"And so the shortest day came, and the year died"

[jazzfish]

Joyous Sunreturn to you all. We've passed through the darkest night of the year; from here on out it gets better. Slowly, incrementally, but relentlessly. Until one day you stop and point and say, "That's a crocus!"

I appreciate the sentiment of Xmas, winter cheer and peaceonearth goodwilltoall and such. It's the specific holiday I object to. Traffic. Crazy shoppers. Family Obligations. (A "holiday" I'm required to spend in the company of relatives is no holiday at all.) So I choose to have no particular interest in Xmas, in 25 December. I celebrate the day after the longest night, the promise that warmth isn't dead. Sunreturn.

'cos you never know what next year will bring

This season I celebrate with gaming, gaming, and (probably) more gaming. How 'bout you?

Comments

[isolde-deely.livejournal.com]

mmmm gaming :)

my roommate is so antichristmas, it isn't funny. He allows me to decorate but will not allow any "family traditions" to be created - ie going out for Chinese food with friends on Christmas day. I agree it is over commercialized. I wish I could spend time with family (but that may be because I rarely do :) )

The sun has returned, and the longest night is over. Of course, we haven't had snow here yet, so I cannot say that it will be warmer in the days to come. Winter is such an odd thing in the South.

Probably we will play games, my husband and I will go find chinese food, and game some more

Games !

[jazzfish]

I actually wouldn't mind some decent holiday traditions. I don't like the old ones because they're markers of either my old life or of things that aren't really mine.

It's not about warmer. The worst of the cold is still to come, and then the snow and we were always out shoveling and we'd drop to sleep exhausted and we'd wake up and it's snowing. It's about the promise of warmth to come.

Enjoy the chinese food and gaming. :)

[callendrethe.livejournal.com]

Ah if only to celebrate with gaming.... I get to celebrate with work. The joys of retail this so called "season."

Happy Sunreturn!

[jazzfish]

Blergh. My greatest sympathies.

[plumbob78.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

I sit at home with no car. I do laundry, warp gifts and clean. And try not to be too terribly upset about the $1200 car repair bill I will soon have to pay, or the fact my parents have to come to Arlington to collect me so I can spend Christmas with my family. Also I'm doing a little research towards deciding what my next car will be.

[jazzfish]

Not quite the celebration I'd have hoped for, I guess. On the other hand, hey, excuse to look at cars all day.

[plumbob78.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

Oh, I never need an excuse. :-) What I have now, on the other hand, is a legitimate reason. That's what annoys me. However in keeping with your positive spin. My latest car problem makes buying a new car -- which I've wanted to do for some time -- a sensible decision, whereas before the Jetta demonstrated it was an undeniable cash-sink, buying a new vehicle would have gratuitous excess.

[prehensile-wit.livejournal.com]

And I said, "What's a crocus?" ;-)

[jazzfish]

*halfsmile* I maintain that that is not only the saddest song in existence, but the saddest song possible.

[tulip-tree.livejournal.com]

I just wrote about the solstice parade/celebration we went to here on Friday night. I think it's a great day to celebrate - hope you had fun!

We're doing Christmas with A's parents here, which I also like, but I think the solstice has made it up there on my list of holidays now, too.

[jazzfish]

That sounds like a really cool parade indeed.

My celebration was mostly a solstice candle and a couple episodes of _Due South_, but it was fun. Nice and low-key.

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

I am curious, because I don't think I've ever seen you speak/write on the topic: what about the nature of family makes you participate in unwanted Familial Obligations?

[jazzfish]

I don't mind going a little out of my way to make them happy; there's enough residual affection to last me through a few hours. On rare occasions this snowballs into a bigger undertaking.

[elvenyukiryu.livejournal.com]

I celebrated my birthday (the 22nd) by working an extra long shift on a rather hellish day. 'Course I did get to count 23365 in cash. that was fun.
(Yuki is finally reading all the posts she missed because she was working too much to see the internet)

[jazzfish]

That, um, could have been better. *hug* Welcome back to the land of the working-reasonable-amounts.