Celebrating Nature, Appreciating the Great Outdoors, and Ways to Celebrate the Start of Winter Season for the Winter Solstice

Winter is officially here!  It’s time to celebrate the Winter Solstice and appreciate the changing of seasons. While we’ve got plenty of fun ideas to embrace the winter weather and chilly temperatures in our vacation and road trip guides, we thought we’d shake things up a bit and add some more ways to celebrate the season.  Today’s blog is all about exploring our connection to the great outdoors, as well as finding new ways to connect with our family and friends.  Here are some warm, comforting ideas to try over the holiday break with your favorite people, or even to work on as a community project with the kids in your area.  Plus, there’s some great last minute gift giving ideas (especially for the outdoorsy nature lovers on your list) with no shipping delays to worry about!

Let’s explore some fun and seasonal Yuletide traditions.

Celebrate the Changing light and seasons – Take some time to measure the light in the day by recording sunrise and sunset with your family.  Mark the times on the calendar and create a little festive graph to measure the change from Winter to lengthening Spring days.  Celebrate the shortened winter days and feast by candlelight as a family!  As you light the candles on the dinner table, set some positive intentions and well wishes for the upcoming year to bring some more “light” into the dark, dreary winter days.

Sip some Yuletide “wassail” cocktails – Wassail is a festive warm drink with mulled spices consisting of: 2qts apple cider, 1.5 cups of orange juice, ¾ cup pineapple juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks, and cloves.  Another seasonal variation includes tossing in some cranberries while you’re mulling and simmering the spices and juice mix.  Adults may also add a splash of Rum or Whisky for a festive holiday punch cocktail idea.

Burn a Yule Log in the Fireplace or a Fire Pit – Historically, Nordic tradition was to burn a whole tree across 12 days leading up to Christmas.  Since that’s not exactly sanctioned by apartment management or condo associations (and definitely not feasible for modern hearths) the Yule Log is a popular alternative. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Max also have several fun “Fireplace for the Home” options that are smoke-free. If you’re using an outdoor firepit, try some color changing fire pit powder for a magical memory.

Create a Solstice Pomander – You’ll need some toothpicks, very firm oranges, and a bottle or two of whole cloves for this seasonal craft. They look lovely hung inside, or make a beautiful outdoor decoration for your front yard’s trees or bushes.  Using your toothpicks, poke holes into your orange in a line around the middle, or get fancy and create a little pattern. Push the skinny side of the cloves into the orange into your pre-poked holes.  To hang them, poke a piece of long stiff wire through the orange, and create a little tear drop shape at the bottom for stability and one at the top for hanging.  You can wrap the wire with ribbon and a little dot of glue to hold it, or hang them by a ribbon from the loop.  As the orange dries, it will create a delicious smell in your home!

Exchange nature and outdoorsy related gifts instead of store bought ones  – Give your friends and family handmade gifts using natural and found components such as dried flowers, polished stones, twig ornaments, etc.  Give out coupons for a family adventure road trip to a national park or a “campout” certificate for a warm-weather vacation gift! Or perhaps some “Go for a Hike” coupons to redeem for snowshoeing, cross country skiing, or winter weather family hikes.  Whatever you choose, the focus will be on enjoying the Great Outdoors together for some bonding time with loved ones.

Put a Spin on the Traditional Dried Fruit Garlands –  TikTok is all the rage over this spin on dried fruit garland like this fantastic woodland inspired mushroom decoration!  Try adding your personal spin by adding ribbon or string through the mushroom cap and hanging from faux pine garland, or turning them into individual ornaments. Just make sure you follow directions for curing and dehydrating fruit in the oven, and remember to keep them dry to prevent mold and deterioration for use next year.

Decorate a Wreath Together  – Snag a plain pine wreath from a local tree farm or stand.  Get some glue or some twine or festive colored yarn and attach some dried orange slices, pine cones, holly leaves, and ivy to them. You can also add some small salt-dough ornaments by tying them with ribbons.  Place it on your front door, or use it as a table centerpiece for your holiday dinners.  It also makes a great seasonal decor item for your office door!

Create Nature Themed Ornaments – This year, we’ve made a commitment to gifting and decorating withs.  Gather pet food cans, tuna cans, and/or mason jar lids, and turn them into ornaments. Decorate the background with some cut and collaged seasonal patterned paper into the back of the tins and lids. When that’s dry, glue in some moss, sticks, leaves, and other natural items on the bottom, along with little wild animal figurines. To hang them, simply use hot glue to attach festive seasonal cut ribbon on the back in a loop shape.

Craft some Salt-Dough Keepsakes – We love making memories together as a family, and that includes creating seasonal Salt Dough ornaments for the tree!  Whether you’re using a gluten-free salt dough recipe or the traditional kind of salt dough, it’s a cozy weekend at home.  You can even involve your favorite family pets to create a gift that will last a lifetime of memories!

Upcycle those holiday present shipping Boxes into DIY Ornaments and Garland – Finding ways to “go green” is very important to all of us here at Classic. And we love any chance we get to recycle, reuse, and transform discarded items into something new!  For this project, we’re utilizing our recycling pile to do some DIY artwork. Use cookie cutters to trace and cut out shapes of houses, and paint them with acrylic paint pens in white, red, and green to look like icing! Punch some holes in the top for hanging, and create your own ornaments or string them together for a garland!  You can even turn them into your very own Gingerbread House village,

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