Things to Do - Celebrate the Solstice

I'm not sure why the solstice has become such a big event for me. In part because the more I learn about the history of the holiday, the more in awe I am of how many traditions have survived in modern times - such as lighting candles and decorating with evergreen . Further, Christmas with children comes with a lot of pressure (the big man in the red suit) and the solstice presents a nice opportunity to forget about Santa for day.

After the pinata debacle in October (click here for backstory), I promised F a special playdate with a new, full pinata and the solstice served as the perfect opportunity for such an event. Due to the small size of our house, we needed to keep the guest list pretty tiny. For the kids, I had crackers and masks and noisemakers. Plus, cupcakes for decorating and a pinata for attacking. For the moms, I had wine. Yum. Not exactly traditinal fare, but all in all a good afternoon. There's something sort of exciting about a lone butterfly soaring through winter's naked trees.


I learned an important lesson - don't bake red velvet cupcakes with children. The red dye gets EVERYWHERE.


Another important lesson, if you plan on taking pictures of children with a pinata, it's best to use bags that don't say Safeway and Target. For aesthetics.



The kids loved the masks, they created an afternoon of superheros. I also bought Window Mega Markers, so all the kids could participate in "decorating" the house. One week later, I still haven't erased everything.

Things to Do - Put Candy in the Pinata

I don't know about everyone else but planning my kids' birthday parties really stresses me out. Children's birthday parties are sort of like the bar exam -if you do too well, you feel like a loser because you could have studied less; if you fail you feel like a loser because failing stinks. So the goal is to JUST PASS. Last year, we went a little crazy and booked the Great Zucchini (yup, that would be MY PICTURE on the first page of his website), who was AMAZING. But this year we wanted to scale down. So I planned a party at Hidden Pond Nature Center. All things considered, everything went well enough - live animals, fishing with nets, crappy pizza, and a princess cake. But NOBODY EVER TOLD ME THAT YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR OWN CANDY IN THE PINATA. Truth be told, I did wonder why it was so light, but I chose to ignore any thoughts of concern. Oh well, watching all the children pull the strings and wait was sort of amusing. In a mean way. Luckily, it was at the end of the party, so someone started handing out goodie bags and the children all left in perplexed confusion. Now I know.

Have a great weekend everyone!!
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If you're looking for something funny this is making it's way around the web. If you've ever considered going to law school or if you're already a lawyer, you really have to see it.

If you're looking for something beautiful, I love the photographs from the 10/10/10 project.

If you're looking for something inspiring and positive and happy - this seems like such a great idea.

And, if you're looking for something to do (in the DC area), this blog always has great suggestions.