{"id":9648,"date":"2014-12-20T15:20:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T20:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=9648"},"modified":"2014-12-20T15:20:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T20:20:02","slug":"three-things-among-many-i-love-about-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/12\/three-things-among-many-i-love-about-this-season.html","title":{"rendered":"three things (among many) I love about this season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"via<\/a>
via google<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Music<\/p>\n

One of the best things about the holiday season is the music. I have a Spotify Christmas music playlist of almost 500 songs. And there are even more on my iPad! So that would be the first totally non-secular thing I love about this time of year: music. Everything from hammered dulcimer playing very old English carols to the Barenaked Ladies blaring out “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” How can we celebrate w\/out music??<\/p>\n

2. Food<\/p>\n

It should come as noooo surprise to anyone who knows me that food figures in this list. \ud83d\ude42 I spent the past week cooking — for my girlfriends holiday tea. \u00a0My sisters & nieces join women from my writing classes, from my former job, from all parts of my life. And I cook like the crazy person I can be: quiche, panna cotta (tried eggnog this year — success!), hummus (not always — it was a pass this year), four kinds of tea. All the fun accoutrements: the family silver, including the tea service; the ironstone w\/ birds & flowers; runners embroidered w\/ gold thread. So maybe instead of ‘food’ I should say: ritual sharing of food…?<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the author’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Thinking of my friends & family<\/p>\n

Wrapping, for instance: we found pirate ribbon! A\u00a0perfect<\/em> ribbon for my nephew (and for my younger son, were he joining us instead of traipsing across the Philippines!). How fun! Trying to find a gift for nieces & nephews I don’t see often, but love dearly. What are their interests? What would they enjoy? We’re not always big on gift cards, although we do those as well. Mostly, I love the excuse to buy presents for people I love, to cook for them, to show them in tangible ways how very dear they are.<\/p>\n

I used to feel guilty, as a Buddhist, celebrating Christmas. Not so much while the children were small — I did it for them, and my family, I told myself. But who\u00a0doesn’t<\/em> love a riotously pagan tree, lit up against the winter darkness, floating on a tidal wave of gifts? Glittering foil, bright curls of ribbon, stockings bulging with trinkets… Who could resist?? But as I thought about it, the ways in which this time of year has come to be a giving back, a giving to, have won me over from my usual self-doubt.<\/p>\n

So as you go about the hectic craziness that is American holiday season, remember that even if you’re not a Christian, and don’t celebrate Hannukah, there are\u00a0other\u00a0<\/em>blessings to the season. Warm, wonderful reasons to rejoice. What are yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Music One of the best things about the holiday season is the music. I have a Spotify Christmas music playlist of almost 500 songs. And there are even more on my iPad! So that would be the first totally non-secular thing I love about this time of year: music. Everything from hammered dulcimer playing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243,37,41,26],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1244],"class_list":["post-9648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-family","category-food","category-music","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\nthree things (among many) I love about this season - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1. 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