Christmas is a really cool holiday – in the United States, it’s the only Federal holiday that has any religious significance, although other holidays have quasi-religious sentiments such as Thanksgiving.

The great thing about Christmas is that it’s also the closest thing we have here to a pagan holiday. All of the traditions of Christmas go back to pre-Christian roots, the giving of gifts, the trees, the holly, the ivy, even many traditional carols are older than their 19th century lyrics and have non-Christian roots (sometimes pagan, sometimes just non-religious).

It makes sense that in the bleakest, darkest days – when the Sun seems to be fading from the sky – to have a holiday where light and heavy food have such an important role, to celebrate the Sun’s re-emergence. The Romans celebrated a holiday called Natalis Solis Invicti which was celebrated with singing and dancing and gift giving, celebrating the birth of the undefeatable Sun. So too does Christmas, in practice, often seem like a celebration not of Christ, but of something older and subconsciously within us.

So all those people who complain about the “War on Christmas” or urge us to remember Christ as “the reason for the season” should remember the true reason for the season which is of course veneration of various Sun gods and the victory of Nature of the bleakness of the winter – Yule Rules!!!!

I really want to get out of the United States more often in this stage of my life.  It’s true that tuition eats up a lot of my income but I think I can still make it happen and should use my two weeks vacation to further the goal of going abroad.  There’s a lot to be nervous about when traveling however and I thought I should write out a pro and con list of world travel
PROs
1) being able to tell good stories
2) eating strange new and possibly delicious food
3) brushing up on my foreign language skills (I took three years of Russian, four of Spanish and two of Ancient Greek for a reason – right???)
4) seeing wonderful sites
5) meeting new people
6) depending on the situation – helping people  (although my last attempt at volunteering abroad wasn’t so amazing)|

CONs
1) feeling like a tourist
2) having that feeling of shame about being an American (usually experienced when Americans are present – especially when they are high-fiving college kids and or conspicuously dressed missionaries), because I really want to love my country
3) the expense, length and ecological impact of air travel
4) “express” kidnappings
5) deciding whether to purchase international health insurance

So now that I’ve gotten that down I should prioritize where I want to go.  I have a desire to see the United States – besides the Northeastern states, I’ve only ever been to Atlanta, the Rockies and Los Angeles.  I need to road trip and make destinations through my own country, but this is an international travel post.

Top Five Places I Want to Visit
1) Mexico (specifically Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puebla and Vera Cruz)
2) Turkey (Istanbul and the Turkish Aegean)
3) Quebec (I’ve never even been to Canada! Can you believe it?! I must go to Montreal – it’s only six hours away!)
4) Berlin (it’s supposed to be the greatest place on the planet)
5) Hong Kong (maybe it’s the allure of John Woo’s movies, the aroma of Cantonese cooking or maybe it’s the desire for an amazing tailor)

Now I just need travel buddies….