Tag: holiday

2024 Holiday Pep Talk

It’s the day after Thanksgiving as you’re reading this. It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving as I’m writing this. And it’s time, finally, to start celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.

In theory.

I have never felt less holiday spirit than I do this year, you guys. I cannot begin to tell you. I feel like Charlie Brown. There must be something wrong with me. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel.

Of fucking course I don’t. It’s November 25th and the high for today is 51 degrees. No fault divorce is under attack in America, safe and legal abortions are in jeopardy. It’s about to cost more to buy literally everything and a wrestling promoter is about to be in charge of our country’s education. So yeah, deck those halls or whatever.

Frankly, I don’t think it’s fair to say things are about to get bad. Things have been bad, my friends. They’re about to get worse.

Now, as far as I see it, we have two choices going into the holiday season. We can say fuck it, drink our way through the holidays, and half-ass everything. Or, we can do whatever we can to bring ourselves and the people we care for joy.

Despite my bitching and (more than usual) swearing in this post, I plan to do the latter. Because this is not the first hard holiday season I have faced. And I have learned a crucial lesson from the losses and crises that I’ve survived.

Multiple things can be true at once. I can be sad and thankful. I can be scared and hopeful.

I’m worried about the future of my library. And I’m excited about all the events they have planned for the holidays. I’m afraid our grocery bill is going to balloon, and thankful that we have food in our house. I’m afraid for all of my friends in the LGBTQ+ community, and thankful to have them in my life. I’m worried about my husband and grandmother’s health, and happy I get to share the holidays with them.

This has been a hard year, personally and globally. But it hasn’t been all bad. I have lots of things to be grateful for.

My husband went to the hospital several times and we had some scary moments. But he is still here with me.

I relaunched Woven and published book five of Station 86.

I’ve experienced growth in my faith and have a better relationship with God than I ever have.

I have had a hundred beautiful, wonderful, wildly unexpected moments of joy this year. People have been kind to me, or I’ve had the opportunity to be kind to them in a way that enriched my soul.

My little hometown is becoming vibrant and alive. Rather than stores closing down, stores are opening up.

My witchy community is growing, and I am meeting sisters and brothers to share magic with.

We can hold both of these things at the same time, our sorrow and our joy. It is the only way any people have ever survived dark times. Being happy for the holidays doesn’t mean we don’t care about people suffering or that we aren’t suffering ourselves. Being sad about the state of things doesn’t mean we don’t feel gratitude for the good things and beloved people in our lives.

Be kind to each other, but more than that be kind to yourself. And don’t waste a second of your time on anyone who is trying to take your joy away from you.

Merry and Blessed and Happy everything. Find joy and solace in all the good things you can and all the good people around you.

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Holiday books that aren’t romance, part three

Holiday books are one of my favorite parts of the season. I love reading next to my electric fire with a cup of tea.

The problem is, I hate romance novels. I hate those meet-cute stories where people hate each other and then fall predictably in love. And I hate that so many holiday books are just these fluffy, vapid meet-cutes with some strategically placed Christmas trees.

Hunting holiday books that aren’t romance has become a festive pastime. I’m sad to say, that if you read the last two installments of this series, I only have one new book that I’ve read. But, I do have three new books that have piqued my interest. So today, I thought I’d share with you my Christmas reading wishlist. These are books that I want to read. If you want to read them with me, I’d love to hear what you think about them.

By the way, here is part one, and part two of this series.

Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davis

This one I actually did read last year. And I was surprised to find out that the book came after the well-loved movies.

Just on the off chance you’ve never seen the movie, either the original from 1947 or the remake in 1994, Miracle on 34th Street is about an overworked single mom named Doris. She’s overseeing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade when she realizes that the guy they have playing Santa is drunk. Fortunately, an elderly gentleman named Chris is there to save the day and take over the role. He does such a good job that Doris hires Chris to be Santa in the Macy’s store.

Chris is doing a great job until it comes to light that he thinks he really is Santa.

A soul as cold as frost by Jennifer Kropf

What if St. Nicholas was really a young, mad trickster and you had the one thing he wanted? What if the only person who agreed to protect you from him had a dark past of letting those he’s meant to protect die? What if one day you’re walking in the city and suddenly you can see a whole other world tucked into the cracks of your own?

That’s the description of this book from Amazon. I stumbled upon it while browsing Instagram. I can’t wait to read it. I love that several people have compared it to Chronicles of Narnia.

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

This is literally a book about a bunch of gods getting together to bump off another god, Santa Claus. Oh, and for a while Death has to be Santa because he’s too important to not be around. What’s not to love about this?

Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett

I started reading this book already, because it asks a very interesting question. Why did Jacob Marley get to come back and save his friend Ebenezer? And why didn’t he get the chance to be saved by the three spirits himself?

I can’t wait to find the answer. I also apparently can’t get enough of this story, short as it is.

As always, if you have a holiday book I should add to my TBR, please let me know. I’m always looking for new holiday tales. Happy holiday reading, everyone.

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Your holiday pep talk, 2023

It’s official, the Christmas season has begun. Not the holiday season. As far as I’m concerned that started on October first. But everyone’s got their own opinion about what constitutes a holiday, I suppose.

But one way or another, here we are. Thanksgiving is behind us in the States, and today is traditionally Black Friday.

As a former retail worker, I hate everyone who’s shopping today.

But that’s not why we’re here today. If you haven’t guessed or if you’re new, this is my yearly holiday pep talk. Because the holidays are a fantastic magical time of the year, with a whole bunch of buts and unlesses.

But you have to see family you don’t want to see. But you might be missing people you can’t see. But you might be the person in your house who makes the holidays happen and that’s a lot of pressure.

Unless you find yourself alone. Unless you’re sick. Unless you have negative memories attached to the holiday. Unless you’re too broke to celebrate the way everyone else appears to be celebrating.

So here, as always, is my holiday pep talk. As always, I need this reminder as much as anyone else.

You deserve to enjoy your holidays

Now, I mean this in two ways. One, you deserve to enjoy whatever holidays you celebrate.

In my house, we celebrate Christmas and Yule. The darling husband has his birthday in December, so that’s a whole thing. And my best friend is Jewish, so I at least need to be aware of when that is and cheer on her celebration.

Whatever you’re celebrating, celebrate it. Celebrate it loud, and post pictures online. Especially if you celebrate something unusual, please tell us about it. There are like fourteen holidays this month spread out over cultures and religions. I want to hear about yours.

But when I say enjoy your holidays, I also mean that you should celebrate too. You’re probably spending a lot of time right now making the holidays perfect for the people you love. And I get it, I am too. But you deserve to enjoy yourself too. You deserve a nice holiday season. You deserve to get a gift you want, eat the holiday food you like, and take some time to reset. In short, don’t make it all about everyone else. Make it a little bit about you.

Make it look how you want it to look

I am so sick of pink Christmas that I could just vomit on the next cotton candy-colored tree I find. So no, there’s not a single pink ornament in my house. There is also no tinsel. My tree is a hodgepodge of mismatched ornaments collected over the years. Some of them are homemade, some are store-bought. Being a Christian Witch, some of them are pagan. I’ve got a pentagram ornament right next to the Charlie Brown one.

My house is full of handmade decorations, mostly made out of wood and yarn, and that’s exactly how I like it.

Some people like that matchy holiday look. Some people want everything to have a theme. Some people still have all their grandmother’s ornaments. And some people do like the pink Christmas thing.

It doesn’t matter. Make your home look like the holidays to you. It doesn’t have to look like someone’s Instagram influencer fantasy. It just needs to look like your home, exactly how you want it to look.

Make it make sense to you

I am not the only person to ever say this but do not compare your holiday season to those online. Instagram is everyone’s highlight reel. And most of those shots aren’t realistic.

Your holiday needs to make sense to you. It needs to be realistic for the life you live. For instance, a lot of my breakable ornaments are staying in the box this year because we have a new kitten in the house. I work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I’m not planning any big meals. We don’t do a lot of baking because the Darling Husband is diabetic and I don’t need to put away a batch of frosted gingerbread cookies myself.

More than once a year.

Make it make sense to you, your family, and your life. The holidays are supposed to be a celebration, not a burden.

You are not alone

Finally, remember that you’re not alone. Everyone is stressing out about the holidays. Everyone thinks they’re not doing enough, not decorating enough, not buying enough gifts, not sending enough cards.

You are doing enough. You’re probably doing too much. And no one feels half as confident about the holidays as they seem.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. I hope that you love every minute you have with your family and friends. I hope that you enjoy every meal you have and that you read a ton of good holiday stories. I hope you watch every special you want to watch and skip all the ones you hate.

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Give this gift to yourself today

This post is going live on Christmas Day, 2020. As I write this I’m looking back at the year we’re getting ready to leave behind. 

I don’t need to tell you what kind of year it’s been, you know. We’ve all lived it together. And it’s hard to not come to today without some amount of regret. 

We regret that we couldn’t be with our families. 

We regret that there’s not a lot of gifts under the tree.

We regret that maybe we’re just barely making ends meet. 

We regret that we might have had to take another job. Or leave a job because it was just unsafe. 

Insert your regret here. We’re going to do something together today. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Maybe grab a cup of tea, too.

Now, write down everything you wish you’d have done better this year. Everything you regret doing or not doing. Every single thing, big or small. 

Do you have your list? Great. Now you need a candle and a fire-safe container. Fold your paper up, and set the damned thing on fire. Let it burn, then flush the ashes.

Because we need to let that shit go.

This is the gift I’m giving myself today. I’m letting go of my regrets from 2020. It was a hard year and we got through it. Now, it’s time to leave all our baggage behind and move into 2021 free from it. 

2021 can be a time to learn. We can be better as a community, as a society, as individuals. We can choose to make 2021 brighter.

Let this be the gift you give yourself. Forgive yourself for doing what you had to do to survive. Let it go, and thrive now. 

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