It was bitter cold at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, so I waited until evening for a solstice night hike. At 3 hours before moonrise, my daughter and I trudged through the blanket of snow. Many had been on the trail before us… deer, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, and mice had left shadowy depressions in the fluffy snow. We scanned the woods for eyes reflecting in our flashlights, but all was still. When we reached the bench by the “twin cherries”, we sat in silence and waited to hear the sounds of the night: a distant train whistle, a few leaves rustling in the breeze, and the faint gnawing sound of a rodent enjoying a snack beneath the snow. But mostly it was a silent night.
As we walked back, a train down by the River thundered through the still night; I was grateful when it finally passed and we were able to listen again. We heard only our own footsteps swishing in the snow. The woods were pleasant, but dark and shadowy. We stopped by the spring to hear the gurgle of running water. Beneath the surface, our lights revealed the verdant green of watercress—a welcome sight among the stark colors of winter.
I went back out to look at the sky at midnight, and again at 4 a.m.; I never could see the moon. But the sunrise at 7:30 was lovely. It was the start of the day when hours of daylight will begin to extend. But hopefully we still have a healthy cold winter, and many more silent nights.
Our family will be celebrating Christmas together at Iowisota this year. The kids get to enjoy the comfort of guest bedrooms, and we will be able to eat our traditional Christmas Eve “shepherds’ dinner” in front of the big fireplace. We sit on the floor or couches around the campfire (e.g. fireplace) and eat traditional Hebrew shepherd food (venison, olives, lefse, and breadsticks shaped like shepherd staffs). Ok, not TOTALLY a Mideastern menu. But we do talk about what it would have been like to be shepherd sitting in the fields when a host of angels showed up on a silent night over 2000 years ago.
The kids will head out right after Christmas, and we’ll be back hosting events and welcoming guests to Iowisota. Our first official workshop will be Chris Gavin teaching us how to cook venison into a delicious meal on January 11th (that session is ½ full already; if you want to learn more or sign up, go to the Iowisota events page!). Once we get busy planning, we hope to add some fun, informal winter opportunities. We will probably have maple syrup demos in late February or early March. By Spring we will have more formal workshops on the schedule!
Meanwhile, we wish all of you a blessed Holiday season, filled with silent nights, joyful celebrations, reflections on the past, and planning for the future. I’ll be back with more in 2025!