On this Winter Solstice -- some thoughts about Christmas

A very happy Yule to all who observe the Winter Solstice.

We're having a very toned-down Christmas this year. We're not buying a tree for the first time in my life. I'm not going to decorate. We're also giving almost no gifts this year, because the crazed consumerism around the Yuletide season makes me sad and anxious. I just want to unplug from that and curl up in my own little world of warmth and friendship.

Lately, I've been questioning the very ethics of buying ANYTHING that we don't really need. It's been preying on my mind that last couple of months, that buying handmade is just as wasteful and feeds our addiction to mindless consumption just as handily as buying anything else. I hasten to note that I am as addicted to consumption as the next North American (and I'm a natural-born entrepreneur) ... but it increasingly bothers me.

I am going to church on Christmas Eve, to sing "O Holy Night". I have had my issues with my particular church for a while, too (great, eh, consumerism and religion -- just don't get me started on politics :) so I'm cautiously optimistic. Or cheerfully apprehensive. or something. I dislike sentimentality and cant -- it's too easy and too cheap, especially at this time of year. I'm afraid I'm going to get both, in spade, but I'll try to stay positive.

We are going to have a nice big meal, with family and friends: turkey and everything that I think should go with turkey. A friend is bringing a trifle. My mum'll be there. My guy'll be there. We've got two great cats and we're going to adopt two more kittens. I think that's about all I need, really.

Who knows, maybe after decades of spiritual searching, I'm really a pagan after all?