Winter Solstice Party

 To celebrate the winter solstice and brighter days to come (literally, but not figuratively, as omicron bears down on us), we had a fire-pit party with Andrea, Natasha, Jess, and Robyn, plus all their kids (minus Anna who was at the Nutcracker with her other mom). Zac had just finished installing the new backyard pathway lights as well as cutting up some new trees for firewood. Izzy stayed the day, and the kids were a great help at transporting the logs and building the woodpiles. Unfortunately, none of these things were photographed. Nope. The only thing I inexplicably took a picture of was this pile of shoes by our back door. The kids had gotten bored of the fire and running around in the dark, so they had eventually all wandered up to the house to sit in the living room and watch silly YouTube videos together.

I think I liked this image because it reminded me of Namibia, where you must always take your shoes off outside. Whenever several students would come over to our house, there would be a pile of shoes by the door. I think I like the symbolism of it--how it signifies a welcoming house full of people. But also that all the kids are fully vaccinated by now, so we can finally have a house full of kids indoors again.

I'm worried about another lockdown (voluntarily) due to omicron's ability to spread so successfully. We're trying to get the most out of our social life while it's still able to function.