Now that we’ve settled back home and had the chance to relax into our white Christmas stillness and peace, it’s given me a chance to integrate our recent time away and the impact of our Winter Solstice celebration I mentioned in a previous blog post.

While journeying out East in Vermont, we enjoyed a different kind of Winter immersion and deepening exploration, visited with some of Dave’s family who joined us there, and had the opportunity for a first-time meeting with a dear soul friend whom I’ve only known by distance and across the Cosmic dimensions.

It’s the latter that I share this post about because I feel that it speaks to some of the themes that feel important and the values that are enriching to our lives, as we navigate these very unusual times.

At the end of our holiday getaway, we were gifted the sweetest and warmest gathering that made this year’s Solstice unforgettable and part of the nostalgic memories I’ll always hold dear. The experience was full of all the warm fuzzies, love, tenderness, kindness, giving, sharing, joy, wonder, faerie magick, and peace that are so special to me and speak to the simple, yet profound pleasures that human existence offers.

It’s these very things I feel we would benefit from focusing on and sharing more of – the kind of stories and experiences I wish were broadcasted as priority in the world rather than the ones we’re bombarded with.

I won’t go into all of the details of our experience, but hopefully my brief share will help bring to light what I mean and some of the photos captured of our time will do the rest, energetically.

Although the world wide web and technology can sometimes be a distraction leading us away from things like Nature and some of the more simple ways we used to experience life, it’s also provided us opportunity to connect with soul family we would otherwise never have chance to and do things like work from home and so much more. It’s because of the internet that I’ve had the pleasure of growing relationships with so many of you and found those hearts I feel home with.

As a brief background, Desiree and I met online a few years ago. I had no idea she was following my blog until one day she reached out via email and poured from her heart how this all came to be and what it meant to her. Not too long after, I received a heart-warming, hand-written letter and hand-made gift in the mail. Our connection was evident, and the timing was aligned with support she needed that we’d obviously soul-contracted ahead of time to come together for on several levels including full Reiki training and beyond. It was an instant activation of sorts on both ends, and things elevated and expanded in warp-speed time for her because it was all divinely guided and aligned by the courage she had to reach out and say “yes” to what was coming through.

I am keenly aware that most of the connections I’m experiencing these days are rooted in alignments of star family missions across the Cosmos. It speaks to the conscious ways we are becoming aware of our multi-dimensional selves and recognizing something beyond this experience that these connections light up.

Over the last couple of years we’ve shared a sweet bond that extended to her human family and Dave and I were ever-so sweetly adopted by her children as honorary Auntie Tania and Uncle Dave, even though they have a large family already. We’ve shared Zoom calls and gifts from coast to coast.

Dave and I only have one niece, so the addition of five more nieces (Desiree has seven children, but five are still at home) has been a huge heart-warmer for us. We feel a great honor that they’ve chosen us to be such a big part of their lives and it truly has brought a lot of sweetness to ours as well. The stories we hear from them make us giggle with delight. It’s been especially sweet to see Dave so touched by this experience – he even keeps their drawings they send him at his desk.

I have always felt that blood does not alone make family, but love shared between soul connections is just as bonding. I’m so grateful and feel blessed to have such an incredible soul family that extends to sisters, brothers, and beyond, across the Earth. It’s amazing to me the love, tenderness, and support I share and feel with people I have never met in this life, or have limited contact with. And yet, they are people I hold so dear and in some cases could trust my life with.

I don’t always have the chance to meet everyone in person that I share a strong bond with – at least not yet! – but when I do, it’s always such a divinely aligned gift that feels written in the stars as to the when and how without even having to try.

We, as a collective, have so many opportunities to know and experience family, friends, and love in ways beyond what we think…and that includes with souls residing within animal bodies, or Nature herself and all of her children.

Desiree is one of them and her family has become part of ours as well. They are lovingly known as our Vermont Faerie Family.

Fast forward to the present. When we knew we were headed to Vermont, divine alignment unfolded and pointed to our getting to share a visit on our last day there. And it was no wonder that the Winter Solstice portal would be the access point for our gathering at the Vermont Faerie Family’s Cottage.

It was all like a faerie tale come true with us arriving at their doorstep, which resembled an enchanted gingerbread home at the North Pole. Desiree and her family went all out to make our day together so warm and full of love and magick. But this wasn’t an extraordinary thing for her, as she makes every-day life extraordinary down to the finest of details.

So, while we were greeted by an old fashioned Christmas tree decked out in freshly baked, iced gingerbread cookie ornaments and woodland bliss, gourmet vegan extravaganza feasts, wood burning fire, peace-filled music, pure energy and love, and sparkly fresh everything, this was all simply the way their family is every day of their lives.

Even their cat, Storm, who was curled up fireside on the couch and their dog, Jack, who greeted us, came along for a hike, and centered himself within the festivities, were both like sweet characters stepping out of the faerie tale along with them. Storm recognized a kindred kitty spirit in Dave right away.

I later discovered that one of Desiree’s sweet daughters caught our reunion on camera and it went a bit like this:

As you can see, Desiree stepped out in her socks to greet me – unaffected by the cold and wet snow, due to the warmth shared in our hearts.

And from the moment we stepped out of our car and into this time-out-of-time space created just for us, we were spoiled through and through beginning late morning into early evening.

The day kicked off with her famous and ever-so delicious vegan beignets (I think we all overdosed on these and we lost count how many we each had) and perfect gingerbread cookies she and the girls had decorated. The beignets just kept coming and we just kept eating them!

Look at those faeries in action, brewing up a storm of goodness.

After fun and enlightening conversations, learning about their heart-based and simply beautiful way of living in harmony with their land with a light and mindful footprint, a tour of their adorable tiny house/cottage they built themselves (with incredible stories of every piece of special and unique wood and detail poured into it), and getting the privilege to see the personal drawing journals each of the girls shared with us and hearing about their loves and hobbies – seeing through their eyes what means so much, we then set off on a hike in tummy-coma-bliss to make room for the next round of food.

I got to finally see all of the sacred trees, giant mother and gate keeper quartz, faery portals, and special areas she had told me about that reside and watch over their 15 acres of land.

And then she and the two youngest girls took us on a hike up the hill, across a meadow, and to the river where we were greeted by an enchanted world of ice faeries and pristine energies that was incredibly activating and soul-nourishing.

And upon returning to the warmth of their home, it was time for opening gifts, which the girls kept asking about since the moment we arrived. They couldn’t wait to see our reactions from the special items they’d each picked out for us.

This was such a sweet share of intentional and meaningful exchanges that touched everyone’s hearts. You only get one first time of meeting in person and so we all made it extra special from start to end.

Dave and I were so moved by the showering of sweetness we received and how each of the girls had so thoughtfully picked out the gifts they paid for with their own allowances and knowing just what Auntie Tania and Uncle Dave would love. Two of our special gifts that made our hearts swell were these adorable t-shirts.

We sent the photo below to the girls when we got back home. We’ve been living in these shirts and our Vermont flannel organic cotton tops and lounge pants we picked up on our trip, since returning home. Dave has the matching shirt to my pants and some lounge pants of his own, but I was giving them a spin in the dryer after Christmas snow got them wet.

It wasn’t so much the gifts, but the love, intention, and true desire to touch each of our hearts in the way only one who is giving so deeply and purely from their own can do.

And they also knew exactly what we loved in terms of yummies to enjoy, with every snack and meal item being perfected crafted for us and made with so much love and organic, fresh goodness. Desiree is vegan too, so she knew all the ins and outs of cooking things we love. And she found incredibly decadent touches including things like vegan cheeses from Canada that we don’t get here, since they’re so close to the Canadian border. So we got to sample a lot of new yummies.

We all loaded up on snacks of a variety of crackers, cheeses, hummus, grapes, and other goodies while dinner was being finalized. Desiree made us vegan southern foods as the main meal – her husband is from Louisiana and gave it all the authentic thumbs-up approval! It was so delish! The perfect warm and comforting food to match the mood of our gathering.

I’m not sure how we had room for the finale, but there was no way any of us were going to miss out on her famous Raw Vegan White Chocolate and Raspberry Ganache Cheesecake with Macadamia and Cashew crust.

Everyone was beyond excited for mom’s creation, as you can see….and just look at that mischievous smile only one of the Fae could make.

I’d been hearing about this for ages and now we finally got to sample it….speechless.

I would say it was all a dream and perhaps it was just that…childhood dreams manifested…my imagination and the surreal made real…demonstrations of how we create our own reality despite the realities being presented around us. We all got to experience a bubble world of our own creation that reflects the things we love and value most. It speaks to what’s possible and what’s most important.

By the end of the evening we were a blend of decadent food and love comas nourishing from the inside out, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. So much synergy, flow, sweetness, and remembrance was shared and many more nostalgic visions and feelings were added to my repertoire of memories that call up the things I value and love most.

There are many incredulous details of both the day we shared and what’s unfolded up to it that I’m leaving out, as they are ours to experience. But what I hope to convey I imagine can be read between the lines…the richness that lies within our hearts to experience with each other and on Earth in these human bodies. The true meaning of life…of Christmas…of the bonds that transcend time and space, definition, and conditioned ideas…of connection and sharing.

I felt so much peace and comfort…the in between moments held stillness like the purity of snowflakes falling with their whispers of magick almost deafening in the most beautiful of ways…and that always indicates to me the resonance of home….the definition of which I mean to span to that feeling of Cosmic residence that is a frequency experience within the vortex of the heart.

I think all of our hearts expanded three sizes from the tangible love that filled the room – think Grinch and the visual of his heart exploding out of his chest when he discovers:

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more?”