I love Christmas, from LBJ (Little Baby Jesus–not Lyndon B Johnson) to mistletoe…
But taking our religions path into consideration, the mistletoe affinity is understandable and LBJ, not so much. I sort of agree with the hubby’s assessment that the Christmas story is a “tedious (we differ on the tedium assessment) load of BS”, but really, the Christmas story no more a load of BS than any other myth. And the veracity of a story has never been the point of myth. Whether it is the celebration of hope fulfilled by one night’s oil lasting for eight, the hopeful promise of a baby boy, or hope in progress as we wait for the sun to rise from it’s longest sleep, the three holidays of Hanukkah, Christmas and Yule represent a similar theme: the celebration of man’s greatest gift (or according to my interpretation of another myth, one woman’s greatest gift to man).
To be honest, if I could celebrate any of the winter holidays, I think my preference would be for a Longest Night celebration à la Jacqueline Carey’s Terre d’Ange…drinking joie and reveling in masqueraded soirées. Too bad modern society has eschewed the fantabulous balls and glorious clothing of yesteryear… Instead we have rampant commercialism, unabashed greed and a thousand different fattening foods staring you down at every turn.
This year we celebrated Yule at home with a simple meal, a simple ritual (because the kids wouldn’t handle anything else) and an early visit from Santa…because, if you think about it, Santa is the the ULTIMATE wizarly sort of fellow. For the past two years, that has been the extent of our winter holiday celebrations…but now we have moved back home…and so, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my father and step-mother, Christmas Day daytime with my mother, step-father and brothers and finally Christmas Day evening at my aunt’s with the extended family. Next year its the hubby’s family’s turn, so we will be taking an 8 hour roadtrip with the kids…and the dog.
I think I would just be thankful for something that didn’t include running a pair of toddlers around to a half dozen different locations and praying they A) don’t draw on someone else’s walls, B) don’t ruin their outfit between places, and C) don’t have a total meltdown from overstimulation.
Add to that the massive cleaning effort for the New Year, and I need a nap.
…and maybe a maid–after all that trouble, the house is already messy, and I don’t have the urge to clean up after two kids, a dog and a husband AGAIN.
