This week my thoughts turned to Yule, well, to be honest, they have been turned to Yule since October began! I drift from Samhain, then on to Yule, in a happy haze. It gets serious when I bring out my Christmas Journal, yes, I do have one! Every year I list presents I have bought as well as the shopping that was done, then write my ‘To Do’ list. I am nothing if not prepared!
I love posting Christmas things in October on Facebook, sit back and witness the howls of anguish and cries of too early! It’s become a great joke. However, for me, it’s never too early for Christmas, I have checked, I am a Yulephile, or Yuletidephile, or Christmasphile! Yep! According to Google, that’s what I am!
As a Goddess loving Pagan, I celebrate Yule and embrace the silence and stillness as we welcome the light back again. I celebrate Christmas too, I love the madness, fun, joyful happiness that it brings. After all, the feasting season that is Christmas is simply a continuation of the feasting season of Yule. Christianity tapped into the Pagan celebration of the birth of the Sun king and substituted ‘Son’! So! I simply love the magic of Christmas!
This week we went to a large nursery near us that I like to visit especially at this time of the year. I whizzed around the shop on my mobility scooter marvelling at the pretty ornaments, the jolly Father Christmases, the twinkling lights. Oh, the twinkling lights! There was a large display of a Christmas village, little houses and shops, a railway line, Christmas trees, skating rinks, and Father Christmas flying across the sky with his reindeer. It was charming and nostalgic, I stayed for some time just looking at it with a soppy grin as people stopped to look too and we exchanged smiles.
I looked at the people standing with me, all adults, probably all middle aged, seeing the wonder on their faces mirroring mine, I saw for a brief glimpse the child within that this time of the year evokes, this is the magic of the season.
I remembered my child within, the one who looked into the night sky wondering at the stars and hoping to see Father Christmas on his sleigh. The child who thought that Christmas was so long in coming, that hugged herself in delight at the prospect of the decorations, the tree and the twinkling lights, but most importantly happy that my darling Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts and Cousins, would be all together with me and my Mum and Dad, where we would spend time in laughter and fun, and the joy of sharing precious time together. I remembered that ecstatic feeling of sheer joy, of warmth, of happiness, of Christmas.
As one lady walked away from the display, she wished me a Merry Christmas. For me the best phrase in the English language is ‘Merry Christmas’. It sums up all that is good in humans, to take time to wish someone happiness. So, this is why I get so excited about Christmas, because Christmas not only holds wonderful memories for me, but it makes me see the best in people.
Now, before I hear the moans of its too commercial or it’s all about money. So what?
Does it stop us enjoying the spirit of Christmas? Does its stop us joining with loved ones to celebrate? No!
So! This Yuletide season, shall we try not to moan, nor gainsay people who are excited of the prospect of Christmas? Shall we try to stop and just appreciate and accept each other as the season should be, with love, kindness and joy, and allow the child within to surface and be full of wonder once again.
Oh, and by the way…….
Merry Christmas!
Blessed Be!
Copyright © Christine Watts 2022
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