Suzanna Leigh reads Atom's Monster

 Atom's Monster
My first ever picture book is now on YouTube!



When my 4 year old son woke up with nightmares of a monster in his room, I told him the story of Atom's Monster. He was one of my models, too, and now he is grown and has a son of his own, he reads the book to his son.

The Questions Need to be Asked

Across the water, in Burien,

a page from my sketch book

people received flyers falsly claiming certain immigrents have criminal records as gang members, rapists and murderers. The flyer named names and gave addresses. King County Sheriff John Urquhart looked into this and found false allegations, and that people listed often no longer lived at those addresses.

This flyer was put out by "Respect Washington", and, according to Dow Constantine, was funded by a hate group in Michigan. It's purpose appears to be to scare people into voting for people the flyers states are against Burien's status as a sanctuary city. It's result could be more sinister, as it appears to encourage vigilante acts against innocent people.

The Questions Need to be Asked

• How will we respond if or when our island is attacked in a similar way? Hate groups have been targeting liberal cities and places. Think Charlottesville and Berkerly.

• How can we be proactive to prepare for such an event?

• And how, given that there are groups activily spreading hate and lies, can we be at least equally active in spreading truth and compassion?

Dear friends, your comments and ideas are welcome here.

Breakfast at Sporty's: Responding to the News

The news last night--cruise missiles heading for Syria--hurt my heart so much! I have never felt such deep emotional pain. I thought of all the people who have had to flee the war.  I thought of Jemilla and her five children who fled first to Turkey, then came here for medical attention she could not get there, of Safa, who fled Aleppo when there was not food, no work, no homes, no hospital, no diapers for the baby.

Most especially, I thought of Jamila "Rose Anne" saying in tears,  "When I left Syria, the county was stable; now it is destroyed." And that was before the terrible events of this week!

Prayer helped a little. Talking with Rifaat helped a little. Even so, I found myself wondering if there was some drug I could take that would help me escape from the pain. I now understand why people get addicted to drugs and alcohol!

I was exhausted this morning from mourning all night, so Rifaat took me out for breakfast at Sporty's. "Lets Make A Deal" was on the big screen T.V., as usual.                       

                                

Breakfast at Sporty's

Suddenly, I understood the silly costumes, the exorbitant prizes, the anticipation, the excitement. It makes a wonderful distraction for people caught in pain, emotional or physical. So, It has it's place.     
                  
But I don't want my life to be about distraction, so I tend to take it in small doses. Distraction that is (not life!).
                                                             
Then I called one of my spiritual teachers, Khadija.
Khadija said that those of us who are emphatic or who are on a spiritual path, are more sensitive now, as things heat up. That some of the greatest Spiritual growth and insights seem to happen when the world is in greatest turmoil.

She reminded me how important it is to stay grounded in the Divine and in one's center (or Dantien, or Hara), and gave me a practice to help with that. She told me that the usual translation of "Allah Ho Akbar" as "God is the Greatest" is incorrect; it compares God, and God is incomparable. A better translation she says, is "Peace (Divine Peace) is Power."

God's Peace is Power. If I can stay grounded in that, perhaps I can weather these times and keep my sanity, and maybe even bring some peace to those around me!

Sketching Bob Ferguson, WA State Attorney General

When Joy saw me with pencil and paper in hand, she asked if I was taking notes for our community of Quakers.  Well, yes, sort of. Drawing while listening actually helps me take in and remember more.

Our Washington State attorney general, Bob Ferguson, received a standing ovation from the packed Methodist church at 7:00 am this morning. I sketched while he talked.

Here are some things I remember him saying:

Trump's executive order banning immigrants from certain countries was not entirely unexpected, given his campaign speeches. So the attorney general's office was geared up for quick action. The order came out on Friday evening; the attorney general's team spent the weekend, literally night and day, looking at the order carefully to determine it's legality, putting together the case, and gathering support from Industries and businesses that were adversely affected, such as Amazon and the University of WA. That way, they were ready to file an injunction before the end of the business day on Monday.

What I did not know, is that Obama had apparently tried a similar executive order with no better success. “It's not about Trump or Obama”, Ferguson said, “It's about the law.” Trump's legal team made the claim in their brief that the president's order was not subject to the law. They confirmed this by telephone at the hearing. Even the president is not above the law. That's why we have a checks and balances system.

Trump's claim that the executive order was for “national security” was disputed because :

1.The head of Homeland Security stated that banning people by national origin actually makes America less safe from terrorist attacks.

2.When an action or law is challenged legally, the courts look at the intent of the law. Because Trump had stated in his campaign that he would ban Muslims, it was clear to the court that his executive order was indeed based on religious discrimination.

The WA State Attorney's Office has put out a 100 page advisory for cities and institutions (such as schools) who are concerned about cooperation with ICE. The attorny's office is working with the mayor of Seattle around becoming a sanctuary city.

Trump's claim he will roll back regulations aimed at environmental safeguards (instituted by the Obama administration) will be legally unenforceable.

House on the Klong--Bangkok

My cousin Riki's house in Bangkok is in a village in the middle of a swamp. When I first visited, in 1997, every house in the village had a boat for the family "car". Houses line the canals--the klong--each with steps down to the water. 

We arrived by four wheeled taxi, though. The taxi let us off at the gate of the Buddhist temple. We walked past the crematorium, past the temple, through the 40-60 dogs lounging in the shade. People abandoned dogs at the temple to be cared for; no Pet Protectors there! No neutering or spaying either.

We dragged our suitcases over a narrow foot bridge and came to a sidewalk with water on both sides. Riki's house is along this sidewalk. Her house is on a cement foundation, with the first floor more of an open air family area and the living area on the second floor.
There are watermarks about 1 1/2 feet up the walls of the first floor, left over from occasional floods.

I visited her again in 2009, with my uncle and aunt, Dick and Jean Hall. The Halls were missionaries in Thailand and in Laos in the late 1950's, when the Vietnamese war spilled over into the ongoing civil war in Laos. Dick and Jean took me to visit friends in Thailand and Laos, telling me stories of their lives and people as we traveled. I met the 80 year old dentist who taught Dick to pull teeth in Namtha. I met the Lao man who was inspired to become a doctor when, as a child of 8, he watched Dick do surgery on a man with a shotgun wound to his face. I met many such people and heard their stories!

I plan to create a book, using my sketches and notes of that trip, featuring Dick and Jean's stories. As I develop this project, I plan to send out occasional posts such as this one. You are welcome to comment!

Looking Back; Sailing in the San Juans

Bob at the helm

Last night I looked back way further than 2016, all the way to 1999, into my sailing journals from when Bob and I cruised the San Juan Islands in our little Cascade 29 sailboat, Cardaea. This is Bob at the helm on our first cruise. This is from my journal:

Seals popped up their heads to gaze at us curiously. At 7 pm, we slipped between Blakely Rock and Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island and wound our way through crab pot bouys, following a family of geese. We set anchor at the head of Blakely Harbor.

That evening, we fished a wine bottle out of the water with a message in it. The message, decorated with child drawn hearts, said,

Whoever finds this note, I will love.

A boy of about 5 on the boat anchored next to us watched with pretended indifference as we read the note.

As dark fell and the full moon peeked briefly through the clouds, we looked across the sound into Elliot Bay. Seattle was a fairy tale city, with a necklace of golden lights along the water front.

Ah, those were the days! Bob died in 2005, and I'll never have a sailing partner like him!

Awaken Joy; Intuitive Painting

When do we close the doors on parts of ourselves? Sometimes it just takes a chance word from someone we respect.

Many years ago, I drew a little person—an elf?--into a still life in art class. He just seemed to want to be there, so I drew him in. The teacher asked me why, and when I answered, “he wanted to be there”, she said, “You mean YOU wanted him there.” I don't know why, but a door closed for me then. It seemed that allowing something to emerge from my subconscious onto the paper wasn't allowed, and I've felt...limited in my artwork since then.

I want to open that door back up, but how?

So, I bought a book: Intuitive Painting Workshop, by Alena Hennessy.

Today I tried out the first "lesson" in Alena's book.

I thought I'd make a Christmas card design. Alena suggests using hand made or interesting papers for the background. I made my own background papers. That's as far as I got, but it was enough! I'm back in my studio having fun! When the papers are dry, I'll do the next step.

I tried both regular copy paper, and 90# watercolor paper
 
 





  



Recipe for Crinkle Paper Background: 

• Wet paper all over on one side
• Crinkle it up into a ball
• Drop paint on in here and there, until you have as much color as you want. Remember, the inside of the ball will be uncolored unless you take extra care to drop color deep into the crevasses.

card made with crinkle paper background

• Carefully lay the paper out flat to dry

October Tide

Tim and I have a commitment to do Qi Gung at the beach every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8:15. We have been going rain or shine for several years now. Sometimes a seal will watch us. Once we watched eagles mating high up in a Douglas Fir. Once we saw sea lions playing close to shore.

Sea Lettuce at Tramp Harbor

Some days are so foggy we cannot see the other side of the Bay, let alone Seattle or Des Moines. Some days feel quiet, with soft gray clouds and smooth water. Some days the rain drops make a pattern of circles on the water. Some days the sky is so blue, you want to sing.

In October, little birds flock together and practice arial maneuvers above us. A line of foam accentuates the green of the seaweed bunched at the tide line.

Walking with camera in hand

What is it about this photo that makes me want to translate it into silk?

This was taken in winter; see the frost on the piling? It was high tide at KVI beach--one of my favorite walks. I used to walk here as I recovered from surgery, with camera in hand and eyes open to the designs in nature. When I struggled with depression during the "change of life", walking with camera in hand lightened my mood. When I ran the school in my home, I made it a point to walk here once a week, to calm and nourish my soul so that I had more to give the children.

I am very fond of diagonals lately.
I love the strong design element in this photo, and the colors.  It has been on my mind for almost two years, to create a piece on silk with this inspiration. I am planning to include the finished piece in a body of work I am calling Where Land Meets Sea. It will show in May and June at Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union.

After the Feast: Silk Art in Progress

The Native Americans gather from all over the North West U.S. and Canada, by canoe, to potlatch,

Photo taken at Port Gamble

renew relationship ties, practice native languages, and honor traditions. Sometimes we have accompanied one of them as a support boat. If a paddler needs a break from the canoe for any reason, we are there with blankets, hot drinks, and a working toilet.

One year we met them at  Port Gamble, a former lumber town on Keystone Peninsula, for a clam and crab bake. From there, we accompanied the Blue Heron canoe to Port Townsend. Mike Evens was the skipper of the canoe, which represented the Duwamish people. His paddlers were all ages, including teens and sometimes a really young passenger. Many a lost young person has found themselves and turned their lives around with the support of the Canoe Journey.

The year we met the Blue Heron canoe at Nisqually, a young woman--I think she was 14 years old--came aboard for some quiet time. She showed me a scar on her ankle where she had carved her boyfriend's initials. She spent some time in introspection on the bunk under our NW carving of Raven, which happened to be her totem.

"After the Feast"--a work in progress

A few years later I met her again, doing a presentation about the Canoe Journey with Mike Evens. What a strong competent young woman she had become! So proud to have been a small part of that transformation!

The photo I took at the clam/crab bake reminds me of her. I love the colors and I love being reminded of the community and camaraderie of that time. I think of these as I work on "After the Feast" in silk.

Spare Change; a Widow's Journey

There's something about the places where land and sea meet, that really resonate with me. Whether sailing in the Puget Sound and the Canadian Gulf Islands or doing Qi Gung on the beach, I can't help but gather images that might later become paintings.

I am working on a series of silk pieces--partly painted and partly "art Quilt"--inspired by photos I've taken over the years. Some of these have been nagging at me to paint them for almost a decade, like this one of Spare Change on Goat Island.

Spare Change on Goat Island

Spare Change on Goat Island speaks to my heart because I took it after my husband Bob died. Bob and I sailed our boat Sea Change among the Gulf Islands in Canada for several years. Spare Change was--still is--the dingy.

When Bob was nearing death and knew he would no longer be able to sail, I told him I would sail when he was gone, no matter what the weather. That's when he knew that I would be OK. He told me he would be "the wind on my cheeks".

Bob died in July. I taught my son James to sail, and we took off for the San Juans and the Gulf Islands for a month. It was my time to come to terms with Bob's death, to learn to "skipper my own boat". There were times I was terrified to leave harbor, and James and I stayed at anchor for two days until I was ready to move on. There were times I felt Bob so close, I knew he would be a part of me always.

Goat Island is a small piece of land and rock in the harbor by Ganges, Canada, one of our favorite stops. Bob and I never landed on it, but James and I did. James and I visited many places Bob and I loved and also had new adventures.

Spare Change on Goat Island is about building on the Love and Adventuring Bob and I shared and continuing to love and to explore life.

Call Me a Tree Hugger

I have always loved trees. As a child I was a tree climber. As a young woman, I sensed a communication with an old Douglas Fir outside a friend's house. Really. I reached out to the tree in my mind, and I felt--sensed--the tree respond. Not in words of course.

Later, as a teacher of young children, I was gathering fir branches to decorate the classroom, for a unit on NW Native Americans. I had clippers in hand, but could not bring myself to cut branches from living trees. It felt like I was cutting off their fingers. In my mind, I said to the tree, "I need some greens for my classroom." I looked around, and there was a large branch full and green laying on the ground!

I used that, of course, hung it from the ceiling.  It gave us the feeling of being in the forest.

Every point of land here in the Puget Sound seems to have a Cedar or Douglas Fir leaning out over the water, like a sentinel.

I've heard that pioneers used fir or pine needles to make a tea rich in vitamin C. Native Americans used Cedar bark for clothing, ropes, to weave into blankets. The roots they made into baskets, and the trunk made their canoes. I can imagine each tree being asked it's permission before it's bark or trunk was used.

Just being among trees or standing at the foot of one gives me a sense of comfort. I feel protected when I lean against the trunk of an evergreen. Trees are like friends.

OK, call me a tree hugger. I am  not offended.

Steaming Silk Dyes at Home

Have you checked out the cost of a steamer for steaming silks? OMG! Not in my budget! Luckily there are other solutions.

I can steam 4-6 scarves at home on  my stove this way:
1. Lay out a piece of cotton wide enough and long enough for two scarves laid side by side.
2. Lay the scarves on top.
3. Cover with  three layers of old newspapers (at least 30 days old).
4. Repeat if you have more scarves. I find 3 layers of scarves is max.
5. Roll into a cylinder, starting at the top of the scarves.

6. Roll this into a spiral.
7. Wrap in newspaper; tape or tie shut.

8.  Put about 2" or so of water in a large pot.
9. Put in something to hold silk package up out of the water. I found an old cake pan about 3" deep and my husband cut holes in it to let the steam through.
10. Cover with a folded towel or a lot of newspapers.
11. Steam as long as your dye requires. I steam red label Jaquard dyes for up to 2 hours including time it takes to heat up the pan.

Green Gate-a fantasy painting in process

There is something mysterious about this gate. It intrigues me. I took its photo on the way to a Sufi gathering last month, and it still calls to me. Inspires me.

Today I began figuring out how I might paint it.

Just a quick watercolor, I thought, just to put some color on paper.

But then I began analyzing it. What is it that calls to me so? How do the composition and values work to draw the eye  back to that bright spot? How might I change the composition to make it more effective?

Now I've really opened the gate to inspirations!

What if I make the gate a different style? The style would reflect the world behind the gate, the world the gate leads to. What world do I want it to lead to? What styles of gate are possible?

So I spent some time on the computer getting ideas. Wow!
I know what I don't want. I don't want a modern looking gate, or a polished wood gate, or a gate you can see clearly through. I don't want a wrought iron gate.

Definitely a wooden gate. Maybe you can just see little peeks of garden between the boards. Do I want a window in the gate? Should the gate be freshly painted? Or weathered?

And what style of hinge might my gate have? The hinge can be anything! It can be a plain wrought iron rectangle, black or rusted. It can be a dragon! It can even be invisible, on the other side.

And what about the latch?

Should the gate have an ornament on it, a little plaque perhaps?

Well, of course the answers depend on what the world behind the gate will look like, the story the gate is in.

Again, more ideas of what I want and what I don't want.

Not a romance with roses, not a garden where lovers roam. Maybe in another painting.

Not a haunted house, or a brick cottage garden. Not, I think, an English country garden. Nothing formal.

A Fairyland?
A castle garden?
A place of mystery, definitely! With a figure in red at the top of the stairs, just going out of sight to the right.

I could use one palate of colors on this side of the gate, and another set on the other side; for example, I might have predominately reds and golds on one side, and blues and greens on the other side. Or one side could be monochromatic. Or the whole painting could be monochromatic with just little bits of a contrasting color to attract the eye.

Color will be very important to convey mood.

Looking at the photo again, maybe I don't want to make big changes. Not for the first go, anyway.

This could be the beginning of a series of gate paintings, each leading to a different world or a different mood. Or the lead in to a fantasy world where my stories take place.

Or it could express the Sufi world I entered into that day....

But I do want a woman in a long red dress at the top of the stairs, just disappearing off to the right.

What do you think?

Opening Reception for the Art Show--Worth It?

I had a great time at the opening reception for my show at Vashon Tea Shop Friday night! Thanks to all who came!

Before the reception,  I worried that the music from the Vashon Book Shop next door would drown out Kat Egglestons's wonderful guitar playing at the opening reception. I worried that no one would come. I worried that my work would not show well. I worried that no one would like my work.

 I worried, I was suddenly exhausted from the work of putting up the show, I had that sinking feeling one gets after spending a lot of energy on something and fearing it won't work out.

I do not plan to sell any of the art. I am showing illustrations from past and current work, both studies and published. Nothing I am ready to let go of. I do hope to encourage people to buy the published books, Peacock Princess and Atom's Monster, either directly from me on my web site, or from Vashon Book Shop. And I want to kind of "prime the pump", to begin to get people interested in my current project, "Troll Story".

My accountant would say this was a disaster. I spent weeks preparing the show, and during the reception I sold only two books, Atom's Monster for $5 ea--and that thanks to my husband! He is the one who kept showing my books to people! I was too shy....

 No one showed up for the first 1/2 hour or 45 minutes. I did not communicate well with the book shop to make sure they had copies. My publicist was tearing her hair out!

But...

I had a wonderful time and so did everyone who came!

Was it worth doing? Absolutely!
Why?
Well.....It's difficult to put into words. The value can't be measured in dollars.  It isn't about "networking".

For me the interactions with friends I had not seen for awhile, with people friends brought in to see the show, with people I was meeting for the first time--these interactions nourish me. Maybe it's about being recognized as the artist, the creator of something worth coming to see, being focus of attention.

Maybe it's about the exchange of ideas. Or the music. Or the general joyful feeling that filled the space.

I feel like it is community building. Creating a common happy experience for people.  Sharing my joy. And that is important to me.

Sharing my joy.

Fall watercolor painting; next step

To review: we started with a light pencil sketch and a couple of ink lines,  then painted in the lightest colors:

We used some "negative painting" to define the shape of the orange tree by painting around it with a medium value green.

Now come the dark colors. Add the darks last. You can always make things darker, but in watercolor, you can't make things lighter. Well, unless you use gouche paints, but that's another story. Notice how the dark green makes the orange and the yellow green trees more vibrant.

The very darkest colors give the whole painting a vibrancy and guide your eye around the painting, while a few ink lines define a bit of detail. I used a white jelly pen to add highlights and to give your eye a nice paved pathway, so to say .

Mondays I plan to introduce some common watercolor techniques, so stay tuned!

A Troll for You and a Troll for Me

Troll from Atom's Monster

Something about trolls fascinates me. A troll in my first children's book, Atom's Monster, is the
catalyst for change, helping the boy hero to move from fear to courage--though not in the most comfortable way! I wrote the story for my 4 year old son Atom, when he was having nightmares, and found that the story was loved by many 3-5 yr olds.

The troll isn't TOO scary; as Atom says, he "doesn't look as though he eats little boys"! In fact, his beard and patched pants might have reminded the real Atom of his beloved papa.

We imagined trolls in the woods a generation later, when Atom's son was 4 years old, and a very different troll emerged. For one thing, the boy's fears and frame of reference were different.

 I think the troll my grandson was afraid of was based on the troll under the Freemont Bridge in Seattle--a monster bigger than a house! It eats VW's for heavens sake! And to think there might be trolls such as this in our woods--pretty scary!

 He would not go into the woods after that, even with his grandmother. Something had to be done.

Troll; work in progress

The boy's parents suggested he could make friends with the trolls by giving them fish heads, and so a new Troll Story was born.

This troll needed to be scary/not scary. It needed to embody the strangeness and wildness of the woods, but not be overpowering, so  I made it wild and animalistic, but childlike.

The teeth, the fir, the ears, the whiskers, all make it animalistic--almost cat like. Since the family has cats, this brings a familiarity to the troll, making it less frightening.

The big head and eyes, childlike expression, and bare tummy with the belly button showing make it even less threatening. Size is important, too. This troll is actually smaller than the boy.

Troll; work in progress

This story is a work in progress, and I will be showing drafts of it, along with published and unpublished paintings from Atom's Monster and my coloring storybook, Peacock Princess, at the Vashon Tea Shop, during February and March.

Some Character Development

I am learning to use the shapes in a character's face to define a character so that I can make the same character again as well as to give an indication of what kind of person it might be. Traditionally, long skinny triangles and sharp points spell danger and are useful to show a villain, while round shapes indicate friendliness and harmlessness.

By observing these two people closely and analyzing the shapes in their faces, I was able to remember enough of their features to draw them from memory later. The round faced man really did shine with love for everyone. The long faced man did not actually look villainous--just haggard and tired.

With a little more exaggeration, these faces could become a true villain and a truly jovial wise old man, for use in a story.

BTW, the round faced man is a Sufi teacher from Turkey I went to see last night, and the long faced man is his translator.

I'm back! and working hard on character development, life drawing, and watercolor technique.

How do I illustrate the magic of the woods?

Good heavens, it's been nearly a month since I last posted!

If you've been following my watercolor techniques series and I have left you hanging, I'm sorry. It's

January, my time of going inward—and perhaps yours as well. And...well, there's something about getting immersed in Christmas activities and turn of the year introspection that erases last year's concerns. Some of them.

I'm all on fire for new projects and new learnings.

And for delving into projects I've put on hold for years.

Oh, I haven't forgotten you, those of you looking for watercolor techniques.  I'm honing my skills in this medium, which means re-visiting some basic techniques.  Please do come along for the ride!

This year—well, at this moment anyway—I've put aside my painting on silk to focus on storytelling in words and images.  I've stories to tell! Some are mine, some are the stories of people dear to me.

I have much to learn about how to illustrate my stories. How to draw characters so that you can see who they are and a bit about how they think. How to paint the magical/real world my characters live in. How to show you the magic I experience on the beach and in the woods.

my first ever children's book was Atom's Monster

First on the agenda is my upcoming show at the Vashon Tea Shop. I've decided to show some of my progression illustrating fantasy, starting with my book Atom's Monster and ending with my current project, which I am calling “the Troll Story”. This show opens February 5^th at the Vashon Tea Shop, 17610 Vashon Hwy SW, Vashon, WA 98070, reception 6:00pm to 8:30 pm. I hope to see you there. 

I will be showing unpublished paintings as well as published illustrations.

Concurrently, I am developing my skills in figure drawing, character development, and watercolor painting. I have found teachers online, in books, and in the studio.

For figure drawing, I am drawing with Will Forester and Mike McGrath in the studio. Also, I am using Mike Mattesi's book Force as well as his online videos.

For character development, books by TomBancroft are my principle teachers.

I'm honing my watercolor painting skills with Imaginary Landscapes by Toni Smiber, and drawing inspiration from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

I am approaching this as my “art school”, expecting that I will have the discipline to “go to class” with my teachers consistently. Do you mind if I occasionally share here lessons from my studies? You will be exposed to some of my failures as well as successes.

The Holidays are upon us! Every year I need to re-asses what they mean to me THIS year.

I love the many traditions about this time of year; they are all about light--spiritual or physical--coming in a time of darkness. I cannot do justice to any of them here, but here is a smattering with links if you want to explore further. Be sure and add any I may have missed!

• The day Buddha realized the way out of earthly misery and experienced Nirvana is celebrated by many Buddhists on   Bodhi Day, Dec 8th

Golden Phoenix raising the sun, a Chinese Solstice Story

• St Lucia's Day, Dec 13  is a Swedish holiday I love celebrating with children. Lucia--or Lucy, meaning light--is said to have brought food to Christians hiding in the catacombs in Rome in about 300 AD. When I ran an earlychildhood program, we made crowns with paper "candles" and cinamon rolls to bring to the elders.

• Solstice, Dec 21st --I love calling Winter Solstice the day of the Birth of the Sun (Son)!

• Many Sufi celebrate the Urs of Rumi on Dec 17th. In this tradition, the day a saint dies is the day he or she is reunited with the Divine. It is called the Wedding Day and is celebrated as a day of joy!

• Christmas--Some of my friends consider Christmas to be unChristian because the date and some of the customs we still use are based on Roman holidays of Saturnalia and Dies Natalis of Sol Invictus (Birthday of the unconquerable sun).

• Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday celebrating the one days worth of oil that kept the temple light and kept burning for  8 days. Like many other winter holidays, candles are an important part of the celebration.    
• Yule--remember hearing about the yule log?

How do you celebrate the winter holidays?