Imbolc Crown

(based on the directions found on PaganDad's site)

We started with a medium sized grapevine wreath, I think about 6-8 inches in diameter, a 6ft length of ivy, some white and yellow silk mini daffodiles, green, yellow and silver ribbons and four 6inch white taper candles.

Other supplies included a glue gun, scissors, and a small wire cutter (the one we have is part of a jewelry-making tool kit).

After warming up the glue gun, we started wrapping the ivy around the wreath, gluing the starting point into the wreath to hold it in place.  Next, we cut the flowers from the stems (using the wire cutter), and began weaving them into the wreath all around, leaving a small clear space for the bow.

Then, we cut two lengths of ribbon, one green and one yellow, tied them into bows and glued them together, then onto the wreath.

When we got to the candles, we cut the silver ribbon into four pieces, and wrapped the candles partway down.  Since I couldn't get the candles to stay glued to the wreath, I ended up using two twisty-ties per candle, and attached them that way in the center part of the wreath.

Once it was done, it made a lovely centerpiece for the dinner table.

Imbolc - Part 2

It's been a few days, but I wanted to share a little bit about how our day went.  It started out as a lazy morning, but turned into a pretty busy day.  We started by going to breakfast, since my fiance was at work, it was just the 3 of us.  I excused Dragon Boy from lessons, seeing as how it was a holiday for us, but that doesn't mean he didn't learn anything. 

After breakfast, I stopped by my mom's house to borrow some mace before heading home to start our baking.  I'll post the recipes we used in a separate entry.  We started with our Sunflower Seed Bread first, since it had to rise.  The kids got to help measure, pour and mix, taking fairly equal turns.  Dragon Boy got to man the camera (we ended up with some pretty interesting pictures!).  Anyway, here's a pic of the finished product:

After the bread was set to rise, we made our first ever attempt at homemade butter.  Success!  It actually came out a little sweet tasting, and it was really easy to do.

Then, we tackled the dough for the honeycakes.  This one ended up being really sticky :)  but lots of fun.  When I stuck this one in the fridge to chill, and the bread dough was starting to look about ready for the next steps, I realized I coudn't find a single bread pan in my mother-in-law-to-be's kitchen.  So, we climbed back in the van and ran back to borrow one from my mom.  I'm lucky she lives so close.  On our way, we stopped at the library to return the books that were due, and I had to promise the kids we'd come back Monday or Tuesday to get more.

Back at the house, we finished getting the bread dough ready for baking, letting it rise one more time.  While it was rising, we started dinner, a baked beef stew and got it in the oven then got the bread in the other oven (I love that fact that my MIL has two ovens!).

Once all that was set, we made our Imbolc Crown.  I didn't print or write down the directions, so we kind-of winged it, but it turned out really pretty, and was a nice centerpiece when we sat down to dinner.  The kids had a blast helping put it together.

And, finally, we brought out the honeycake dough, rolled it out and cut it to bake.

Dinner was a huge success, almost the entire stew and bread were eaten.  I had made some of the butter into honeybutter for the bread, and then my fiance put some on the honeycakes as well.

After dinner and baths, we finally had time to read Imbolc stories, though we had talked about the meaning of it throughout the day.  I wanted to read 3 stories, but we really only had time for 2 (the Grandfather story and Kyle's Lesson) because the kids were so tired by then.  We read Meagan's Imbolc yesterday before bedtime.

Imbolc

There are alot of places you can go to read about the holiday of Imbolc, its symbolism, origins, activities, etc.  So, instead of boring everyone with info you can find almost anywhere else, I'll share what we'll be doing.  (Though not in any particular order...)

Each Sabbat, my kids and I read stories relating to that day.  For Imbolc, we'll be reading Kat Dyer's Meagan's Imbolc (http://home.comcast.net/~kdyer/meagan/imbolc.html), Lori Dake's Kyle's Imbolc Lesson (http://www.doomdiva.com/chipaganps/imbolcstory.html) and PaganDad's Grandfather's Story for Imbolc (http://www.pagandad.com/2009/01/childrens-story-for-imbolc.html).  After the stories, we'll talk about what happened in each one, and what Meagan and Kyle learned.  We'll also talk about what we can do in similar situations.

I try to cook at least a little something that correlates to the Sabbat, as well, and this year, while making a beef stew on Imbolc, I'll also be making a sunflower seed bread and honey cakes, with homemade butter.  -This is a new endeavor, so if it turns out, I'll post the recipes I used.  If not, well, let's just not dwell on that, ok?  Making Sabbat-appropriate foods gives me an opportunity to share with my fiance and his parents (yes, we're staying at his parents' house temporarily, while saving to buy our own- another endeavor I'm working on!) a little about what I practice and believe in at any given time.

In the meantime, since the breads will take some time to rise and bake, the kids and I will be making an Imbolc Crown (courtesy of PaganDad http://www.pagandad.com/2009/01/imbolc-crown.html).  I'll post a pic once it's done :)

I may or may not put together a simple ritual for the kids and myself.  If I do, it will be very simple and non-structured, but I'll post it anyway.  And, if I don't, well, ritual isn't everything, actually living and doing is much more important as far as I'm concerned.  If I don't get a ritual in with my kids, I'll wait until I meet with my coven sisters to get my ritual-fix.