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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I talked with my mom about cookie-baking plans tonight, so that's been on my mind. Let's talk about special food we enjoy around the holidays, whether it's something that Always Must Be Made, or just particular plans for this year, or special things from years past.

My family used to make a peculiar type of sugar cookie flavored with anise (what's used in liquorice), and decorate them fancifully. We haven't done in the past couple of years, though, because they are a lot of work, and it's harder to get 20- and 30-somethings to get quite as enthusiastic about spending hours decorating than it was kids/teens. I don't think it's happening this year, but I'm kind of playing with the idea of surprising my mom with a batch next year. A *small* batch, because I always go very high-effort with my decorating, but I know she'd be delighted.

When I was a kid, my dad was in the military, so we knew people from all over. Our Christmas menu grew as we made new friends.

We used to make lumpia -- a Filipino egg-roll. My mom would make the wrappers at home, because there was nowhere to buy them. She made a paste out of flour and water and painted it onto a hot skillet with a pastry brush. It always amazed me, that something so liquid would become a solid wrapper.

I also grew up with Polish poppy seed rolls as a dessert. I haven't made them since my partner was diagnosed with a gluten allergy, but I've been thinking that I might try one of the gluten-free recipes I've found on the internet (maybe this one. They're a huge amount of work, but I loved them.

Edited 2018-12-22 03:21 (UTC)

Aww, that's lovely!

For a few years there, I made rum balls for the holidays and one year, I even made peppermint bark.

This year, I'm making a variety of cookies for a New Years family reunion...thing. And also more rum balls because my mother is demanding them this year. Luckily I don't have to start baking those until after my mom arrives here later this month but yeah, that's gonna be a thing.

I bet they'll be amazing. I've never done rum balls; for me it's Tuxedo Brownie Hugs cookies, and also fudge.

....Omg, those cookies sound amazing. How do those work, if I might ask?

It's brownie mix with more flour and less other stuff, and then you put a Hug on top of the cookie when it's had a minute or so to cool. Here's the recipe, if you'd like it.

They're easy and they're bloody delicious. :D

:D:D:D Thank you! I will put this in the rotation of cookies and sweets for when I go see my family in January and see how they feel about it.

(Even if they don't like it, I think

fullupwithfire and I will. XD)

I am so glad! :D

Mmm, anise cookies -- I've never had them homemade but I love them store-bought. That sounds like a sweet idea for a surprise. ♥

We have a few traditions with both baking and meals. Solstice is ham with pineapples and cherries and cloves for dinner. My mother loves to bake so we make a bunch of cookies, but one of the main things I associate with the holidays is rosettes -- light and crispy fried cookies that you put powdered sugar on. We're not really having them this year; I tried to make them, and couldn't quite get the hang of it. Maybe next year.

Holiday cookies are the best, though. We joke that my mom's the only Real In-Law Spouse because she's the only one not born into my dad's family who likes the anise cookies. Rosettes are hardcore, I can taste the idea of them on my tongue. None of us do them, but they do sound appropriate.

Holiday cookies are one of the best parts of holidays. I am gonna dig into some in a few, actually. :D

Rosettes are difficult. Maybe not for someone who has extensive experience with, say, funnel cakes, but those are not easy cookies to make.

Yeah, they definitely were a problem. Usually my grandmother's big thing for the holiday is to make them, and my mother makes everything else, but my grandmother's health has taken a very sharp downturn in the last couple of years, so I thought I'd give them a try. That... was not my brightest hour, but hey, it's a learning experience.

Cheesecake is the dessert of the season, usually because in the trips outlined above in stories, there was always a sampler cheesecake that needed help getting polished off (as was the bottle of Crown Royal whiskey) and that was the thing I always remember liking the best out of the options put out when I was younger.

And also, the tradition of the dinner meal being Chinese from somewhere local, because it was the only dinner place open when we were doing the Mass Dash.

Traditional Chinese is a Christmas thing for us too -- we do baked pasta, usually lasagna, for Christmas Eve, and then Chinese on the day since it's open, and we used to have a Chinese place we liked a lot across the street. (Which, in the many years without a car, was much more doable than most places.)

Solstice Night Blanket Fort Party

Holiday Food

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