These are the days that try men's souls! Or at least their wallets. Instead of getting wrapped up in the hoopla of Christmas where my neighborhood here on Long Island begins to look more and more like Las Vegas as the neighbors try to out do each other with lights and lawn ornaments. I have over the years began being turned off by all the craziness surrounding the Christmas holiday season. My girlfriend and I have even stopped buying gifts for each other. We have all that we need and also have each other. We both grew up in middle class families. She in a project in Astoria Queens and I in suburban Long Island we both know the value of things and what makes a persons life happy and to us it is not the accumulation of goods.
So instead of celebrating Christmas I have decide to celebrate the Halcyon Days which are the seven days before and after the Winter Solstice a time when the Halcyon bird suposedly builds it's floating nest in the Aegean Sea. It does this because it is supposed to be a time of calm. The Halcyon bird's ability to "calm" the winds is based in Greek mythology. Calm is what we all need this time of year. I usually avoid driving as much as possible and especially this time of year. It seems almost everyone is out rushing around going shopping buying last minute gifts etc... So I will sit back and enjoy these Halcyon Days and let the other Christians go crazy.
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