A long awaited and eagerly anticipated visit!

When you haven't hugged someone you love for a really long time, it feels really good. We got to experience that on Tuesday of this week when Jason's sister and husband arrived. With multiple negative Covid tests and no mishaps in our quarantine protocols, the dream of podding up for a few days came true. We didn't need to exchange Christmas presents of the wrapped sort - just being together felt like a gigantic gift. And it's the gift that keeps on giving as our kiddos are still soaking up some more aunt and uncle time. We'll go retrieve the younger two soon and leave our eldest for a good long visit (she loves us, but did request a full two weeks with them without any of the rest of us!).

They joined us, along with Emily, Jonas and Ivy, just in time for our 9th annual biochar burn. It's always an important marker in our year and we often invite lots of people, but it has not been a "big to do" since Covid. It was meaningful to be joined by multiple members of Jason's family and my parents for a shared reading of the meditation and getting the fire rolling. We chose to read the longer variation of the meditation since we have lots of voices to share around the reading, and Jason and I had been scurrying around up until the moment they arrived, so needed something to re-center us into what has been a very meaningful yearly ritual and event. I'll share it here interspersed with a few pictures from our time together. We had to get the kids out of the pit before we could start the fire. :) 

We kindle this fire for gratitude.  The wood we have gathered to burn is the flesh of plants, our partners and providers on this earth.  We gratefully acknowledge that we need them more than they could ever need us.  May the placing of each branch into the flames be an act of thankfulness for the sustenance we have received by way of their work this year, and a supplication for the provision of our needs in the year to come.  May we use well the energy they have harvested from the Sun.  We kindle this fire for gratitude.

We kindle this fire for memory.  We know that without fire, our species could never have become what we are.  To be human is to burn wood; to use its power to change things to our advantage.  We think of the long history of human life in this place; all the fires that have burned here.  We try to imagine what this place was like in those ancient times and learn what we can from the little we know of the people who inhabited this land then.  We kindle this fire for memory.

We kindle this fire for light.  The trees and vines that made this wood lean and climb towards it, and when they succeed in finding an opening to the sky, they produce a leaf in that place to bask in the Sun’s rays, and take their nourishment that way.  Through the plants and like the plants, we need light: to fully understand our world our eyes need to see it reflecting off of our landscapes, and we need it striking our skin to promote our health.  Even in our languages, light is truth and shadows are ignorance.  In this shadow time of year, the light leaping from this fire will be a comfort.  We kindle this fire for light.

We kindle this fire for warmth.  As flames spring from the branches burning here, we will eagerly hold our palms out to face them like leaves, absorbing a small fraction of the heat released there.  This world is our home and we know no other, but it can be a cold place, too.  When the summer sunlight has waned, and we are walking over the chilled and wet or frozen soil of winter, we need a fire to gather around every so often.  May we, like branches in a fire, each warm the other and, once warmed, respond with fresh warmth of our own, together producing and becoming something more than we could have been alone.  We kindle this fire for warmth.

We kindle this fire for life.  As the smoke rises, we will be reminded that life changes form; it is always being lost and destroyed, it is always being reborn.  The metabolic cycles coursing between tree roots and these branches were interrupted by disease, or by tools in our hands.  As they laid in the heap awaiting burning, fungi thrived by invading their interiors with hyphae and unlocking their storehouse of energy.  Insects chewed their way through bark and wood, feasting and growing.  The thick layer of duff generated by their activities is a rich haven for the roots of trees and all the soil creatures.  And now, through burning, a portion of each branch will return to the air as carbon dioxide, and plants all over the world will take and convert it to sugars and new fibers in their tissues.  The char that is left will be used to enrich the soil—a stable place to store nutrients and habitat for soil organisms.  We kindle this fire for life.

We kindle this fire for healing.  In these times too many of us are neglecting our connections to the soil, to the plants, to the Sun.  Our willful ignorance has cost us so much; has been so destructive.  We hope that this one small act of burning a char fire can be a part of a trend of restoration.  We know that humans, like all life on earth, cannot live without benefitting from the misfortunes of other creatures, and that no creature has more fully exploited this—has learned better how to induce harm for its own benefit—than we.  We acknowledge that we have gone too far.  And so we are attempting to put our ingenuity to better use.  May we learn to be attentive to each opportunity as it passes by for the building of health and the cultivation of vibrant life in our surroundings.  May we learn to be agents of good things.  We kindle this fire for healing.

We kindle this fire for our descendants.  Throughout their lives trees shed leaves and branches and root fibers, and exude substances through their living roots to nourish the soil community for their own benefit and for the benefit of their offspring.  Building on the richness they inherited, they leave their place richer than they found it.  We too live by the gifts of our ancestors to us; gifts of resources and knowledge, skill and values that were a response to their time and place.  We have adapted these for our time in this place, and we know our descendants must do the same, accepting the gifts we pass to them and adding their own.  With this fire we mark our desire to leave to them a world that supports their thriving at least as well as it has ours, and our willingness to work to make it so.  We kindle this fire for our descendants.

For gratitude, for memory, for light, for warmth, for life, for healing, for our descendants, here and now, we kindle this fire.

Each year is a little different with new surprises. This year's was definitely having homemade firecrackers through the burning of bamboo. The first one was a little startling and then it was very fun to do more (with preparation and ears covered). Terah was shrieking with delight. The wood was nice and dry and the fire went fast. We had enough hands that some could be snagged at times by a niece or set of nieces to pretend to be penguins. And then Terah and Ivy discovered they could use the ring as their very own hamster wheel. Also very cute, especially once they redirected it in a direction entirely away from the blaze! 

The fire went well and fast. It's the ring closest to the leaf pile, so the hose was used most of the time to keep the leaves wet. Were we to do that whole design again, we might choose to have the leaf pile a little further away... But, with caution and care, it works! Once again the brush pile was empty just about the time the biochar pit was filling up. We quenched the fire as the chickens found the remains of the brush pile and started finding all the goodies that were hiding beneath it. We even had time before dark for a visit to the piglets. They were, as always, happy to see us!

As we headed towards the house, my mind immediately went to getting things all ready to bring outside and what would be needed for people and it almost as quickly realized that we could all just go inside. It was the first time Emily, Jonas and Ivy had been in our home for a meal since probably last February. So a monumental occasion. We kicked it off with a butter shaking competition - a quick way to shake a lot of cream jars...and it's fun! Good music, lots of fun spirited humans, a lighted Christmas tree, and a little playful competition that ends up with a large bowl of freshly made butter. Much of which was used in the following days for all sorts of deliciousness!!

We kicked off our yummy meals with a haystack [this may be "taco salad" to most people] dinner before Emily, Jonas and Ivy headed home (with the plan to return for a full day together Christmas Eve). 

The first day or two that Christie and Mark were with us, I was sadly torn between home and work. But I also got to enjoy two full days OFF. The days were filled with walks, yummy meals, making gingerbread cookies, many conversations about all sorts of things, lots of tech consulting (for Mark/Jason/me) and writing a play (Christie and the girls).

There was a lot of excitement Christmas Eve morning when we all gathered again for a fun day together.

The first surprise of the day was that we all ended up being dressed alike pairs. Jonas and I were a complete accident. Same with Mark and Jason. Emily had a lot to do with the other three pairs, and we made quite a crew!

We didn't eat ALL day but we did enjoy a nutty sweet potato waffle brunch followed a bit later by us trying out my new aged black pepper cheddar and fermented Serrano pepper cheddar followed a bit later by Christie's amazing chocolate putting and then culminating in a feast prepared by Jonas.

There were a few non-food highlights of the day too. Christie and the kids put on their play which was incredible. Check it out if you are interested learning what happened when the Tooth Fairy and Santa decide to swap jobs: https://youtu.be/3OQp9wiAJDs.

Later in the evening our girls put on their Christmas concert. That was extra special as we were able to zoom in Jason's other sister and her girls and also Tala joined us virtually from the Philippines. If interested in some holiday tunes, you can check that one out here: https://youtu.be/00KiiCU6Io8

There wasn't a ton of "down time" but I did snag one little couch cuddle/story reading moment with Terah and Ivy which I treasured. We ran out of time to do ALL the fun things but our family was introduced to Utter Nonsense, complete with lots of laughter! Later in the evening we also played whisper down the lane charades. My favorite was that my acting out decorating a Christmas tree got translated to changing a very poopy diaper by the time it got to the end of the line. :) Speaking of Christmas trees, the most dramatic moment of the day was likely when our tree feel over completely. Thankfully it was able to be righted and only a few (not the most meaningful) ornaments broke. 

Christmas day came around kinda fast and with it a flurry of activity to get our three kiddos ready to head northward. But we did get to savor Christmas Danish (made by mom and ready to pop in the oven in the morning to savor hot and fresh!!) and a final brunch of homemade quiches (sausage, mushroom, corn, and spinach ricotta). While there was great excitement among our children for the adventure ahead of them, our middle daughter was also feeling a bit teary leaving home. But she was surrounded by love and some of her most familiar people and I'm doubtful she has missed us much since the emotional departure. I'm glad she loves us and home! 

So the house got a lot quieter mighty fast!!! Jason and I are trying to enjoy the time, but one of us is feeling rather overwhelmed and anxious about the lists connected to this season of the year and the upcoming transition/shake up in our home (we'll let you guess which of us that is and who is needing to calm who down!?). We are continuing our quarantine until we bring the kids home from Pittsburgh, but we were still able to enjoy a stroll to Hensley's Pond with Mom and Dad yesterday. It's been so unseasonably warm and felt odd to be hiking the day after Christmas in a t-shirt. But it was a beautiful day and the sky heading back was gorgeous! 

This is likely my last post of 2021. I plan to turn over writing responsibilities to Jason to try to do the yearlong summary. :) We'll kick of 2022's posts with "tearing down the wall" and podding back up with my parents. There's a lot of eagerness all around for that, and I think there will be a renewed appreciation for the normally very natural flow between our households. We'll see how long until my dad is ready to put the wall back up - I'm not sure he knew it could be so quiet at Tangly Woods. In all seriousness, I know how much they have missed us (ok, most especially the girls) during this time and we are so very grateful for what they gave up to make it possible for us to be with some of Jason's family. We're eager to do our third round of Christmas celebrations with them at New Year's, with a new sense of appreciation for our relationships!