Friday, December 17, 2010

Chrithmyth

I'm a stickler for writing things right. It actually feels good to own it out loud (even if I did play a bit loose with my grammar there.) I've been the boring parent who always responded "so much fun" to my children's enthusiastic "so fun". I've gaped at their father's loose edges around what's ok and what's not in the English language (he's a former English teacher, and loves languages.) That said, I have made some shifts these past years - wrestle, contort, surrender. One free-for-all zone is my telecom fone. (See?) ... except of course the 'you' word. That's still sacred.
The one other written word I hold onto with stubborn determination is Christmas (as opposed to the X version). This has taken some doing. I write with the speed of sound, mostly illegibly to everyone else, and I love getting to the end of a task as quickly as I can. But I hate the fact that this 'celebration', which does acknowledge a significant birth, has a popularised spelling that deletes the person - appropriately with an x, and usually a big fat capital one.
That said - I have been playing with a new spelling for this event. I've written it up there as my post heading. I think think this spelling puts some meaning back into what it is I'm experiencing. This sweeping madness, from which some of us take shelter, pull our hoodies over our faces, and others surrender and shop and get sick, is surely in response to a myth. It feels like it has mythological proportions. An unwieldy potent 'story', dreaded by so many, and with the power to disturb and unseat us, without showing it's real face.
Anyway, this year we're doing our wee bit to pull it out of the mist, give it a name and a shape that's human-sized. We're leaving town on Sunday and heading for a quiet spot in the bush down south for three days. We have not sent cards, not put up a christmas tree (though plan to locate a flowering pohutukawa by the end of next week). All gifts will be recycled (pre-loved by ourselves or someone else). And lunch will be simple. Merry Christmas.

4 comments:

  1. a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!
    altho never a big Beatles fan, i was always fond of john's lovely, mangled greeting: Haddy Grimble!
    may peace and joy visit you, often, in the coming year,
    xo
    susan

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  2. Thank you Susan. And a haddy grimble to you too! It's been great to meet you in this virtual world. May actual gifts of joy and peace also visit you and yours. Pam x

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  3. Dearest Pam, thank you for your generous reading and appreciation of my work this year in VSNest. It's meant a great deal to me. You have a lovely spirit. I hope 2011 brings all kinds of joy and curiosity and contentment. Love, Melissa

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  4. Thank you Melissa, and on this eve of Christmas - just two minutes to go here in nz, I wish you that same bundle of three. It's been a gift to read your offerings. May there be goodness up ahead. Love Pam

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