Advent Calendar Day 3

Day 3 of my Tarot Advent Calendar has arrived and I haven’t fallen by the wayside yet 😀

Yesterday did turn out to be somewhat about food after all. After I’d finished my post, DD insisted we made some gingerbread men…well, families really,  with the nested cutters I picked up at the weekend (men, women, children, babies and dog*). And very good they were too. The remainder (quite a few were consumed) are pending decoration, though DD has assigned herself to the probability that they will get eaten faster than she can decorate them (mostly by her, it must be said :D)

*the dog was from another set of cookie cutters, but since we now have the lovely Dexter, she has decided that no family would be complete without one. And hurrah for that!

In other foodie news, I made a lovely warming veg soup yesterday morning and had it for both lunch and dinner. It made  7-8 portions (there’s still some left) and I’ll share the very simple recipe below* 🙂

Enough of such digression, however, you’ll be wanting to see today deck and the card thereof, so without further ado and cliche, I give you:

Day 3

Since Christmas is not just about the food (well, it is if you’re Polish, but let’s pretend it’s not), but also about gifts (and other vastly more important stuff), I chose a deck that I treated myself to a few months ago, the Alice Tarot. I have yet to have a proper a play and the cards were still in factory order this morning, but after a good casino shuffle, I drew the Three of Wands:

© Karen Mahoney

Nothing immediately springs to mind in terms of gifts, though this card is one I usually associate with new horizons to be explored (perhaps that Venice trip will come to pass, after all, though that’s more old horizons revisited)

There’s also a chessboard laid out in on the lawn suggesting board games. I lack the patience and attention span for Chess these days, though I was passably good when I was young. Maybe a nice family game of Scrabble (not Squabble) or Monopoly is called for over the holidays.

Come to think of it, maybe even some card games – we can all learn to play Tarot properly. I gave a workshop on the history of Tarot as a game a couple of years ago and we played a relatively simple 17th Century French version of the game.

Here are the instructions: Jeu de Taros 1659 🙂

There are also the details of what we’re going to do on the family holiday in Cornwall next year to be planned. New horizons redux.

It’ll be a good excuse for some quality family time and prevent the sprogs heading for the nearest computer/gadget/TV/brain-drain-device too soon** 🙂

**though this is highly desirable when the soporific effects of food and drink kick in and all you want is a quiet nap 🙂

So, what do you think of my lateral thinking Three of Wands associations?

*Warming Vegetable Soup

1 small or ½ large Cauliflower
2 medium potatoes
1 sweet potato
1 carrot
2 chicken stock cubes
vegetable seasoning (I use a Polish one similar to Swiss Boullion)
dried parsley
ground coriander
salt and pepper

Place ingredients in a pressure cooker or large saucepan of water. Cook until tender, liquidise, season to taste and serve with crusty bread (and blue cheese). Enjoy! 🙂