fullupwithfire | Solstice Night Blanket Fort Party

Welcome One and All!

Tonight, at least up in the northern hemisphere, is the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. My family tradition is for whoever can make it to spend the night awake, holding a vigil for the return of the light and the rebirth of the Sun King. Tonight I offer an open space to anybody who'd like to join me, whether for the entire night or just a little while, to come join in the cuddle pile and await the dawn.

(And if your version of joining in is setting up two feet away and offering good vibes from afar, you're just as welcome.)

So come on in! We've got every kind of blanket you can think of, fuzzy or not, oversized or tiny, weighted or as thin as you can get. We've got stories and songs, crafts and games, dancing spaces, roaring fires, and whatever else you need to get through the dark. We've got sleeping spaces and quiet spaces and loud spaces alike. We've got cider on the stove and eggnog in the fridge and coffee on the counter, snacks of every kind and room to bring your own. We've got hugs and hearts and kind words to remind you that you're here, and we're glad that you're here, and the light will come back.

I'll throw up a couple spots for sharing on a theme here and there -- songs and stories and if anything else comes to mind -- and you should feel free to float your own. Make yourselves comfortable. Have a happy Solstice, everyone. ♥

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My family also has had... a progression of party traditions. My maternal grandfather's birthday was actually Christmas Eve, so when I was a kid, we always made the 8-hour drive to where my mom's parents lived in Virginia a few days before Christmas, and there was always a big birthday celebration for Pop. One year, it turned into a big family reunion thing, even; we rented out the development's club house (they lived in a small condo right on the Chesapeake Bay) for it and there were... a *lot* of people.

For a few years when I was in high school, Pop and Gran came to spend Christmas with us, instead, and the party was lower-key, but I always loved making his birthday cake. And being home for Christmas turned out to be my favorite thing ever, the first time we did it, because it meant I had access to a computer, and didn't have to sleep on the floor!

When we started staying home, we also started going to our next-door neighbor's Christmas Eve party. My parents don't still live in that house, but we've kept going to that party, and I love it. All my grandparents are dead, now, but our old neighbor's like another grandfather to me.

This won't go on forever, and sometimes I wonder what it'll be like in a decade or two. I'm not the sort of person to be the keeper of that kind of tradition, either, but I think I'll still want something to mark the holidays, even if it's small.

Aww, that's really sweet, tbh. I'm just not a huge party person most of the time but I think that, if we ever find ourselves with people who don't have anywhere to go near the end of the month, I'll see if they'd want to come over for a night and have warm drinks and share a meal.

Yeah, I feel like if there's ever nothing, I'll be there, like... hey nerds come be a holiday nerd with me. It still means something even if I'm not religious in that way anymore.

Yeah, exactly. <3 I will be there with chocolate, coffee, and an open door.

That is a lovely series of traditions. ♥

I understand that feeling. My mother's a very big fan of holidays -- not just winter ones, holidays in general, though especially the Halloween-to-Christmas run at the end of the year -- and I'm not always in a place where I want that big a thing, and also I intend to one day not live close enough that I can be around every single holiday; but on the other hand, doing nothing at all always feels kind of... sad. I'm hoping I can find a balance somewhere that doesn't feel like nothing, but doesn't drain me entirely to put together.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel about it, too. Do you have a particular place you and your partner want to end up? Or is it just "far away from here"?

I'm hoping to live in the Pacific northwest someday, myself. While I do have one cousin up there, nearly all the rest of my family is still on the east coast.

We're not sure at this point; a lot of it depends right now on how the next few months go -- they've never done a proper winter, and I haven't in 20 years, so if it turns out to be too rough, it's going to have to be somewhere warmer. In general, we're kind of hoping for farther from family. I love them, and I really appreciate how much my mother has helped us in getting out of Florida and settled here; but they're stressful, and I have a habit of making myself overly available to my mother to the point of draining my ability to do anything else if I'm near her, so distance would probably be good for me.

I'd actually really love to live in the Pacific northwest too. Between cost and how far it is away from most people who could help us get settled, I'm not sure how likely an option it'd ever be, but it's on my dream list.

Finding balance with someone you genuinely appreciate/care for but with whom it's hard to avoid giving too much is... important, yeah. I've got a friend theoretically in my life like that whom I'm trying to navigate inviting back in in practice. I can see physical distance being a big help with a family member who probably isn't a total internet citizen.

I hope we all eventually get somewhere we're at least content with the idea of staying.

Solstice Night Blanket Fort Party

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