Readers must think all I've done lately is cook and eat (and I'm not saying you'd be wrong), what with me mostly posting recipes on Mmm Mmm Mondays. I've wanted to blog more and also not wanted to blog more. I thought I was getting used to my new work schedule, but then The Holidays rolled around. We kinda sorta celebrate The Holidays. Our holiday activity isn't that much, but then add to it things we wouldn't normally do bco the holidays if things were just left to us, e.g., office parties, grab bags, etc. I'm sure I've said it before, but I'll say it again if only bc I can: I wish Christmas were more like Thanksgiving.
I've probably also said this before, but maybe we need to make the holidays more meaningful to us. When you don't practice the religion of The Biggest Holiday of the Year, it feels kinda funny. I wouldn't mind celebrating the winter solstice bc longer days are surely worthy of celebration. But then we'd celebrate the solstice, except not on the solstice, unless that were on the weekend, but rather on Christmas Day, which I think would make it feel like a separate-but-equal holiday. It doesn't help that I don't think Christmas should be a national holiday. Longtime readers will understand that it's bc I want more separation of church and state in this country. I think it's time to end that business about religious holidays being national holidays, but I'm sure I won't see that happen in my lifetime.
And I certainly don't want to come up with some substitute celebration just to have something to celebrate on Christmas Day bc that would just feel silly and fake.
Ugh. Fie on those people who originally snatched the winter solstice celebration from pagan celebrants and rebranded it for their religious/political reasons! And a pox on those who have turned the Christmas holiday into The Christmas Industrial/Commercial Complex! I really don't want to see businesses go out of business. I understand that lots of businesses rely on the Christmas retail season for much of their success. But it's just so overwhelming and stupid and unnecessary and so many negative things. Hey, I like gifts as much as the next person, perhaps more, but I can purchase and receive them w/o the onslaught of commercialism that comes around this time every year. And it's not like Christmas unilaterally brings out the best in people, like some contend. What is it that goes on in peoples' minds that make them decide a) that it's a good idea to stand outside WalMart, in the cold, from 9:00 PM on Thanksgiving evening until the store opens at whatever ungodly hour it opens the next morning and b) to fight other people for stuff?
Back to alternative celebrations. What to celebrate? I'll have to think if there's a way to celebrate the winter solstice w/o it feeling silly. The end of the calendar year is, of course, a good possibility. Similar to the solstice, it represents change, the turning over of a new leaf, a time to reflect and look back on the year, etc....all that positive stuff.
Maybe there's a cat-centric holiday we could celebrate. How is it that there doesn't seem to yet be a holiday just for and about cats? I bet if I look into Egyptians and their cats, I could find something suitable.
It seems like I grumble like this every holiday season. Perhaps I should resolve to figure out something better for next year. As an aside, Frank over at Frank Notes is not resolving to do anything, but is going to make changes. I used to be big - too big - on resolutions: making way too many and making overly ambitious ones. I think 'change' instead of 'resolution' is a good idea. Resolution is very much tied to the New Year, although one can, of course, make a resolution at any time. Same thing with making a change, although the idea of change being a constant suggests, at least to me, continuous evolution and, one hopes, improvement. So perhaps, in the words of that famed artiste, I need to make that change.
Well, listen up, peeps, I gotta go get ready to meet some friends for dinner and spread my personal joy around. Plus, I gotta get showered and dressed and do something around the house so that Kevin doesn't figure out that I spent yet another one of my days off doing absolutely nothing.
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