Christmas Season Among Us Heathens

So what does a pagan do at Christmas time? We celebrate just the same as everyone else, depending on our brand of paganism. Just like any religion, there are many different versions and levels of intensity.

Being a relaxed kind of person (except when I’m in stress mode), I take a relaxed sort of view on my religion and what rules may be involved. The biggest rule, which I have found among pretty much every religion I’ve looked at with any depth, is the Golden Rule. In case you live in a cave and don’t know this rule, it’s “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Don’t even say I took it from the Bible. It got started somewhere and like many Christian things, was most likely robbed from some pagan teaching somewhere.

As for Christmas at Christmas time, this is another prime example of a pagan event stolen by the Christian church and morphed into a celebration of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s really the Winter Solstice. Yep, a pagan observation. I could go on, but that’s not why I’m writing tonight. Anyway, it’s OK for me to celebrate at this time of year, because the timing coincides with the Yule Tide celebration and Winter Solstice. You may have noticed several other religions observing important celebrations at this same time. Hmmmm…

I’ve already mentioned my cute little Mylar tree. (I found a wreath that suited me, by the way. It’s not iridescent Mylar, but it’s not red and green, ether, and it’s very natural looking.) Under my tree are two packages. One is from my best friend, the other from my other best friend, my sister. Ann’s package is still in its FedEx packaging. I was instructed to not touch it until Christmas, except to put it under the tree, and that’s what I’m doing. The cats may have other ideas… Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…there’s a string hanging off this package…

My best friend also sent me some stocking treats, so I went back to the room of death and found the Christmas box again and dug out my stocking, filled it and set it out. I’ve purchased some canned food and catnip mice for the fur bellies. I can’t set their stockings up until Christmas Eve, though. They’ll tear the stockings up trying to find the catnip. I thought about buying them one of those kitty condo things, because I know they’d enjoy it. Money won out and I bought noodles or something. I forget now. Oh, maybe it was the beer. I promised a friend I’d have decent beer when he came home from Iraq. I still have to earn forgiveness for having cheap beer for the people who helped me move. He’ll forgive me eventually. Hey, he’s a hasher; he’s supposed to be used to cheap beer!

On Christmas, I’ll probably go hang out at Deb’s in the late morning after I’ve given the kitties their treats and opened my own presents. My friend Rick is having company over and feeding everyone in the afternoon, so I’ll probably wander his way and have dinner. It’s not in my nature to not offer help, so I’ll probably bring some food of my own to share. I’ve wanted to try my hand at brochette. (That’s not the right spelling, but spell check doesn’t have it in Italian, and I can’t remember the right way.)

Since McD’s is closed Sunday for the holiday, Summit is closed Monday, and I only work McD’s on Saturdays and Sundays, I get two whole days off. And this time it’s not a sick day! I intend to enjoy this to the fullest. By that I mean, I’M NOT DOING A DARN THING I DON’T HAVE TO DO!

Everybody have a safe and happy holiday.