SECTION II - FAMILY ISSUES

Promoting Pagan Family Values - Selene Silverwind

Promoting Pagan Family Values
by Selene Silverwind

Another year, another Yule. It's amazing how quickly the holidays creep up on us every year. One day you're putting away the last decoration and the next you're starting your gift list. These are just a few ways to slow things down and make it a family time instead of a harried time.

Children have enough crafts and activities right now, so breaking with tradition, I'm not proposing a winter craft. Instead I'm proposing winter spirit. There are many Pagan carols on the internet or even in your e-mail box right now. Print a few on nice paper and compile the pages between two pieces of red construction paper. Punch two holes along the left edge and loop yarn through them to hold the pages together. Now help your children practice their singing, because they are going to be serenading you and your friends at your Yule gathering. Your kids should enjoy the attention, and you should enjoy not having yet another thing you need to pack up at the end of the year.

Now, onto the classroom. Again, children make a million crafts in school this time of yea, so I'm recommending a glue-free activity. Plan a route around the playground that takes the kids to several exhibits you have set up ahead of time. (These can be very simple). At the first one, ask them to notice the cold air coming out of their mouths. Explain to them that this is because their bodies are 98.7 degrees, but the air is only 50 degrees, so the air is warmer when it comes out and the cold air chills water in their breath. Next move on to a bare tree. Explain that in winter, the branches are bare so the tree can take a rest and preserve all its energy in its trunk to protect it during the cold. Once you finish that one, continue to the snow, if you have some. Explain why snow forms. If you don't have snow, then you'll have to explain about frost. Add a few other exhibits that are specific to your region. When you are done with your nature exhibits, go back inside and warm the kids up with hot apple cider and fresh-baked snickerdoodles.

The holidays are nothing if not a time to be neighborly. Somewhere in your neighborhood there should be a food bank, church, or community center that is sponsoring needy families. Choose four or five families to sponsor, then host a party at your house. Invite all your friends and neighbors to the party and ask them to bring one of the items the family has requested or money toward their holiday dinner. Remind them that the holidays are about giving, but not just giving to people they know personally. It's about sharing the spirit of the holidays with everyone. If you like, you can even make the donations in the name of your neighborhood or a recently departed member of your community.

Hope you don't mind missing out on a few more holiday crafts amid all the other things you have to do, but this year, it's time to get back to basics and think about what the holidays really mean. Enjoy them!