The Blessings of Rocks and Birds

Winter is here. While I welcome the refreshment of chilly air on my skin [what little shows], light glittering on frost, and soft sunlight through trees, I love to be in our cozy home, creative endeavors warming my hands.

If a stranger were to walk into our house at some random moment, they might [mistakenly] believe that a tornado has destroyed an art store - markers flung across the floor, all the caps missing; crayons denuded of their paper coverings, overflowing their basket; colorful children's scissors amidst piles of tiny paper snippets; masterpieces of artistic expression drawn into the carpet; balls of yarn, baskets of beads, and bottles of paint needing to be cleared before any food reaches the table (which itself is artistically adorned with stubborn swaths of glitter glue and swipes from a rogue paintbrush).

Normally I'm not a big fan of messes, but I take exception when the mess is artistic. And believe it or not, I do clean up - and it lasts for all of 10 seconds while the kids are awake. But I am not complaining, oh no. I celebrate and nurture the creative spark in us all. The house can be sacrificed.

Here are two activities to let your creative hands celebrate this winter season:

Rock Painting

I have a deep and innate love of rocks [especially smooth river rocks. Every jacket pocket is full]. I seem to have passed that love onto my children, who collect them wherever we go. Every corner and table houses a pile of them.

Rocks, with their quiet, healing magic, are a symbol of Winter. The smooth form of a rock naturally guides me inwards, where I can hear the soft whispers of my ancient being. I like to keep baskets of rocks around for building caves and cairns, and they also make quite an excellent canvas.

It's simple. Gather your rocks (as large a pile as possible), prepare your paints, and let your creativity flow.

A Tree for the Birds

Thanks to our relatively mild coastal range winters, we have a beautiful variety of birds keeping us company through the winter months. Food is naturally less abundant, so this next activity extends the season of generosity to our winged friends.

After our Solstice/Christmas tree had all it's decorations put away, we moved it out into the front yard to keep our celebration alive [and of course you could decorate any tree with low enough branches]. We then gathered fir cones, which we slathered in peanut butter and rolled in birdseed. [The peanut butter part is a little tricky. We had a hard time getting it to stick to the cones. Be patient and persistent.] I tied loops of string around them for hanging, and up they went. A lovely and creative friend of mine and her beautiful children were crafting with us that day, and she had brought some bread dough along. The kids formed it into various shapes, I baked them at 350 degrees until they were brown on top, and we hung them up on the tree as well. I also thought it would be fun to make popcorn garlands, but we didn't make it that far.

While wintertime can keep us indoors more than usual, I take it as a blessing for our creativity. I pass these blessings onto you!

*Gratitude*