29 degrees, no wind and crystal clear skies with twinkling stars; a perfect January evening. It was time to bundle up and head outside!
The girls slipped into their plush snow pants – a dense, insulating layer to keep them warm. Then, they pulled on their woolen hats and socks, their snow boots, and their knitted head warmers. We all zipped up our winter jackets, grabbed a few warm blankets and cups of hot chocolate, and headed outside for our chilly evening next to the warm fire.
Our warm January bonfire.
What made our winter bonfire so special is the fact that we used our Christmas tree for fuel, although the idea didn’t go over well at first for our girls.
“I don’t want to burn our Christmas tree,” Skyla stated quite heavily. This definitely did seem like a reasonable cause for concern, didn’t it? We went on to explain to the girls that this was an opportunity to enjoy our beloved tree for the last time. Once it was added to the fire, it would provide us with warmth, joy and memories, and then up, up into the sky the ashes would go… and our precious Christmas tree would become part of the earth again once the ashes fell to the ground. Thankfully, this concept provided our girls with much comfort and it seemed to take away their worries! Willow became excited and decided to assist my husband with adding branches into the fire, which smelled of sweet, fragrant pine as it burned. We listened quietly to the sizzles and snaps of the fire, and watched the red hot embers at the bottom of the fire pit glowing in the darkness of the night.
Helping Daddy fuel the fire…
Warm hot chocolate on a cold January evening.
The girls ventured off into the yard after a while and had some well-deserved 8pm (the latest we’ve ever had, I think!) free play; hauling branches and sticks into the wagon and pulling it to their play house to start their own “bonfire”. Soon afterwards, they discovered some thick pieces of ice from Grandma and Grandpa’s pond, and they just had to test out their balance! The sweet simplicity and imagination of early childhood never ceases to put a nostalgic smile on my face.
Testing out their balance with some ice!
“Whoops!” (She was ok!)
In our family, winter bonfires are all about bringing warmth and light to our darkened winter. It’s such a simple way to bring our family together to celebrate the season in a beautiful and positive way, and definitely one of my favorite traditions.
What sweet memories we’ve made…
Naturally Katey 