Little Bits of Red



Little bits of red have been popping up all over the place around here.

In a gift from Auntie Jen which is NOT used
as a decoration as was intended, but more like
a doll who sleeps with a little girl.



Ornaments on her little tree from Christmas past.

Stockings hanging on the mantle awaiting

a jolly old elf.

A bowl of candy canes by the front door

as a proffering to anyone who knocks.

Decorations adorn nooks and crannys.

And some hang on a fresh cut tree.

What's that you say? Your children don't play

with your Christmas villages? They don't

build roads and add matchbox cars?

And this little guy and his mate

grace our dining table

and we can't help but laugh.

Yes there are little bits of red everywhere it seems.

Christmas is coming...and soon. And yet, I have a somewhat

hard time reconciling my beliefs, (which are not Christian any more)

with the season of advent and Christmas.

I want Athena to experience the anticipation

and the joy of it all to be sure.

I also feel bad celebrating a day whose very meaning

is something I do not subscribe to.

Last year we celebrated the Winter Solstice and I even

invited my older girls and their families over for

a Solstice Feast, albeit it happened days later at Christmas.

I try to find greeting cards that do not include the word Christmas

in them to send to family and friends.

It is something I am going to have to think more about

in the coming days and years even.

I want to bring joy and wonder to my littlest one

and make it all seem merry and bright.

My sister, who is not Christian either, tells me

she has always celebrated it in a secular way

and always will.

That seems okay to me and yet...

I am looking for something more.

Maybe just a celebration of the end of another year.

Maybe the return of the light.

Or maybe something somewhere in between