things that to me, Christmas is about. It has been a quiet but joyous Christmas indeed. And as I reflect on these last days of the year, I feel that life is good. I hope that you all are having a lovely holiday season.

5 Ways to Celebrate the December Solstice

Today is the December solstice. Up here in the northern hemisphere it marks the shortest day of the year, the longest night, and the start of winter. Down in the southern hemisphere it is the longest day of the year and the start of summer.

I feel like it is a magical and somewhat mysterious day, and I like to enjoy the solstice by celebrating my connection to the earth and nature. A walk outside with my dog and a pause, to take a few moments to enjoy the beauty around us of a winter’s day.

Celebrate the solstice. Take a moment to pause and reflect on it. Read on to get some ideas of celebration rituals whether you are in the southern or northern hemisphere. 

Incorporate a celebration ritual into the day made up of one or more of these activities:

1.              Choose seasonal activities that bring you joy and help you connect with the earth. Perhaps as part of your celebration ritual for the first day of that season you will choose one or two seasonal activities. Some examples are outdoor walking or sports, crafts using the natural materials available to you outside at that time, such as winter wreaths, summer wreaths made from grasses and wildflowers, art and writing using the natural world around you for inspiration for your visual art or poetry or songs. And cooking seasonal dishes.

2.              Gratitude journaling for that season. Write a list of things that you are grateful for specific to the season. The list can be as long or as short as you like, just let it flow, brainstorm, and you may be surprised how much flows out of your heart onto the page.

3.              Write down your intention for that season? What do you plan to do this season. Also write at least the first few action steps that you need to take to make the plans happen.

4.              Meditation centred around that season. Either find a guided meditation online, in a book, or get creative and write your own. It doesn’t have to be long, even just a few minutes long meditation will help you to reconnect with the earth and the universe.

5.              Art journaling for the season. Draw or collage an image or images to depict what the season means to you in your life right now or your intention for this season. Or you can just draw and collage a celebration of the season, depicting the visual images that you think of when you are in the season.

By incorporating some of these activities into a ritual the day of the solstice, you will be celebrating the season. And in doing so you will also be reconnecting with your inner core essence, and deepening your connection with the earth and the universe.

You may wish to download my free 33 page PDF:Guided Workbook: 5 Ways to Celebrate the Seasons of the Year. It includes workbook activities and a meditation for each season to help you reawaken your creativity and reconnect with your inner core essence while you celebrate your Earth connection and the seasons. I keep my free resources, and this PDF Guided Workbook, available for download, in a free resource library. The library is open to everyone for free, all you need is the password to get in, which you can get HERE.