01/12/2026 by Shannon Day

Recentering

Greetings:How is your center? I have daily gentle yoga and gratitude practice that feels so important these days to help me ground. I also return to a couple of resources that Reverend Peg introduced me to years ago. She told me about the webpage, Good News Network, which helps reinforce my hope. She also shared about the Insight Timer app, where I continue to enjoy wonderful guided auditory meditations, calming ocean sounds and cello music, and spiritual poetry. In RE, we offer mindful and embodied practices for children and youth to learn to quiet their minds and let go of

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01/06/2026 by Shannon Day

Storytelling

When my family first visited Westside 14 years ago, there were so many things that stood out to us: welcoming vibes, excellent programming for children, Westside’s inclusivity for our 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and wonderful stories!Do you love telling stories? If you do, or you’re curious abut it, we hope you will come to our annual Storytellers Guild Annual Meeting and Workshop on Sunday, January 25th at 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm. In our UU tradition, we create a space during Sunday Service for a really cool liturgical element we call the Time for All Ages (TFAA). Mostly, this is a time

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12/23/2025 by Shannon Day

New Year Traditions

Do you have any New Year’s Eve or New Year Traditions?My family has made New Year resolutions, jumped into Lake Washington with thousands of others for Seattle’s New Year Polar Plunge at Mathews Beach, toasted sparkling cider, and watched the ball drop in New York on a laptop so we could get our son to bed early when he was little. Now, we have a noise-sensitive dog and we usually have a movie marathon going while we offer Willow snuggles, reassurances, and prescribed veterinary medication to help soothe her through the neighborhood fireworks of New Year’s Eve.For the last several

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12/22/2025 by Shannon Day

Happy Holidays

We hope you and your family will join us for one or both of our upcoming multi-generational services for the winter holidays. Multi-generational Sundays and holiday services are different in that the children stay in the pews in the sanctuary for the service with their adults.These services generally have more movement, musical breaks and singing, and shorter times for adult speakers. They are wonderful for inviting your friends, extended family and chosen family to join in. We will be featuring an optional RE activity table in the back of the sanctuary with a couple of types of crafts: clothespin dolls,

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12/11/2025 by Shannon Day

Our Whole Lives

Greetings: Our Whole Lives (OWL) is more than sex ed—it’s a program that helps kids and teens build confidence, explore values, understand relationships, and navigate life’s changes in a safe, supportive space led by trained staff and volunteers. OWL welcomes families of all backgrounds. To learn more about the OWL program in general, click (link) on the Unitarian Universalist Association website. This church year, Westside Families have two opportunities to register for OWL for a couple of age groups at two of our neighboring UU congregations. University Unitarian ChurchOffering OWL grades 7-8 (ages 12-14). Info session on December 14 with

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12/08/2025 by Shannon Day

Child Dedications

Greetings: We would like to have a child dedication as part of our service on Christmas Eve.  In the UU tradition, one of the things we celebrate on Christmas is the love and hope born into the world with every child, and the importance of offering gifts of blessing to the children of our community.  A child dedication is a short ceremony where parents and other caregivers stand with their child at the front of the sanctuary, and the community offers a blessing of care.  Child dedications are often done with infants or toddlers, but are not

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11/25/2025 by Shannon Day

Meaningful Movies: ‘Remaining Native’

Greetings: Have you gone to one of the Meaningful Movies at Westside UU Congregation? This Sunday November 30 at 10:30 am in Westside’s Sanctuary, they’ll be showing ‘Remaining Native’ a film for Native American History Month.The 1hr 25m film is a coming-of-age documentary told from the perspective of Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a college athlete as the memory of his great grandfather’s escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future. For over 100 years, the United States made violent efforts to strip Native American children

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11/18/2025 by Shannon Day

Trans Awareness Week

“Every part of you is sacred, including your gender and sexuality. As UUs, we not only welcome LGBTQ+ people, we celebrate the full diversity of gender and sexuality as a spiritual gift. We build inclusive communities and work for justice and equity as a core part of who we are. All of who you are belongs. All of who you are is welcome.” This quote is from the UUA resource page for LGBTQ+ adults, youth and children and their parents and caregivers. Link. I was heartened to read the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President’s, Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, statement “joining

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11/12/2025 by Shannon Day

JIGLPET (sounds like Jigglepet) Origins

Greetings: JIGLPETs are a fun away to remember our UU Values: Justice, Interdependence, Generosity, Love, Pluralism, Equity and Transformation but do you know where they come from? They come from us: input from more than 10,000 UUs, from years of discerning, work, listening sessions, discussions, and many drafts encouraging inspirational, poetic, creative language. You can read my 2024 report on the UUA bylaw change here. Later that summer, I was listening the VUU a UU Talk Show that featured Rev. Cheryl M. Walker and they were talking about how to remember our UU values. Rev. Cheryl said what about JIGLPET

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11/05/2025 by Shannon Day

Cozy Fall Vibes

Greetings: How are you and your family doing with Seattle’s dark wet weather? I’m all about cozy hobbies and habits. What are your favorites? I love sleeping to the sounds of rain on our metal roof, hot tea or hot cocoa while reading a book, or listening to an audiobook while doing arts and crafts. We’re bringing cozy goodness to RE this month with card making, sewing & embroidery, tea with teens, and pumpkin play clay making. The full RE calendar is in the newsletter below so you can save the dates. Looking forward to seeing you and your family!

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