We took Ali to Outback for her birthday (complete with her new glasses). Her husband is still in Iraq, so she was distracted, but seemed to enjoy herself well enough.
It had been awhile since Ashley and I went there so it was a welcomed change. All had fun and good food. THEY also enjoyed good drinks…I was yet again the designated driver…I should really get some sort of insurance discount for that.
We didn’t do anything extravagant. Since Ali’s husband is still stuck in the desert…fighting to keep the cost of fossil fuels down…we had her over to bring in the New Year with us.
I’ll let the picture speak for itself. 
Happy New Year!
I am a member of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF). One of the great benefits of being part of an organizatoin like ADF are the group’s mailing lists. ADF has many great lists. I am currently subscribed to 10 of them. That’s probaby like five too many because I can never really keep up with it all. However, the information and participation I do get from them is a huge help to me day to day.
One recent descussion we’ve been having on one of the lists, is how to approch the attendance of Christian churches during the holidays. It’s inevitable that most of us will be invited by some well meaning, or sinisterly diabolical, family member. Since most of us want to TRY to be part of the family, even if they don’t always want to claim us, it’s nice to have some idea how to act. The following eMail from ADF member “Bren” seems very helpful in that area, so he gave permission to republish. Enjoy!
With the holiday season upon us, a reoccurring question for me is now at the forefront: how exactly should a neo-pagan such as myself behave when going to a Christian church? To me, this is a time to be with family and participate to the extent possible in family activities, and that often includes going to some kind of church service at some point or another.
I’ve always tried to be polite and respectful. There are some clear and easy rules based on that respect that boil down to: don’t make a scene. But there are some points which I have been ambivalent about, and have handled in different ways in the past. For example, how should one behave during congregational parts such as reciting Creeds out loud or singing hymns?
After some dialogue I recently had with the fine folks at “Oh How I Love Jesus” on this topic, I came up with the following guidelines based on my hard-polytheistic world-view:
* A church is the “House of God,” therefore, rules of basic hospitality apply. We should be respectful then, not only of our family and members of the congregation, but of the deities involved: Jesus and Yaweh (and possibly others: The Holy Spirit, Mary, various saints, etc.)
* We should dress appropriately, in “Sunday Best” or whatever mode of dress is expected.
* No overt pagan symbols. I would go so far as to say that we should not even bring any pagan symbology or tools. If, for some reason, you have to have something with you, I suggest it be “peace-bonded.” That is, it should be tied up or encumbered in such a way as to be clear that it cannot be easily accessed, and also stored out of sight so as not to invite questions. When we are in the home of Christian deities, it is in a spirit of “truce” and at least temporary peace no matter what our feelings may be, and we should bend to their preferences to the extent it is reasonable and possible to do so.
* We should not participate in communion. Receiving the blessings of their god should be left to his followers.
* We should generally speak only truthful words. Any kind of participatory speaking should be limited to saying things you actually believe in. A respectful silence should be maintained at other times.
* We should not discuss our beliefs or mention other gods. It is clear that theirs is a jealous God, and would not want such discussion in His home.
* We should give money when an offering plate is passed. As guests, especially somewhat unwelcome ones, hospitality requires that we bring a gift for our host. The congregation might not want offerings from Pagans, but it is none of their business. Since we shouldn’t discuss this matter, they have no reason to even know. Offerings are made to the God(s), and concerns a matter between him/them and us alone.
* We should not make prayers to our deities, not even silently.
Presumably, if our gods can hear our silent, unspoken prayers, then of course He can too, and it would be rude. We should wait until we are on our own ground and our own time to revere our gods.
* We should sit or stand with the congregation as they do. With a congregation that kneels, I would suggest remaining seated. Kneeling is more than respect, it is a sign of obeisance, which would be inappropriate.
Bowing is not inappropriate, and so I feel bowing our heads during their prayers as requested is properly respectful.
* I have been to churches where it is routine for them to ask rudely personal questions such as: ‘do you have Jesus in your heart?’ I admit, I have always lied and said, ‘yes.’ Since this is an intimately private matter, I believe it is permissible to lie to protect my privacy. Any answer, as long as it is polite, would be appropriate, but in a congregation that would ask such a question, a truthful answer is just inviting trouble.I invite comments on this article, as this is an issue I continue to struggle with this list being just a snapshot of where I am with it right now. I might amend this list as new thoughts and ways of looking at the issue are presented to me.
I have about two weeks off from work, thanks to now working at the college.! Now that’s the way to start a job. Work a week and a half…have a four day weekend. Work another two weeks…have a two week break. Then we’ll come back from that work a four day week and one full week…then have another three day weekend. Not bad at all. Viva la vacation! …or something like that.
We ended up not doing much at all to celebrate. We did carve a pumpkin, but we didn’t dress up.
We’ve been dressing up every year since we’ve been together too. It’s strange that the year we should have really been celebrating it, we ended up doing nothing. Of course that is mainly my fault…since I got all confused.
I’m just still having difficulty deciding if I want to practice any form of paganism or not. I know my mind wants me to, but my heart doesn’t seem to be in it. I seem to have lost my inspiration…hopefully I can find it again.
Our pumpkin did turn out pretty good though. So at least Ashley got to do that. 
So this year we carved a pumpkin. Then we bought two huge bags of candy. We sat up the candy in our little plastic candy bowl pumpkin by the door and then settled in to watch scary movies.
Are there any scary movies anymore? Well if there are…we didn’t find them. We also didn’t get any trick-or-treaters. That’s partly because of where we are located in town. It’s also partly…and a lotly…due to many children not being allowed to go around due to their Conservative Christian parents.
Apparently, they’ve had the realization in the last few years that Halloween will steal their child’s soul through candy addiction or something. So…in typical Christian fashion…they have decided to co-op it into some sort of anti-hell campaign night. But I digress…
So we didn’t dress up. Our movies were a flop. No trick-or-treaters showed up. 
But then…
My sister and her baby-daddy stopped by to show off her son in his first Halloween costume. That made it all better.
Little Nick was dressed as a Georgia Bulldogs football player….his daddy is a fan. The poor Georgia boy is now having to live in The Valley…but that’s a whole other story. 
I was born 32 years ago today. That’s way too damn long ago. Not remembering much of anything before the age of 19 always leaves me feeling I’m a lot younger than I actually am.
I start working at the Urban Outfitters Call Center and Distribution Center outside of town here today. The company’s IT Director basically begged me on Friday to come to work for them. I have to admit, having someone beg me to work for them, after only a five minute conversation, doesn’t leave me feeling too confident about them. Doesn’t really leave me feeling too confident about the company for that matter. I’ll give it a try though. What’s the worse that could happen?
I get my camera from Ashley today. Nice new Canon PowerShot A510. It’s a model year old, but it does everything I really want…and we can afford it. 
Today is July 12th, 2005. Today is a good day.
Several hours past midnight and WAY past our drink limitwe may have been in the running for Scooby-Doo 2.
Unfortunately, I couldnt keep my pants on and I fell outta character before the video cameras rolled. No reallythe costume pants were too big for me.
Brent, Alis husband was in Basic at the time, so it was just the three of us and two of our neighbors from the next townhouse over. Luckily our neighbors didnt want picturesso we got to be camera whores all night! Regardless of what Ash may saywere always up for hogging a camera lens.
Strangely enoughwe never had a single trick-or-treater.
Happy Halloween!!
