Mood:  celebratory

Right before I started packing for my Mabon weekend camping trip, I decided to check my email. What a treat! Tori Amos is putting out her first CD of winter holiday tunes, and if the advance buzz is to be taken seriously, Tori's latest effort is sure to be a dazzling display.

Called Midwinter Graces, it features 12 tracks, some of which are reworked classics, and others that are completely original. For more information, go to Tori's website.

Mood:  sharp

"We are the puzzle pieces who seldom fit with other puzzle pieces. Romantics, idealists, eccentrics, we inhabit singledom as our natural resting state. In a world where proms and marriage define the social order, we are, by force of our personalities and inner strength, rebels." - Sasha Cagen

1) Are you the kind of person who doesn't mind not being in a relationship, and who doesn't feel the need to partner up just because everyone else seems to think you should?

2) Are you just as willing to go to an art opening, a movie, or a party alone as you would to go with a partner or a gaggle of friends?

3) Did you attend your senior prom with friends rather than with a date you didn't want in the first place?

4) Are you just as happy to spend the evening at home alone, tripping on acid and watching Brazil with your cat as you would be doing the same activity with a group of friends or a date? 

5) Would you rather be alone for the right reasons than with someone else for the wrong ones? When you look for a partner, do you look for a soulmate rather than just any warm body?

If you answered YES to the above questions -- even if you're not a fan of LSD -- you may be among the ranks of other like minded individuals known as quirkyalones.

Quirkyalone, a term Sasha Cagen came up with while on a Brooklyn subway platform on New Year's Eve 1999, refers to someone who does not mind being single, and who resists the popular demand to always be a part of a couple. Cagen, a writer who started out by writing a zine called To-Do List as part of the unofficial "girl zine revolution," has since gone on to publish two books on the subject of quirkyaloneness and human minutiae. 

Quirkyalones have their own holiday on -- yep! -- February 14th. Celebrated alone or with friends, it's a wonderful reminder of personal soverignty in a world that often disrespects individuality.

Mood:  bright

Seriously, everyone, it doesn't bother me a bit that people wish me Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or whatever other kind of good tiding they send my way. As long as it's a positive expression, what's the matter here?

I'm a member of a religious minority, tend to say "happy holidays," and realize that -- even though some people would like to think this is true -- Christmas isn't the only "reason for the season", nor was it the first in our planet's human history. Though the abusees of political correctness (as in how it's used as an excuse for some people to silence those around them without merit) make me want to throw up, and I often agree with Gloria Steinem that the original meaning of the term PC should have been "plain courtesy", I don't get offended when someone wishes me a merry Christmas, though saying happy holidays might get them a bigger smile, if only because there's a full package of celebrations -- including New Year's -- that happen around this time.

Most cultures have some kind of winter celebration, as well as many other types of celebrations/festivals throughout the turning of the year in order to commemorate the changing seasons, a religious prophecy, or for another reason. One of my favorite things about this time of year is that so many cultures across the world celebrate the turning of the wheel of time in some way.

If you're quiet for a moment, and are listening to the hum of the world, you can hear the season in the air, the welcoming of the sun and the spring ahead. Some festivities are solemn, while others are FAR less so. Close your eyes for a moment, and listen to the world around you. What do you hear?

Mood:  celebratory

I thought I'd close the Thanksgiving posts on a nice note this evening/early morning.

For almost 10 years, I've gotten together with an extended mix of family, friends, and extended members of both for Thanksgiving and other holidays. For me, the more has usually meant the merrier, and that's why I've decided to share the story below, which is about a lonely Colorado couple who opened their home to whomever wanted to stop by via a "freebie" post to Craigslist. She apparently expected 4-6 people to rsvp and show up, and instead, she ended up hosting a Thanksgiving meal for 32 folks!

Monique White opens her home to all on Thanksgiving!

If you do a Google News search, there are more articles on the couple, including some with more detail on the couple's rather interesting pasts; a hint: they've both spent time in front of a judge during different times of their lives. It's part of what's made them more open to others, and less judgemental in general. They imagine their 2008 Thanksgiving will become a tradition, and I, for one, certainly hope so; in fact, I hope the Whites' tradition spreads to other cities around the country, and that more people follow their example.

Mood:  incredulous

Before Buy Nothing Day was started, I never shopped on Black Friday mostly because being in the middle of the shopping frenzy creeped me out,  and besides, I was usually too hung over from the day before to bother with all that bs anyway.

These days, I really appreciate the Buy Nothing Day sentiment, and usually abstain from most purchases, excepting gas or a meal if I happen to go out with loved ones. It gives me an excuse to further focus on my family and friends, or else just to get some work done. I don't hate shopping, but the stupidity associated with Black Friday especially bothers me. Spending all day just to save a few $$ means nothing to me; my time is a lot more valuable than that.

I wasn't going to comment on Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day this year, as the economy is in the tank and I have a few friends working in the service sector that could use the boost that Black Friday provides. However, upon learning of the deaths of a WalMart employee in NY and shoppers at a Toys R Us in CA, I was unnerved by the lack of concern displayed so overtly by fellow human beings. After all, if these people can't handle themselves when shopping -- a most basic human activity -- how do you expect they'll deal with a flood, and earthquake, or any real tragedy? Where were the riot police with rubber bullets when idiots with credit cards were trampling store employees and each other over crap that'll end up in a landfill or being sold on eBay six months later? Rousting pidgeons and old homeless people in the park? WTF is wrong with this country when peaceful demonstrators are bludgeoned by the police for doing nothing of any great consequence to anyone's safety, but yet frenzied, careless mobs of idol-worshipping idiots are allowed to kill one another over shopping?

Gross.

Anyway, do yourself and your fellow humans a favor today and tomorrow by celebrating

instead of loading up on garbage. The US BND is Friday, while the International holiday is on Saturday, the 29th.

The crap you wanted today will be there again in the next few days, I swear. If by some chance it isn't, there's always this thing called The Internet you can use to scratch your itch to shop.

If you want to be extra classy and find something cool and unique, here's a listing of some great online retailers selling nifty gifts:

http://www.etsy.com

http://www.buyolympia.com

http://www.coopamerica.org/

http://www.mushycat.com

If you don't like any of the above, you can always shop online at Walmart, Kmart, or any other Mart you like as well. If you can't figure out how to get there from here, http://www.google.com can tell you at will.

If you're not in a thing-buying mood this year, there are a lot of great charities you can donate to in the name of your friends and family. Pick something they'd like, and make a donation in the person's name. Again, Google can help you with suggestions. Input a few keywords based on the gift recipient's name, and you'll probably come up with something cool.

If you're totally at a loss and are feeling uninspired by holiday shopping altogether, and if friends and family are nearby, you can always forego the gifts entirely and just throw a kick-ass dinner party instead, or if you're far away from everyone, or if there's somewhere cool you've always wanted to go, you can always blow your hard-earned money on traveling to somewhere you've never been, or to pay a long-lost friend or family member a visit.

Whatever you choose to do, express the best part of yourself! Think about something you've wanted to do for yourself or someone else in your life, and go from there. I once spent the winter holidays (we had folks from many religious backgrounds join us) and New Year's camping at the Black Rock Desert with a bunch of friends who had always wanted to visit that particular place in winter, but who never seemed to have the time. We made a plan, and committed ourselves. It was one of the best winter holiday experiences I've ever had, andaside from food, gas, and wine, no one bought a single present for anyone else. WE were a gift to one another, and the theme lasted throughout the year. It's most often the time we spend with one another that we remember. The stuff changes, but our friends and loved ones usually remain.