Mid-Winter is a tricky time of year for me.
Firstly there’s all that nonsense about Christmas being warred upon. People get up in arms about the strangest of things – who really cares what sort of paper cups that Starbucks is using?
It’s annoying and amusing at the same time.
Then there’s all the hoo-har about what we should be saying:
“Merry Christmas!”
“Happy Holidays!”
“No, it’s Christmas…”
“It’s not just Christmas, there’s:
Saint Nicholas Day (Christian),
Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican),
St. Lucia Day (Swedish), Hanukkah (Jewish),
Christmas Day (Christian),
Three Kings Day/Epiphany (Christian),
Boxing Day (Australian, Canadian, English, Irish),
Kwanzaa (African American),
Omisoka (Japanese),
Yule (Pagan),
Saturnalia (Pagan)…”
“We’re a Christian Country everyone should be saying Merry Christmas!”
That conversation is always more annoying than amusing, because it drags way too much religion into a season that should be more about Family and Love than which version of god you worship.
Then the Seasonal Affective Disorder hits – the dark mornings and short days, coupled with predominantly cold and damp weather make me feel depressed, ill, irritable and definitely not festive.
I grew up as an Anglican, which meant that I went to church carol services like Christingle and church christmas parties. I sang the carols and bought into the stories that were told… it wasn’t until I was a lot older that I realised it wasn’t the religion I wanted to be a part of.
But I still loved the music and the happiness that the carol services seemed to bring to the children at that time of year.
After I met TOH, we spent Christmas with his family and for several years we had holidays full of music, wine, family and fun… until his mum left us and although his sister tried hard to keep it going, the holiday fell apart.
For a while it was hard to keep the festive feeling going. We managed to do Christmas itself, mainly for our kids sake. Being in Guiding helped because we’d do carol concerts and christmas activities.
After we had so many problems with housing and finance, TOH and I decided that we’d celebrate what we called “Satyulemas” – this starts on the 17th December (Saturnalia), takes in Yule on the 21st (Astronomical Midwinter) and covers Christmas on the 25th Dec, then finishes the day after my youngest Daughter’s birthday.
So this year, I’ve decided to start a new tradition –
Three of these books have homes to go to… but the fourth one (signed & dedicated) is going to be going to the winner of my Satyulemas Competition!
There will also be E Book Copies for four runners up.
All you have to do is comment on this Blog post with your favourite, book related, Mid-Winter Holiday Memory.
The competition will end by midnight (GMT) on Satyulemas – 17th December 2018 – the winner will be notified by email, so don’t forget to leave a contact email!
Feel free to share the news – I want to hear about everyone’s memories and hopefully make a new one for someone!
The World of The Teigr Princess 
Difficult isn’t it? Facebook friend & fellow writer posted recently that she ‘loathes’ Christmas! It is an utterly problematic time. It’s silly: in the middle of a dark, cold, depressing, season, everyone is required to shop till they drop, give and attend parties, perform plays, sing carols, travel across country and maybe continents to be with family members, send cards, and generally expend extra energy. And catch each other;s seasonal illnesses. It makes a mockery of the various) religious bases for this, by being a time of spend spend spend when people can run up debts and when the really desperately poor and the homeless really have the message of their being ‘left out of all this by circumstances’ really hammered home. We are planning, as when I was a child, a very plain Christmas with a moderate Christmas feast and trying to be happy and friendly without the BIG stuff which obscures the bottom line reason why Christmas is there. I remain a believer in the Christ who taught compassion, healing, wholeness, inclusiveness, justice for the poor, etc – and feel a lot of empathy with everyone who ‘loathes’ what Christmas has become, and those who look around and choose alternatives… This is not a ‘Christian country’ (I’m not convinced such a thing can or ever could exist – it’s not about political boundaries – though it would improve politics … ‘seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God …’) Have happy season!
PS I am using part of my comment, partially changed, on my blog … writing it helped me sort out my own feelings on the crazy commercial lunacy!
I understand what you mean – I’ve had problems with the commercial side of things for years; and that’s why I decided to do the competition – I’m not looking for anything more than people interacting with other people and enjoying the season the way it should be.