Lately I’ve had a strange form of writers block. The kind that makes you want to write everything except what you’re actually supposed to be working on. In between work, studies, attempting to fit ritual and religion into my life, and good old fashioned exhaustion, things seemed to have ground to a bit of a halt.
Fortunately, I was able to get some writing done over at Daughters of Eve and am looking forward to seeing that tone change in print. When I first began writing for DoE, I was in an emotional state akin to wanting to kick someone’s teeth in. Since I was raised better than that, I pounded out my anger and frustration into blog posts. This form of expression acted as a healing balm to my soul, especially as through my writing, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of getting to know some truly amazing pagans.
In the past month I’ve added about 15 blogs to my Google Reader (which is the best app ever. If you’re not using it get on board.) so a lot of wonderful reading has been filling my feeds/inbox. This is a time of many celebrations and I can’t seem to keep up with them all. At some point I’m going to have to get Lykeia to help me work on a an IPad/IPhone app and calendar just so I don’t feel like such a religious slouch. If you want to see some priestly devotion consider heading over to her website. The link is right in her name.
One of the great things about December (besides the glee I get from bringing up the uncomfortable subject of Kwanzaa) are the bountiful holidays during this season. Department stores began preparing for Christmas the day after Halloween. All of the orange and black candy went on sale to make room for chocolates, shaped like trees, and wrapped in green tin foil.
You can smell this time of year in the air. It hangs in the smokey tendrils of burning wood and child-like anticipation. Despite what Fox News may think, there is no war on Christmas as much as there is a general shift from Christmas being wholly religious. This is a time of stuffing one’s face with delicious food, singing songs even though you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, and relying on yourself to create good cheer.
In other words, Christmas forces people to be good company. Any holiday that does that gets my automatic thumbs up. The Dionysia is right around the corner and with that comes another time to offer up my praise and worship in more than just the rushed words before I hit the gym at sunrise.
Some take this time as a period of reflection, so maybe I’ll take a different approach this year and get ambitious and revved up during the winter months. While everyone else is sleeping and looking inward- I’ll be laying plans, getting dirt under my nails, and prepping for the new year. When spring comes around I can stand back a little bit and relax having never lost my groove during the cold.
This should be fun.
Geesh kmart started earlier…Christmas started getting setup in early October! But I have to agree with you that there is certainly a festivness in the air when people aren’t stressing themselves out shopping. Stress takes the fun out of it, and spending yourself into poverty does too! And we Hellenics have our own string of festivals to make the season particularly fun.
LOL and I would love to give you a hand with an app, and see what kind of a mess we can make of it
Oh yeah, I /have/ to call you now that I read this! =P Excellent points all around; especially since I haven’t gotten my “Oh look, Romans has holidays too” post up yet.