This Year, I Was Questioned About Christmas:
I was stunned that more than usual my stepdad's family was interested my own personal practices of celebrating Christmas this year.
They wanted to know exactly WHY I do not put a tree up inside my house. The answer was short and simple. I do not put a tree up inside my house and decorate it because I have two clever wire chewing, ornamet destroying, tree climbing and tipping cats and a toddler or two. This equals disaster and possible harm or death. This answer didn't seem to be satisfactory to their curiousity.
So then, they asked "What Santa brought this year?" More plainly it was the classic, "What did YOU get?" so that I can compare how much you spent on gifts to my own gift giving expenses question. I answered honestly, Santa does not come to my house. We celebrate Christmas with family in three parts; 1. my mother and stepdad and his kids, 2. my step dad's extended family, 3. presents and cards in the mail from my father and his family, as well as my mother's family.
So then someone asked me the most shocking question of all, "Are you a Jahovas Witness?" A WHAT!!! NO, way!!! I'm a spiritualist and a wiccan. My spiritual and religious beliefs are different than most, but they are intact and my own. My husband shares most of these same beliefs. We are content to raise our son with these beliefs, until he's old enough to decide what his own beliefs are.
I celebrate Christmas in my own way. I was raised to belive in Santa Claus and his whole idea and concept. I just do not celebrate the figure of Santa Claus, but rather the ideas and principles of giving gifts from your heart to others. My husband does not belive in the concept, idea, or figure of Santa at all. The gifts are usually something that they need, or want that will make a difference to them and their quality of life. A gift of compassion, love, and happiness verses loads of bling, spending beyond my means, and keeping up with trends or what's hot.
I was also raised with baptist/christian/catholic views of the meaning of Christmas. As I got older I began to studying many different kinds of religions and spiritual beliefs in a journey to discover what I truly believed in. Therefore, my present religious beliefs are very different than what they were when I was a child. My beliefs are a culmination of spiritual and wiccan beliefs in regards to my life, my spiritual energy, my family, and the world around me.
Unlike most people, I celebrate Christmas year round. Not just on 12-25 or in the month of December. I give gifts to my son year round for any and mostly no reason at all. Things he needs, wants, and actually will play with/use more than once. My husband and I are the same in that we give gifts that are meaningful, useful, and practical year round to eachother. I do the same with my friends and my family. Christmas lives in my heart all year. This is different than the mass marketed and the Christian view enforced idea of Christmas. However, the concept and idea of how I celebrate Christmas is similar. I just embrace it all year and in my own way.
I'm not surprized that my own extended family and now my extended step-family doesn't get it. It's been that way most of my life. However, My husband's family does seem to embrace some of our ideas and beliefs without question. Even though their beliefs (Orthodox Russian Jewish) are different that those of my husband and I (Spiritual and Wiccan), they really do not seem to care. In fact, the love of family for family prevails over everything with his family. I can only hope my own extended family and my step-family will learn to embrace this idea in time.
N-E-Way, that's just me and who I am. I'm not afraid to be different and live life in my own unique way, often.
They wanted to know exactly WHY I do not put a tree up inside my house. The answer was short and simple. I do not put a tree up inside my house and decorate it because I have two clever wire chewing, ornamet destroying, tree climbing and tipping cats and a toddler or two. This equals disaster and possible harm or death. This answer didn't seem to be satisfactory to their curiousity.
So then, they asked "What Santa brought this year?" More plainly it was the classic, "What did YOU get?" so that I can compare how much you spent on gifts to my own gift giving expenses question. I answered honestly, Santa does not come to my house. We celebrate Christmas with family in three parts; 1. my mother and stepdad and his kids, 2. my step dad's extended family, 3. presents and cards in the mail from my father and his family, as well as my mother's family.
So then someone asked me the most shocking question of all, "Are you a Jahovas Witness?" A WHAT!!! NO, way!!! I'm a spiritualist and a wiccan. My spiritual and religious beliefs are different than most, but they are intact and my own. My husband shares most of these same beliefs. We are content to raise our son with these beliefs, until he's old enough to decide what his own beliefs are.
I celebrate Christmas in my own way. I was raised to belive in Santa Claus and his whole idea and concept. I just do not celebrate the figure of Santa Claus, but rather the ideas and principles of giving gifts from your heart to others. My husband does not belive in the concept, idea, or figure of Santa at all. The gifts are usually something that they need, or want that will make a difference to them and their quality of life. A gift of compassion, love, and happiness verses loads of bling, spending beyond my means, and keeping up with trends or what's hot.
I was also raised with baptist/christian/catholic views of the meaning of Christmas. As I got older I began to studying many different kinds of religions and spiritual beliefs in a journey to discover what I truly believed in. Therefore, my present religious beliefs are very different than what they were when I was a child. My beliefs are a culmination of spiritual and wiccan beliefs in regards to my life, my spiritual energy, my family, and the world around me.
Unlike most people, I celebrate Christmas year round. Not just on 12-25 or in the month of December. I give gifts to my son year round for any and mostly no reason at all. Things he needs, wants, and actually will play with/use more than once. My husband and I are the same in that we give gifts that are meaningful, useful, and practical year round to eachother. I do the same with my friends and my family. Christmas lives in my heart all year. This is different than the mass marketed and the Christian view enforced idea of Christmas. However, the concept and idea of how I celebrate Christmas is similar. I just embrace it all year and in my own way.
I'm not surprized that my own extended family and now my extended step-family doesn't get it. It's been that way most of my life. However, My husband's family does seem to embrace some of our ideas and beliefs without question. Even though their beliefs (Orthodox Russian Jewish) are different that those of my husband and I (Spiritual and Wiccan), they really do not seem to care. In fact, the love of family for family prevails over everything with his family. I can only hope my own extended family and my step-family will learn to embrace this idea in time.
N-E-Way, that's just me and who I am. I'm not afraid to be different and live life in my own unique way, often.