Yule 2023

Just before Christmas (Friday 22nd December) it was Yule/the Winter Solstice. I planned to post about it just after Christmas but I was working on year-end posts on my other blogs (Star Sparkle Blog and Falling Petals), so I'm doing it today instead. :)

I celebrated by having a chocolate Yule log, from Marks & Spencer this year. Occasionally I've made my own but I most often buy them because it's so close to Christmas (which I normally bake for!). 

The Yule log was quite nice. I put two candles on top to represent the light returning. Here's a pic:

 

I also lit a candle because Yule is a fire festival and from this time onwards, the light starts to grow. I used a green candle that I had left over from the other year. Here's a photo:

 

The heart decoration is one I knitted a couple of years or so ago and the advent calendar is from Cats Protection! I got it free because I'm signed up to their newsletter. :) 

So now we're "officially" in winter. After colder weather in early December, it was milder over Christmas (up to around 12C/53F during the day sometimes) but it's gone colder again now. This upcoming week it will be about 5C (40F) during the day and -1C (29F) at night in my area. Snow is forecast for some parts of Sussex tomorrow. 

I baked a Christms funfetti sheet cake for Christmas and was thinking of doing a post about it. I still have to write my autumn-winter 2023 update though, so I might do a double post and include a bit about the cake.

The next sabbat will be Imbolg/Imbolc in early February, so I'll do a post about my celebrations afterwards. Hope you had a good Yule and/or Christmas or any other festival you celebrated! Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a lovely start to 2024. :)