I’ve also had issues with celebrating “Christmas”. I grew up in a home and in a church that didn’t recognize it as a religious holiday, so calling it that and even celebrating it has seemed weird to me as an adult. We didn’t celebrate as a religious holiday for many reasons and it has always irked me when people refer to Jesus as the real reason for the season and act like I’m wrong for NOT celebrating Jesus’s birthday (of course we clal nkow that he wasn’t born in December). I think what has always gotten to me the most is that Christmas, or Christ-Mass, is a Christian made holiday to help convince Pagans to convert. Basically, the church stole the holiday frmo the Pagans.

After much thought and talking with Pagan friends of mine, P and I are now celebrating Winter Solsitce instead. We will continue to celebrate this holiday rather than Christmas and we will pass it on to our future children and grandchildren. I plan to teach them about the origins and traditions as well as research any traditions that might be specifc to Celtics. I found this Winter Solstice celebration guide from circlesanctuary.org and MoonChildren has several different links about Winter Solstice, the celebrations, the origins, and all that jazz. When looking at the origins and celebrations last night, I realized that THIS, not the C word is the holiday for us. I am already planning our Solstice celebrations, including giving something back. We will be donating to an environmental group as part of our giving back this year. I want to do the candle ceremony, the wreath, the yule log if possible and most everything listed on the celebration page.

I am also researching about being Christian and Pagan or if that is even possible. I am so interested in Paganism, its beliefs, origins and traditions. I have been referred to some great books that I plan to possibly buy so that I can learn more. I’ve been interested in Paganism for a long time, just have never taken the time to actually research it enough.

So, I hope all of my blog readers have a wonderful Winter Solstice and I promise to post more about our celebrations when we have them