those same employees insist to invite you out to the New Year’s party. Makes you wonder how
the Chinese handle the “New Year” being almost two months early. I guess, it is the same for me as I
try to make others understand that my year started two months ago.
But all of these pale in comparison to the family dilemma. I know some Pagans have told me,
when it came to the holidays, they just went for it. That for them, they were quite happy to just drop
the Yule Log on their family and tell them to like it or lump it. I, sadly have to say, just couldn’t drop
the bomb that way, and while that might be seen as chickening out, having always been the outsider
in the family, the last thing I felt I wanted to do was give them yet one more reason not to invite me
back home.
So now, twenty-five years later, I live my life with a holiday hybrid. I take Thanksgiving week off
to travel to my dad’s to visit for the holiday season. At first, I just told him it was because I couldn’t
get off for work and now it has morphed into a family tradition. I can give my family their gifts to open
on their holiday and pick up mine to open a few days early. I just have to remember to call them a
few days after I open them to tell them I love them. As to my house, when the kids were younger, we
started opening gifts on Yule and continued to open them over the next few days. It just takes some
planning, as you don’t want to give them the PS4 game before the game system. I leave up the decorations beyond Yule – making them instead part of ritual to help the sun find its path back north.
As to the employers – most seem happy not to have another person off that they have to find office
coverage for; so having a day or two off beforehand is helpful to them.
It still creates other problems. When my daughter, Shadow Fairy, got married, she had some
difficulty when her in-laws didn’t let her open presents on Yule. To that end, my wife and I used it as
a teaching moment for us- to learn to stay out of her disagreements with family. Instead, we just send
a few small presents for her and the grandkids to open early – she uses it as “a way to keep the kids
calm and away from the tree”.
In the end, I guess it’s no different from the families who have to arrange the holiday kid schedules with ex’s. After all, it isn’t so much the exact day as it is the season. While I am sure the Druids
had some exact way to say exactly what day this and that was to happen, I am sure they also had to
deal with times of struggle and strife when those in the next village couldn’t get through the snow
storm on time, and they were okay if they had to wait a day or so. Or maybe it is just something I hope
is true to help me get through what is always a stressful, but wonderful time every year.
Take a look through some of the other articles in this issue, which will help you to not only find
some ideas of how to address the holiday conflicts, but more than that, it’ll help to show you that you
are not alone in trying to cope with this Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
Brightest Blessings This Winter Season!