the revelers

We don't have an official name, but there is a group of us that meets on Monday nights to meditate and then have supper. This Monday night happened to fall on the winter solstice, so we decided to meet for pot luck and music at Jim and Debbie's house. Chez moi. or... C'est moi.

The first order of business was bringing the outside in.
Then we set a table for sixteen. We lighted the lamps.
Then we filled the room (my office; do you recognize it? That's my desk filling in as one table)... we filled the room with friends and spaghetti. Under each plate was something to read aloud about the solstice, about Old Winter, the dispelling of the gathering darkness, and the coming of the light. My favorite was by Susan Cooper -- you can read it below.Then it was time for music! We stoked the beseeching fire, readied our various instruments, found our voices (and the brownies!).
Trying something new...Listening.Appreciating.Laughing! Cyndi Craven led us in the Bob Dylan version of "Must Be Santa."
An evening of merriment and laughter, food and friendship, songs and stories (you shoulda heard the stories!) to welcome the depth of winter and the gifts it brings.

What a blessing it is to have friends.

From Susan Cooper's The Shortest Day:

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!