blessings on us all

(I wrote this last night but didn't publish it until today)

It's Christmas eve and not being an adherent of either the religious aspect or the cultural extravaganza it's become on the secular side, I am having a normal relaxed evening and my day tomorrow will be one of those rare days in which nothing will be asked or expected of me.

I worked at the store today for my sister who is visiting her family and for who this holiday still means something.  I'll cover for her on Wednesday too.  I'm happy to do it and happy I successfully tracked down several items for people over the last few days.

I missed a couple too.  Like the antique ironing board someone's friend had told her she'd seen.  I assumed she meant the child's metal toy ironing board I had sold the previous week but when the man showed up Saturday and picked up the china cabinet he had bought, there in plain sight was an old wood antique ironing board.

Another day a woman came in looking for antique irons, the kind you heat on the stove.  I knew we had some but could not find them so I sent her to another shop, same vendor.  Later Joe, the vendor, came in and I related the referral.  Then he showed me in his section the two antique irons.

I've been in a pretty good mood since last week after we finished that big job, relief and elation at being finished and feeling pretty good about the product coupled with some pretty nice weather and the general good mood of the population.

Christmas, or at least the last few days before, does seem to put people in good moods and that kind of energy is contagious whether you believe the religious myths or not, good moods are contagious just like laughter, you can't help but be buoyed by the energy field.  

At least that's how I think of it this year.  I don't generally like the Christmas season but I'll save my scroogey attitude for a different post.  While I like Christmas carols, ironically enough, and would sing them with feeling given the opportunity, I do not believe in the divinity they proclaim.

My family is scattered and varied on this night.  I was raised as an Episcopalian, I raised my children as Jews.  I left Judaism behind as I had Christianity before it as my understanding of the divine deepened and matured.  I hold to no religion that defines the undefinable, that tries to hold themselves above all others as more beloved, right, or true.

We are all children of the divine no matter how we express it, no matter what story we attach to it to help us divine the Divine.  Even the atheist is as beloved as the most devout religious follower because each story, each myth is as only one petal of a glorious flower.

So I say Happy Holidays to friends and family as there are many holidays, some ancient, some old, some new, celebrated in the weeks before the end of the secular year.  May you all be blessed in the year to come.