What is Blogmas? It’s a “tradition” where bloggers write a post every day in December celebrating Christmas and the Christmas season. I won’t be able to post every day, because it just takes too much energy, but I’m going to try for every other day – I’m going to call it “Spoonie Blogmas!” 

… I Discuss Why My Posts May Be a Bit Different from Some of the Other Posts

Dan and I at Blossoms of Light – Chatfield, 2016

Thanksgiving through New Year’s is my absolute favorite time of the year! I love the holidays, all of them. There is just a warmer feel to this time of year, despite the temperature dropping outside. People, in general, get happier. Families feel more cohesive. The decorations make everything feel magical! There is fantastic food everywhere (even though I can’t eat it all), and special, seasonal dessert recipes come out! Fires can be built in fireplaces thanks to the dropping temperatures, and the cozy sweaters and blankets get brought out of storage! And then there’s hot cocoa and apple cider! Overall this time of year is completely magical for me. (And now that I live in Colorado, it usually even comes with winter snow!)

Now, this next part is complicated… and a little scary, honestly. However, I feel it needs to be said this time of year. For many people, this time of year is extremely religious. If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time, you may recall this post: “I was raised without religion”. Please take a moment to click through and read that post before you continue with this one (I have it set to open in a new window so you won’t lose this post).

Now that you’ve read that post, the rest of this one should make a little more sense.

I’m not religious, not in the sense most people think; I am, however, extremely spiritual. I do not identify with any of the major organized religions. I’m not Christian, but I still celebrate Christmas. Yes, I realize that may not make much sense… but hold on a second and I’ll explain it. My parents are both Christian, but different types (which is why they chose to not raise us with religion), and their parents were Christians as well. Therefore, we ALWAYS celebrated Christmas while I was growing up! Actually, we got at least two Christmases: one with my immediate family (usually, my mom’s mom would be with us) and one with my dad’s parents. Even though we celebrated it, there was never anything religious in our celebration. I do know that even a lot of Christians don’t really do anything religious on Christmas either, so I know that it’s not totally unheard of to celebrate it without religion.

I continue to celebrate Christmas because it’s always been one of my absolute favorite holidays. As I got older, my family drifted apart a bit, but on Christmas it always felt like my family was just as close as we’d ever been. I get that warm, overwhelming love feeling every time I get out my Christmas decorations! Dan grew up celebrating Christmas as a Christian; I even accompany him to church on Christmas, because it’s important to him and I usually find the services beautiful (the decorations are gorgeous, the songs are pretty, and being surrounded by love is a wonderful feeling).

I’m telling you about my religious beliefs because I know some people will probably be adding a lot of religion into their posts – I want you to be aware that I will not be one of those people. My posts will not have any focus on religion, as that is not my mindset this time of year.

Also, thanks to past experiences, I feel the need to include a disclaimer of sorts:
I am 100% happy with my spirituality. I feel fulfilled, loved, and connected to the people and world around me. My interest in converting to any religion is absolutely zero, and my tolerance for people trying to convert me is also absolutely zero. If you post comments trying to sway me or my readers in any direction religiously, I will delete your comment immediately (all comments are moderated, so they will not be seen at all). If you keep trying to leave similar comments after the first one, you will be banned.