Bluntly put, I loathe Christmas. The whole Christmas season.
Well, not exactly. But the only two parts I like are family time (without the delusions of perfection) and the religious aspect of it, and those are the parts our culture tends to de-emphasize in favor of holiday parties, holiday delusions, and stuff, stuff, stuff. Since we got relatively prosperous and I handed the holiday over to H and his folks almost 10 years ago now, my kids think Christmas does, in fact, come from a store. It drives me CRAZY.
I’m not against them getting presents. I am against that being the whole focus of the holiday. THIS year, my Pagan self would very much like to put the Christ back in Christmas.
So I’m hunting recommendations for Advent activities that we can do ourselves (because Pagan-y Aspies and church do not mix) that are interesting to reasonably bright kids aged 16, 10, 8, and 5 that emphasize the Nativity story and provide an opportunity to engage with it (something visual or tactile, and don’t take too long thus leaving time ina busy evening to TALK about the whole thing instead of just rushing through the activity).
Any suggestions?? Ideally, I’d like it to cost less than about $30 a kid and involve minimal travel, because frankly after a day of work and school nobody wants to get in the van and drive around. We’d rather be curled up at home, watching a movie or listening to a story or doing an activity and talking.
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"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
05 Nov 2017, 8:58 pm
