Mrs. the Poet and I are going to visit relatives all day tomorrow so I won’t be home to make a post. So I’m doing the Merry Christmas post a day early.
December is like the biggest month for holidays as most cultures in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate the winter solstice in one form or another. The Romans had Sol Invictus, and Mithras born on the 25th, and Saturnalia also celebrated on the 25th. We also have Kwanzaa, and Festivus as cultural secular celebrations (and I heard some seriously heated Airing of the Grievances this year). This was the time of year when perishable foods were starting to go bad and had to be eaten, or shortly thrown away and wasted so better eaten than wasted. This would include the last of the meat slaughtered at Samhane, as well as any veggies that would not remain edible after exposure to freezing temperatures. This was the time of year to eat it before it went bad, and boy are we holding up that tradition.
Then we have the exchange of gifts, which I don’t know the true origin for other than “I made this for you, so can we not try to kill each other this Winter?” because people spent a lot of time together this time of year. So I promise not to kill anyone who sent me something for Christmas this year, but the rest of you, you have to sleep sometime 🙂 Just kidding, I don’t have the time nor energy to hunt everyone down, so you get a reprieve. And since it wouldn’t be fair to only kill the people I can get to, everybody gets to live.
Last year the Grandson got a bike, so this year he gets bike accessories. He asked for a basket and a bell, so I tracked down pretty much the only basket that would fit his bike, and the loudest most obnoxious bell I could afford which considering the bells sounded better the more expensive they got means the second cheapest bell was the winner this year.
Witch on a Bicycle 