The air felt cool on my shoulders as we weaved through the rice fields to the beach, a leaf floated across our path and my mind drifted back to fall days at home. Is it my mind or body, or both, that need the senses stimulated to be aware that the seasons are changing?… I feel a bit lost…like my internal compass is caught in limbo…and I think maybe the boys feel this too…… One day Arlo said “isn’t it supposed to be Michaelmas by now”. It was, but without the field of flowering yellow dock as golden as Micheal’s cape, without the patchwork quilt of color along the mountain top,without the crunch of crimson leaves under my feet it just didn’t feel like the right time to bake dragon bread.
I know that plenty of people don’t have the same visual and temperature changes and they manage to happily celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Easter and the 4th of July without a single wardrobe change.
As much as I love exploring new places I find myself dreaming of the October Harvest moon that rises so close to our mountain it looks like you could reach out and touch it. Every Autumn I wait in anticipation for the moon to swell …there is a spot along our road as you wind your way up the gravel one bend then another and there you are face to face with this giant silent wonder.
When I was a kid the smell of fresh-cut grass wafting through the classroom window signaled summers approach, a trip to Buster Brown for new school shoes meant fall had arrived, the last few leaves blowing to the ground, the swirl of the first snow flakes and you knew winter was blowing in. It was springtime in Detroit when the fresh white snow turned to lumps of frozen brown mud and the little crocus and daffodil tried to spread cheer among the otherwise disheveled scene.
For my children, festivals and a nature table have been our calendar. Golden silks, red and yellow leaves, songs about the star hidden deep in the apple means Autumn on the mountain, The lantern lit pathway of the Solstice spiral and carolling on Stroud valley arrives with winter, Seed catalogs, Cherry blossoms and the Maypole bring Spring and fireworks on the farm and catching firefly’s late into the night meant summer had arrived.
It’s time to embrace the new sights, sounds, smells, feelings and tastes of the land, culture and environment we are in now and mix it up with traditions from home. Why throw away the old when we can added it to the new and make something even better!
If you were here last week you would have smelled fresh-baked Christmas cookies spiced up with local nutmeg, heard us singing Christmas carols as Muslim prayer chants echoed through the streets or you might have seen the soft candlelight on the palm leaves around the solstice spiral while fireworks lit up the night sky for the Hindu Kunigan festival, you may have felt the cold ice when an unexpected hail storm hit Canggu one afternoon reminding of us of winter weather back home….or you could have tasted dried banana cookies with a cup of egg nog left for Santa.
I guess seasons are the traditions that turn the pages of my calendar…
Oh nikki! you are such a lovely writer! and such a thoughtful mother, it brings tears to my eyes….i love you thinking process adn i also love the results of your thoughts! yes, seasons are so important. what would we do without the changes? they help us grow and help us see the big picture of the “seasons” of our lives as well….
Nicole,
Your words are such an incredible gift. This post is beautiful. The Harvest Moon, changes of seasons…image of your family celebrating Christmas in Bali! Love it.
Vanessa
Hi Nikki,
Great blog. I think we all forget that everyone experiences different seasons and our kids relate all these things back to the calender. Now that the time is getting very close for us to move over there, I am very excited, but at the same time nervous about all these things that are different to home. 5 weeks and we will be there down the road and the kids will be at school together!!
Jac xx
Let’s see…I love the tree, I love the felt family and santa dolls, I love the tree, I love the winter scene (looks like a wood-cut – very cool), I love the solstice candle and Arlo’s pic and Zeb’s pic, I love the advent wreath, and the starry way across the table the Holy Family had to travel to leap onto the counter where the creche was waiting, I love the manger, I love the cookies and I love the traditions you keep and the ones you are creating – these are the things that make the seasons so memorable – the colors and smells and sights of seasons changing only are the markers for the timing of these events and perhaps not as essential as what they have come to represent. What you are doing is the truly important work of giving your children continuity and a sense of peace knowing that it doesn’t matter where you are or what life you are living, there are some things you can count on to just “be there – no matter what.” Nik – you do this so well and by adding a little bit of your new world, you enlarge theirs. Happy New Year to my beloved family…xoxoxoMom
awww!! thanks mama!! Forgot to mention catching earth worms in summer with you!!!
thanks for giving me so much inspiration. I have big shoes to fill as a mom:)
happy new year! we are sending so much love to you. i hope you turn all these blogs into a lovely little homeschool/travel/mothering meditation book. it would be so lovely with all your lovely photos. i miss you so much. ~sierra
You have done a wonderful job, I am sure the holidays were enjoyed by all.
I have long given up on the cold Christmas traditions, but I am glad that someone is keeping them going.
All the best for the new year, to you Nikki, and the whole family.
A beautiful piece of writing… I hope you’re not too homesick/traditionsick/alienated… I always find cold climate Christmases weird in a hot climate — those sweating Santas in subtropical heat — but I’m glad you’re keeping up with what’s important from your childhood in your own children’s.