I hope that everyone gets a chance to spend time with their family or friends today. :)
For the past few weeks I have been a little bitter about Christmas. I wanted to be able to see my Dad this Christmas (I haven't spent Christmas in Florida since 2008) but tickets were really really expensive and I didn't think I could get the time off from work anyway. I ended up with the time off but no Florida, and thus I was bitter about spending the holiday alone.
I backed my bitterness with the knowledge that Christmas is based in pagan tradition anyway- Saturnalia, the Roman holiday of debauchery and drunken folks, the winter solstice, the sun god birth of some middle eastern god... and then even our traditions are tainted: Nordic pagan traditions of burning a Yule log for fertility, the Christmas tree being a symbol of fertility also, and other things... (Christmas was banned in Boston at one point because it was celebrated as a excuse to get belligerent and drunk for two weeks at a time) and I feel that the reason for Christians to celebrate Christmas have nothing to do with the way that we practice it today. Thus I was determined not to celebrate Christmas much to many of my friend's dismay.
I broke down. Amidst all the present buying that my friend's were doing to show that they cared to their family and loved ones, the holiday propaganda everywhere, and one room mate's determination to make the house as festive as possible I decided that although Christmas really has very little historically to do with Christ I would participate. I went out and bought Christmas presents all on one trip and received an invite to a friend's for dinner. Tomorrow I will spend the day at my place having some "me" time and in the evening I will head over to my friend's to eat and be merry.
But to properly and historically celebrate the holiday (of course) I did buy a bottle of wine. :P
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