Life update & Blessed Mother's Night.

Dear Reader,

As Yule is literally right around the corner, I have been busy. We've been cleaning house, cooking, and decorating. This is on top of the usual daily rounds of parenting and keeping house. Honestly, I'm looking forward to the break that I'm going to take after Nativity starts. I am taking the 12 days of Nativity (which is when my family also celebrates Yule) off from things like making projects for other people and doing hard housework. Just light housework and the minimum necessities to keep the house running.

Today was exhausting. I had this goal of getting all of the hard cleaning and housework done by sunset. Sundown was at 4:30 in the afternoon. Thus, I was hustling and going at it in serious effort all day from when I got up at 5:30 this morning. I am unofficially celebrating Yule over the weekend too, because why not get a few more ounces of joy out of the days. Big family doings are happening on the 25th with the extended family celebrating Christmas. It's going to be a busy day.

In the last few days leading up to Nativity, I am going to be working on getting my planner set up for next month and writing more devotional poetry. Tonight, I am tired and my feet hurt from being on them all day. Hefting furniture around to clean around it is not as easy as it used to be when I was 20. I blame the fact that I turned 40 this year.

Tonight is Mother's Night. I honor the disir and my foremothers tonight. If I weren't so worn out, I'd keep vigil until sunrise. In my stead, I will have a little electric candle going on the altar and in my ancestor's shrine. I also put out an offering of rose water for Dea, the great Mother, during her time of labor. I remember labor, it was thirsty work and tiring. I can only imagine how great the work of labor is for Dea in this world, such as it is.

I wish you all a peaceful and blessed Mother's Night. My posting will be sporadic because the kids are on vacation right now. I am also making a point of resting over the time of Nativity, which means I may be doing other leisure activities instead of posting in the coming time. I view Nativity as a time of celebration and joy. I view Yule the same way. I also believe they are a time where the hard work of life should be suspended enough so that we can enjoy ourselves during this period.