I thought I was the only one. The only Pagan who converts to Judaism every year from November thru January. The only one who thinks the worst insult to Christmas is all those stores yapping about how many shopping days we have left. The only one who secretly thinks that Scrooge wasn’t bad, just misunderstood. Now I know that there are others:
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters Life!) – The holidays are a time for fun, food, family, gifts — and stress, with more women tending to suffer than men and turning to food, booze and the couch to get over the holidays….
“Women report a bigger increase in stress of the holidays …Many respond to stress by eating more, drinking more alcohol or “being a couch potato…â€?
Sisters, I understand.
I got in touch with my inner Scrooge one dark December when my workplace went into an escalating spin of compulsory cheer and mandatory gift-giving. I trudged through Job Lot spending money I didn’t have on ugly plastic trinkets made by sweatshop laborers in China. Who has room for this stuff anyway? I got totally depressed thinking of the soulless factories where human beings spend twelve hours a day making singing bass. And then the wrapping — at 2:00 in the morning taping my fingers together, covering the rips and wrinkles with stick-on bows. By then I’m almost hallucinating, trying to remember what was in which package and who the heck I thought I could fob that snowman pencil-holder off on.
That Christmas was food frenzy season. Everyone brought sweets to work. You can resist that disgusting cheap chocolate for hours, but sooner or later you’re going to eat it if it’s there — the stress gets to you. It’s a good thing we don’t have a holiday where we bring guns to work. Not yet.
As I was running around frantically, stuffed with too much food and fighting with crowds of shoppers, the homeless guys were camped out on the State House lawn. I stopped to talk with them a couple of times, and pressed some money and gourmet chocolate on one man who was living in the freezing cold in a tent. He didn’t want to take it, but I had to give it to him. I was so depressed I had to redeem myself somehow. That year I hated Christmas.
Now I tolerate it. Tolerance is a virtue. Also, we’ve all come to our senses.
My large family decided to simplify our gift-giving and everyone is happier. My current job requires one Secret Santa present, which is manageable, and the social stuff is kind of nice. I always did like the socializing.
That’s the good part of being a Pagan. This year I’ll be celebrating the Winter Solstice going out with friends and having a good time. For Christmas I recommend buying presents for the little kids, who get really excited, and relaxing with the adults and enjoying their company. And this is a good time to do something kind for someone in need. Remember the little baby Jesus.
When I was a kid in Catholic school we heard a lot about the real meaning of Christmas. The nuns would tell us not to be so materialistic and obsessed with our toys. That was before the War on Christmas. Now we know it’s all about demanding a ‘Merry Christmas’ from every store clerk we meet or they won’t get a penny of our Christian cash. You won’t hear the Christmas Warriors telling us to be less greedy, they have to answer to their sponsors.
It gets to me, it makes me thank the goddess I’m a Pagan. No one can buy or sell the fact that after the Winter Solstice the days will gradually begin to get longer. You don’t need to take that on faith, it’s in the Almanac.
This year I’m actually enjoying the season. It’s strangely warm but people are putting colored lights around their houses and there’s lots of parties. There’s Hanukkah and Solstice, as well as Christmas, and if you go into a funk when the days get short, and slow down and procrastinate, there are later holidays. First there’s Kwanzaa from December 26 through January 1. Then there’s Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 6. There’s Tet, on February 17, and Chinese New Year on February 18. You can keep the holiday spirit going until Spring and keep the lights up until March. Which is nice because they’re pretty.
Happy Holidays. And send your Christmas meltdown stories. You’re not the only one out there.
Recurring Nightmare 
Nice essay, Nancy. I, too, am one who gets in touch with his “inner Scrooge” this time of year and who believes that the miserly fellow was not well understood. Indeed, I cannot help but wonder if Mr. Scrooge was actually Jewish (or at least half so, on his mother’s side) and had been forced to deny his true faith in order to appease his unloving father and to fit in among his Christian peers. It might explain a lot.
The following link also explains a lot, at least psychologically, about Scrooge:
http://www.perryweb.com/Dickens/work_carol_analysis.shtml
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Kind of on-topic, but I watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas” with my daughter last night.
It’s way too easy to get caught up in it all and forget what it’s really all about. It takes a really strong person to wade against the majority tide. There’s a crucial moment when Martin Luther stood up to the Catholic Church and declared that he was right and the whole Church was wrong, but most of us probably don’t have that kind of conviction.
Speaking of Jewish…when did the idea of a present for each night of Hannukah come about? I’m a cultural Christian, but I’m not wholly ignorant about Judaism. Is it my imagination, or did the present-a-night thing start recently? Like, in the last ten years recently.
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