12-17-2010, 12:20 PM
I too am no longer too Pagan or too Christian. But.... We wholeheartedly and joyously celebrate the longest day of the year Dec 21st and stretch the Christmas Experience over 3 days Dec 24-Dec 26.
We bake lots and lots of cookies throughout December. The kids like making cut out cookies. This year we made lots of sheep and ducks and snowmen. It is very funny to watch them choose thier cookie cutters.
Our traditions revolve around food and sharing, sharing of gifts and being together. It is a lot of fun. We make alot of our gifts as well as buying gifts from several different thrift stores in the area we live. We also procur stuff from Freecycle.org. And a few items are bought from stores. It is an adventure! We give important gifts on Christmas as well: new snow boots, snow shovel, mittens, scarfs, hats, and coats as well as socks! Socks are a gift that everyone loves (I do not like socks but everyone else does!) And clothes. Usually by Christmas time, the kids pants are too short and they have outgrown their clothes.
This year, my enthusiam waned in October. Now, about 1 week before Christmas, it is beginning to pick up again. This I am thankful for. We try to select the gifts we give based on what we know about the person we are giving a gift to. For instance, last year, the kids and hubby went to the beach and collected heart shaped beach rocks to give to me. I have a set of 12 distinctly different naturally Heart shaped Rocks.
One year the kids found a branch that was perfect for hanging and then decorating. It still hangs in our dining room. I decorate the branch for each season/holiday that we observe. These are the gifts from the HEART. The best kind of gifts.
Many years ago, before I had kids, I spent a year going to the beach and combing the beach for naturally formed beach pebbles with a hole through the pebble. Then I strung 1 beach pebble for each special friend I had on a silk cord. That was before kids... LOL and it was a meditative process for me.
This year on Dec 21st we are making star cookies. A crafty-art project centered around stars-- think glitter, glue, and glamour LOL. And we will eat something Celtic... like an oatmeal casserole or maybe potatoes and eggs.
Then, after we put the wee ones to bed we (the adults) will do a quick meditation centered around the Light of Love in the HEARTs of Humankind.
The Christmas experience, we stretch out opening all the gifts over 2 days. Each person gets time to open their gift with everyone's full attention on them. After a round of gift opening, then we clean up and play with our new stuff. Then, we eat. Put our new stuff away and open another round of gifts. At the end of each round, we each pick a gift to open on Dec 26. This way the day does not become overwhelming and we have plenty of time to experience our new things.
We talk about the Christmas story. The kids go on a treasure hunt for the baby Jesus (I hide the baby Jesus) and then we put the baby in the manger. At this point the kids all discuss how to arrange the 3 Wise Men and the shepherds as well as all the farm animals... It is always interesting. We speak about the Christ that is within us all. We talk about how Santa is the representation of Generousity. The heart of Giving and Sharing. We then speak about Christ and how he is represented by the birth of Jesus. We stress that in our belief system Jesus is a man that is exceptional... we all have this ability to be as exceptional as Jesus. As UU's we then talk about the Other Christs' that have lived upon the Earth. We talk out the Angels and how they are always available to help us if we ask them to. We bless the World with Love. We hug each other. We talk about how to make amends for something we would like to change. And we talk about living our lives compassionately. Each person talks about what it is to act with kindness--- Kindness is the 1st step towards true compassion. We also love to listen to Christmas Songs, watch Christmas themed movies and folktales and remember Happy December memories.
Sometimes on Christmas Eve we go to church. It depends on the Kids and what they are up for. It is always a lesson in herding cats when dealing with a wild pack of Indigos.
fairyfarmgirl
We bake lots and lots of cookies throughout December. The kids like making cut out cookies. This year we made lots of sheep and ducks and snowmen. It is very funny to watch them choose thier cookie cutters.
Our traditions revolve around food and sharing, sharing of gifts and being together. It is a lot of fun. We make alot of our gifts as well as buying gifts from several different thrift stores in the area we live. We also procur stuff from Freecycle.org. And a few items are bought from stores. It is an adventure! We give important gifts on Christmas as well: new snow boots, snow shovel, mittens, scarfs, hats, and coats as well as socks! Socks are a gift that everyone loves (I do not like socks but everyone else does!) And clothes. Usually by Christmas time, the kids pants are too short and they have outgrown their clothes.
This year, my enthusiam waned in October. Now, about 1 week before Christmas, it is beginning to pick up again. This I am thankful for. We try to select the gifts we give based on what we know about the person we are giving a gift to. For instance, last year, the kids and hubby went to the beach and collected heart shaped beach rocks to give to me. I have a set of 12 distinctly different naturally Heart shaped Rocks.
One year the kids found a branch that was perfect for hanging and then decorating. It still hangs in our dining room. I decorate the branch for each season/holiday that we observe. These are the gifts from the HEART. The best kind of gifts.
Many years ago, before I had kids, I spent a year going to the beach and combing the beach for naturally formed beach pebbles with a hole through the pebble. Then I strung 1 beach pebble for each special friend I had on a silk cord. That was before kids... LOL and it was a meditative process for me.
This year on Dec 21st we are making star cookies. A crafty-art project centered around stars-- think glitter, glue, and glamour LOL. And we will eat something Celtic... like an oatmeal casserole or maybe potatoes and eggs.
Then, after we put the wee ones to bed we (the adults) will do a quick meditation centered around the Light of Love in the HEARTs of Humankind.
The Christmas experience, we stretch out opening all the gifts over 2 days. Each person gets time to open their gift with everyone's full attention on them. After a round of gift opening, then we clean up and play with our new stuff. Then, we eat. Put our new stuff away and open another round of gifts. At the end of each round, we each pick a gift to open on Dec 26. This way the day does not become overwhelming and we have plenty of time to experience our new things.
We talk about the Christmas story. The kids go on a treasure hunt for the baby Jesus (I hide the baby Jesus) and then we put the baby in the manger. At this point the kids all discuss how to arrange the 3 Wise Men and the shepherds as well as all the farm animals... It is always interesting. We speak about the Christ that is within us all. We talk about how Santa is the representation of Generousity. The heart of Giving and Sharing. We then speak about Christ and how he is represented by the birth of Jesus. We stress that in our belief system Jesus is a man that is exceptional... we all have this ability to be as exceptional as Jesus. As UU's we then talk about the Other Christs' that have lived upon the Earth. We talk out the Angels and how they are always available to help us if we ask them to. We bless the World with Love. We hug each other. We talk about how to make amends for something we would like to change. And we talk about living our lives compassionately. Each person talks about what it is to act with kindness--- Kindness is the 1st step towards true compassion. We also love to listen to Christmas Songs, watch Christmas themed movies and folktales and remember Happy December memories.
Sometimes on Christmas Eve we go to church. It depends on the Kids and what they are up for. It is always a lesson in herding cats when dealing with a wild pack of Indigos.
fairyfarmgirl
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