Yule 2025

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but didn't manage to get this finished yesterday. So I'm posting on a Tuesday instead. :)

The Sunday before last (21st December) it was Yule/the Winter Solstice. I celebrated by having a chocolate Yule log from Tesco, a Finest red velvet white chocolate one this year, for a change. While I occasionally make my own, I most often buy them, especially since it's so close to Christmas!

The Yule log was quite nice and it was good to have red velvet, since I like the cake. Here's a pic:

 

I lit a white candle in the evening because Yule is a fire festival. (I normally light a red or green one but didn't manage to get one in time thisyear.) Here's a photo:

 

There's also a Christmas card and my mistletoe heart!

I also made some hot chocolate in the evening. I've often made spicy hot milk for Yule but more recently I've made hot chocolate. This year I tried a new recipe, Winter Spiced Hot Chocolate from Berry Bites Kitchen: https://berry-bites.com/winter-spiced-hot-chocolate/

It has both chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in. It was quite nice to have for a change.

So now it's "officially" winter! The weather has varied, gone quite cold, warmer, then cold again. At the moment it's about 7C (44F) during the day and 0C (32F) at night in my area, so feeling really cold! It's supposed to getting down -2C (28F) next week at night. Snow is forecast for some parts of the UK in early January but I'm not sure if we'll get any in Sussex.

For Christmas this year I baked a spiced gingerbread cake (recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. I'll write a post about it next month, probably a double post along with the final quarterly update for 2025 (autumn-winter).

The next sabbat will be Imbolg/Imbolc  at the beginning of February and I'll do a post about my celebrations. Hope everyone had a good Yule (or a good Litha/Summer Solstice depending on your hemisphere) and a good Christmas or any other festival you celebrated! :) Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a good start to 2026. :)

 

P.S. Here is some winter inspiration:

Autumn 2023 + Winter Links (my post from 2023 which features links about winter; scroll down): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/12/autumn-2023-photos-winter-links.html 

The Spiritual Meaning of Winter: A Slow Living Guide to the Season (YR Studio): https://yrstudio.co.uk/blogs/adriana-tudorache-blog/spiritual-meaning-of-winter-slow-living

No More Winter Worries: Learn to Love the Darker Months (this is especially good for those of us who find winter the hardest season):  https://www.escapebusy.com/articles/winter-worries

 

Also, Adriana from YR Studio is currently doing a new blog series about having a slow start to the new year and transitioning from midwinter to the start of spring. It started just after Christmas and will run until 31st January (Imbolc Eve). Here's the first post:  https://yrstudio.co.uk/blogs/adriana-tudorache-blog/1-6-a-slow-start-to-2026-it-begins-in-darkness

Or if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, here are a couple of summer themed links:

Shifting into Summer: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/06/shifting-into-summer.html

Salads for Litha/Summer + Extra Idas!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/06/salads-for-litha-extra-ideas.html