{"id":31,"date":"2004-12-25T13:29:57","date_gmt":"2004-12-25T18:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/?p=31"},"modified":"2004-12-25T13:29:57","modified_gmt":"2004-12-25T18:29:57","slug":"the-holiday-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/polyamorousmisanthrope.com\/wordpress\/2004\/12\/25\/the-holiday-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holiday Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published at<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.polyfamilies.com\/misanthrope20041225.html<\/em><\/p>\n

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Well, honestly? I think a lot of people who complain about not having any holiday spirit do so because they don’t feel that they’re festive enough<\/strong>, rather than accepting whatever level of festiveness they happen to feel at the moment. I mean, you’re not going<\/em> to feel wonderful just because it happens to be a holiday.\u00a0 — Me, in a conversation with a close friend<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mama Java, she loves Christmas. A lot<\/strong>. It’s her birthday, and she was named for it, after all.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ve known a lot of people who don’t like the holiday season. In spite of my own love of it, I can understand. Christmas, by its name, is considered a Christian holiday, and the non-Christians often feel overshadowed. They don’t get the day off for Solstice, or they feel sick of the manger scenes, their religion doesn’t necessarily have all that big of a winter festival, the menorah lights have been cold for days<\/em>, or the family gathering where they’re getting picked on for their religion. That’s no picnic.<\/p>\n

Then there’s the commercialism, the pressure<\/em> to buy and buy and buy, and the wondering how you’re going to afford all this, the fear that you’re going to leave someone important out on your gift list. You feel guilty if you get your kids too little; feel guilty if you give your kids too much stuff<\/strong>. You get loaded down with knickknacks that mean nothing to you.<\/p>\n

Then there’s the hectic schedule<\/strong> — the holiday concerts and parties and visits to and from relatives. Relatives. There’s a can of worms all in and of itself! You feel guilty if you don’t go to see people you’re related to. You feel guilty if you do<\/strong> go and aren’t thrilled.<\/p>\n

It can be a real mess.*<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

I really do think that we often (myself included) miss the real meaning of the season — no matter your religion or lack thereof.<\/p>\n

I have always thought of Christmas as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.<\/p>\n

— Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol<\/em><\/p>\n

Do we always do this? Of course not. We’re human beings and we’re not perfect. But to me, the holiday season, what with the light coming back at Solstice, the anticipation of a rebirth and renewal of spirit is a time to remember and recommit to open the heart, to honor the ties we value, and to be open to what really matters in life — the love that we do hold for people in our lives.<\/p>\n

What are some things one can do to honor the actual spirit of this time of the year?<\/p>\n