Gifted AND talented!

Your reality should not be defined by anyone other than yourself. My reality should not be defined by my family, my friends, my political leaders, etc.. We all need the opportunity to be the best we can be. And hopefully we've been given the skills to do that- hopefully we're not too warped by unhealthy situations and relationships to have a good life. We'll see...


Check out the group blog at http://yuletides.blogspot.com/. You can post there too simply get the logon and password and blog like it were your own! Caution: religious posts may be countered with anti-religious posts. (The logon and password are in the comment to this post.)

family and christmas?

Some folks may tolerate their families for Christmas, succumbing to the guilt that everyone needs to be with family on the holiday (never mind that they are not the people you really want to be with). Some may have to put up with their mother's insulting comments about their cooking or their untidy house, their father's pushiness about their work or income, etc. Not fun. My family are all religious freaks- so religious that they think they have the right, even at my age, to disapprove of my life. They expect me, for some odd reason, to submit to their guilt trips and (terrible) advice for my life. They expect- no, demand that I be nicer more loving than they are willing to be. Well at my age, I'm done with that and there will be no forced family niceties where I am concerned. I don't think I owe them anything to them all things considered (see the memoirs below if you're curious).

An Affair to Remember

Not your cookie cutter Christmas fare, but a holiday classic nonetheless. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr celebrate the New Year together on a cruise ship, finding as they do so, that love may have come to late. Deborah Kerr's character memorably says, "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories... And we've already missed the spring!" They arrange to meet later six months later at the top of the Empire State building (the "nearest thing to heaven in [New York]") to see how they feel then but an accident keeps them apart and it is only a moment of circumstance that causes them to meet again, for the last and beautiful time.

Truly, A love story to remember which is why it makes my favorite list.

More Christmas

Christmas has been taken over and subverted by Christianity. It's origins begin long before Judaism or Christianity existed, as early as 4000 B.C.E. when the Mesopotamians celebrated a twelve day festival known as Zagmuth. This holiday was held in honor of MArduk, the god of chaos, who they believed battled the monsters of chaos at the beginning of winter.

Later, the Romans held a celebration called Saturnalia which began in early December and lasted until the first of January. The Romans decorated their homes with garlands and put candles on trees in honor of the celebration. During this period, the Romans would visit each other and have grand feats and exchange gifts to foster good luck for the coming year.

The Roman celebration was probably the inspiration for the latter Christian celebration (as were many other Roman beliefs about god). Constantine, the first "christian" emperor incorporated the pagan holiday into Christianity with the hopes that Christians and pagans would celebrate the feast together.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say "HAPPY SATURNALIA"!!!

source: http://www.historyofchristmas.net/