The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. This day has the fewest hours of daylight of the entire year. This year, the winter solstice falls on December 21st. It is commonly the day that winter also begins. Therefore, it is an extraordinary day that must be celebrated!
You can join the nature-inspired festivities in numerous ways. However, celebrating the winter solstice with some bookish activities is exactly what every book lover will adore. So, here are 11 things you can do during the winter solstice to celebrate this special and beautiful day!
1. Learn About the Winter Solstice
The first step to celebrating the winter solstice is learning about it. Luckily, How to Celebrate the Winter Solstice by Thomas Harrop is here to help! This book teaches you about winter solstice traditions and how to celebrate them in our modern-day society. The winter solstice can have many religious and spiritual undertones. However, Harrop knows the value of celebrating the special day while avoiding these themes. Therefore, this book guides you in celebrating the winter solstice by surrounding yourself with music, food, candles, and loved ones.
2. Read in the Candlelight or Next to a Fire
As book lovers, we can all agree that using natural sources of light to read makes the whole experience ten times better. For example, reading outside on a bright sunny day is one of the best feelings. However, since the winter solstice has the shortest hours of daylight, reading outside isn’t ideal. Therefore, you can honor the winter solstice by using other forms of natural light, such as fire. Light a bunch of candles to light up your room or get your fireplace going! It’ll be your coziest reading experience!
3. Decorate Your Bookshelf With Nature
The winter solstice is all about nature. So, what better way to appreciate nature than decorating your bookshelf with natural items? Go outside and grab some pine cones, twigs, leaves, flowers, and branches. You can even add berries and dried orange slices, which are winter solstice traditions. Adorn your bookshelf with the beautiful items you’ve collected from nature. Not only will this make your bookshelf prettier, but it will also allow you to appreciate nature and celebrate the winter solstice! Your bookshelf will be ready for the arrival of winter!
4. Try a Gratitude Workbook
The winter solstice is a wonderful opportunity to focus on gratitude. Gratitude is something that we should be practicing daily, but life can get in the way sometimes. Therefore, A Year of Living Thankfully: A Week-By-Week Workbook to Help You Embrace Gratitude and Discover a Healthier, Happier You by Lois Blyth is the perfect book to guide you on your journey of gratitude. This book features strategies, meditations, activities, and tips that will help you appreciate the kindness, beauty, and wonder that life has to offer. Begin this book on the winter solstice to see your life with brighter eyes.
5. Read Winter Poetry
All poetry lovers can indulge in some amazing poems by reading A Nature Poem for Every Winter Evening by Jane McMorland Hunter. These poems will provide you with the warmth that you’re craving every frosty winter evening. This book features poetry from an array of iconic poets, including William Shakespeare, Emily Bronte, Ted Hughes, William Wordsworth, Katherine Mansfield, and John Keats. There is one poem for each winter evening, which begins December 1st and ends February 29. This book will allow you to find the comfort and joy that lies within the darkest and coldest months of the year!
6. Dive Into Self-Care
We can all agree on how amazing self-care feels. However, self-care feels the best during winter’s snowy months. So, you definitely have to dedicate some extra time to treating yourself to the winter solstice. Self-Care for Winter: Seven Steps to Thriving in the Colder Months by Suzy Reading is the perfect book to get ideas and inspiration for self-care. This book understands how easy it is to enter hibernation mode once winter begins. However, Reading provides you with seven lessons that will help you survive and thrive during winter.
7. Make Winter-Inspired Recipes
Warm, cozy, and hearty meals are the best during the chilly weather. Therefore, you must make a cozy meal that’ll warm you up on the winter solstice. Fortunately, you don’t have to look any further for recipes that are perfect for the special day! A Cookbook for Winter: More Than 95 Nurturing & Comforting Recipes for the Colder Months by Ryland Peters & Small has everything you need. This book features soups, stews, melted cheese, pasta, pies, desserts, and warm beverage recipes that’ll keep you toasty and your spirits high!
8. Connect With Nature
We already know that nature is a focal point during the winter solstice, which is why you’ll be decorating your bookshelf with beautiful items from nature. However, you can take this celebration a step further by connecting with nature. While you are collecting your natural items to adorn your bookshelf, pause and take the time to make a connection with nature. Admire how blue the sky is, listen to the wind blowing through the trees, smell the fresh air, and feel the warmth of the bright sun on your skin!
9. Read a Winter-Inspired Book
Indulge in the winter spirit by reading a book set in the middle of winter. For example, A Winter in New York by Josie Silver is a lovely romance book that captures winter’s beauty. In this book, we meet Iris, who just moved to New York City, and a gelato shop catches her eye. It looks like the same gelato shop in her mother’s old photos. She meets Gio, who tells her the shop may close because he doesn’t know the secret recipe. She realizes that the shop uses the same recipe as her mom. Iris and Gio fall for one another as they run the shop during winter’s frigid months. But things take a turn when secrets start resurfacing.
10. Appreciate the Little Things
With the sun setting so early, you may find yourself feeling that each day has become a blur. However, if we appreciate the “ordinary” things in our daily lives, then each day can become extraordinary. The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary by Catherine Gray will guide you to rediscover the joy that exists in our ordinary lives. You’ll learn how to appreciate a hot shower, a warm croissant, and a chilly day. This book will make you rethink and assess the simplicities that life has to offer.
11. Read a Children’s Winter Solstice Book
One of the best ways to celebrate the winter solstice is spending it with a loved one. Therefore, read a children’s book that explains the winter solstice to a little one in your life! This will provide both of you with an unforgettable experience and memory. The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer and Jesse Reisch is the perfect book to explain the concept of the winter solstice and entertain them with its colorful illustrations. This book will provide you with amazing facts, science, history, and cultural traditions of the winter solstice!
Now that you have these eleven ways to celebrate, you have plans for the winter solstice! That’s right, you are booked and busy for this upcoming occasion. You can’t make any other plans because you’ll be busy reading by the fire, making a winter-inspired meal, decorating your bookshelf, and caring for yourself! Use these 11 bookish festivities to celebrate the quickly approaching, beautiful winter solstice!
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