Celebrating the Holidays, My Way

Yulemas, as I like to call it, is a hodgepodge of traditions and holidays in our home. I was raised non-denominational celebrating secular Christmas and now celebrate Yule as a Pagan, and the hubster was raised Christian celebrating religious Christmas.

So, when you come to our home during the holidays, you'll find deer all over, lot of candles, a manger scene made by Joe's youngest sister, Santas and of course, the popular in both circles symbol of the season; the tree. Which, we don't just have one of.

Because we figure if we've got space for two, let's put up two! One is the fake tree we bought when we got our first apartment together – it gets displayed in our bar/lounge area and has a woodland theme with browns, golds and greens. Our other, is the carefully chosen sacrificial tree – the real tree, and is displayed proudly in the living room where it is adorned with all sorts of lights and a crazy mix of ornaments that we pilfered from our parents (our childhood favorites), bought each year or picked up as tokens from our travels.

Our Souvenir from Jamaica.

If I had the space, I'd have a tree in every room of the house. But alas, my house and my furniture just don't seem to want to cooperate with my plans.

As for the actual celebrating, we celebrate both Yule and Christmas (hence Yulemas season). We celebrate Yule in a low key manner, with dinner, fire, love and maybe a small gift. I celebrate at the altar or, weather, permitting, outside – bearing witness to the changing of the seasons and the returning of the light on the longest night. Christmas is a more glittery and glamorous affair, filled with all kinds of presents, food and sometimes, when we travel, extended family. This is the holiday we celebrate with our families, since they all celebrate Christmas.

Sometimes, being the lone Pagan in the family can be lonely business, but it is what it is and getting to celebrate multiple holidays isn't exactly a bummer. Plus, throughout all of my man ordeals and feelings regarding this season as I've grown up, I've always loved Santa. And so, I celebrate that jolly spirit on Christmas and the earthy woodland spirit and the warm fire on Yule.