When I was a child, Christmas was my favourite time of the year. The excitement leading up to Christmas, wondering what presents I would get, knowing my parents would be in good spirits and less likely to fight. It was mostly a happy time in my household and to be honest, that was the best present of all. Knowing there would be some peace. Being able to pretend that I was part of a loving home, so I wouldn't have to feel so scared.
But all that wasn't real, all except for my fear. Which really isn't in the whole spirit of Christmas. Then I got older and wiser and began to look into the origins of Christmas. Religion never felt right to me, I always felt so out of place in churches, listening to sermons. I could never understand, why we had to come together and worship anything, let alone in cold buildings. When all I wanted was to be outside, in nature.
As I learnt more about spirituality and what it really means, I understood why I always felt so disconnected from the Catholic Church and the Holidays that they have. How they were stolen from my ancestors, twisted and manipulated so that they could be used to try and convert them. Sacred celebrations, that are about our connection to nature, our interconnectedness. It saddens me to see how far we have moved away from that.
As my girls get older, I see how tempted they are, by the bright lights of Christmas, surrounded by people who buy into it. Into this holiday, which has become more about buying, about consumption, about things. All these presents, that people buy, the pressure they put themselves under, the debt they go into, for what? To show that they care?
This whole idea, that material things are a sign of our love. But at what cost? Because it's much more that they money that is being spend, it's the resources that are used, the pollution and waste that is created. All of which, damages the environment. But who cares, right? As long as everyone gets a good present.
I'm also guilty of that, of buying gifts for my girls. When they were younger it was easier to both make and buy them more sustainable gifts, but now, as they get older, especially my two teenagers, it's a little more difficult. Because they want to explore the world more and who am I to deny them of that. I have tried to instil some of my values in them, whilst also encouraging them to connect with their own. With what is important to them.
Today is just another day for us. Solstice was our day of celebration, our day to celebrate the sun, to celebrate one another. But everyday should be a celebration. A celebration of the life we each get to live. To show our gratitude towards those we love and not through gifts, but in how we treat them, how we talk to them, how we show up for them. The things, you can never put a price on. You know the things that really matter, that bring us closer together.
Happy Holidays Everyone.
All photos used in this post are mine.
This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @steemflow by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.
Thanks for the support xxx
I understwnd you on never feeling right with religion as it is usually practiced, or being inside churches, they were never my thing, either. Like you, I would always prefer to be in nature than in a building. I hope that you and your girls have a beautiful last week of the year, @trucklife-family! 😁 🙏 💚 ✨ 🤙
Thanks @tydynrain, hope you have had a lovely week so far xxx