Dec
Handling Their Holiday
Many of us today will be spending time with relatives who are not Heathen. They will be involved in the whole Christmas thing. There will be the extravagant gifts and the noise and the family dinner. It’s their thing, after all. You are just a visitor observing someone else’s holiday.
Sometimes the issue of belief is dragged up, and some folks still cannot get used ot having a Heathen in their midst. Things maybe be said that you find offensive or just plain stupid. The more the egg nog flows, the more likely such things will be uttered. Do not react automatically. Think it through. There is no need to make a scene. After all, it is their holiday, not yours. They can be idiots on their holiday, if they so choose. You need not join the idiocy.
As a Heathen, your job is to show some class. Maintain dignity in how you handle things. Remember that you are Heathen. On this day, Heathens bring dignity to what would otherwise be a garish show of excess.
**************
Maybe you are estranged from your non-Heathen relatives. Maybe you live far away and are unable to visit. Maybe you have lost the folks with whom you spent holidays. Whether the reason is hostile or benign, it can still feel sad. Christmas is not your holiday, but it might have been a large occasion for your family. It reminds you that you are distant from loved ones.
There is no magickal cure for the holiday blues. All you can do is remember that it is just another day. Many people have the same kind of situation as you. If you can’t be with the people you love, then enjoy it with the people who are with you now. It works like the line from the old song: If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.
Heathens can have the holiday blues just like anyone else. If your holidays are sad rather than glad, know that you are not alone in this. The same holidays that bring joy to some are a burden to others. If things are sad, then make every effort to ride them out with as much dignity as you can. And if your holidays are happy, be grateful and spread the joy.
