The Pagan Mom Blog

The weather this winter is seriously messing things up badly. Usually we will get our nasty weather in March. And when it comes it is mostly in the form of ice. This is bad enough. Once in awhile we get snow but it has never been enough for us to make a snowman or even wet enough for it to stay together.  We got 15 inches in December, 10-12 this last weekend. And you know what???? MORE is coming next weekend? Not sure on accumulation but just thinking about the possibilities is enough to anger anyone. If i lived up north I would totally expect this. But I don’t and that entitles me to a little bit of whining. You see next weekend I am supposed to be in South Carolina for a knitting event. This was super important to me because one of the classes I signed up for was a designing class. I want to design my own prayer/meditation shawls and hopefully sell them on the side. So this class was really important! Some of you may wonder what all the fuss is so here is the issue. First off I don’t drive well in snow. I can do it but I reserve it for when I must and walking is too far and I am not driving more than 15-20 minutes. Greeneville is 2 hours away. Secondly we always have ice with our snow. No one can drive on ice, I don’t care what they say. Thirdly, to get out of Asheville means going down mountainsides. No matter which way I go it is a must. The grades are seriously steep. They have special runoff roads for truckers in case they lose control. My own car slows down trying to make it up the grade. Coming down means almost constantly braking. Imagine hitting a patch of ice? Yea, I am not happy about this. I may try to go just Sunday, that’s the designer class. It isn’t supposed to actually snow on that day so the roads might get cleared up.

Along with all of this snow comes alot of school closings. This won’t affect Beltane as I will pull my girls out of school for that. But it could mean they will be in school most of June at this rate. As of now they have to go to school on Good Friday. That has quite a few people up in arms but really it makes me happy. For one we don’t do anything for Good Friday. Secondly Easter comes right around tax deadline and Good Friday has always thrown a wrench into the workday. Now I just need to get someone to take Lil Man off our hands so I can work. Especially now that I am doing the work of two people instead of just my own.

So there was my whining. It will all get worked out, it always does.

So, like many other people, I am just irritated at the overwhelming amount of Christmas stuff being shoved in my face. It actually started 3 weeks before Halloween. Not so much commercials but stuff in the stores. I would look for a Halloween section and see a 6′x6′ area for it next to two complete aisles of Christmas stuff. Since Nov 1 my tv has been threatened with it’s life.

So in my effort to enjoy an upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I decided that I would unfollow and boycott anyone touting Christmas stuff on Twitter. Now I understand that some of them target international people as well….I just have the option of not seeing it in my stream. This has ticked off a few and that is ok. They have a right to post their ads and I have the right to get rid of it from eyesight.

So I wanted to take this a step further. I decided to boycott any products or stores touting Christmas sales. I apparently didn’t think this through. It started with Glade. Well that’s not too bad, I don’t buy their stuff anyway. But then came Target and Kohl’s. Now Walmart is on the list (oh the irony since I applied for a job there!). QVC joined today but they won’t miss me either. I am starting to see that I am going to run out of options to shop for, not that I need much anyway since I shop all year long.

It just bothers me that people get so caught up in the commercialism. It’s not like I hear anybody talking about what they are going to make for Christmas dinner or planning a caroling event in their neighborhood. It’s all about what am I going to get Junior that will make him think I love him. Christmas is so much more than just presents. Obviously if your religious it has a spiritual resonance. But for the non-religious it’s about being with family and having fun. I have always made our Yule/Christmas celebrations a month long event with crafts and good deeds. We keep presents to a minimum. I try to make memories for my kids. I grew up in a home with materialistic people. None of my memories were about being with them or getting presents…..all of my memories  are about spending time with the family members who made it special. The meals and the time we spent engaging with each other (which did not include my immediate family as they are lacking in the ability to engage with each other).

I think if more people spent time planning what they were going to do to enjoy the holiday instead of what they were going to buy, I could handle all the Christmas hub bub. Until then I am going to continue whining while I plan out how to stake out the best spot at our Holiday Parade on the 21st. I need the best spot so we can see it all AND get a hold of hot cocoa quickly.