Night Lights

One of the things I love about this time of year is that there is light all around us.  We are heading into the darkest time of the year but the impulse to light up the darkness is everywhere.  We celebrate the light in all its forms, we light up our trees, our houses, we glory in the light we make, the light absent from nature right now.  We do the work of the gods, lighting the blackness until the sun returns.

Yesterday the boys painted warmth onto paper, the warmth we didn’t feel outside.  Today we turned those papers into lanterns to warm our dark evenings.  I saw the idea on a lovely blog but unfortunately I can’t remember which one, I’ll update when I find it.  Huwyl stenciled star shapes onto the back of the paper and he decided to add the initial of each person in the family.  I cut out the stars and initials with a paper scalpel before we glued tracing paper behind the cuts.   After securing the ends of the paper to make a tube I put a tea light candle into a small jar and put it inside the lantern.

The glowing lanterns, sitting on the mantle piece of our rental house, created a warmth not just with their light but with the feeling they gave.  The feeling that home is literally where hearth and heart resides.  So for now, where the light glows, this is home.