People ask me (not often, but occasionally) why I celebrate christmas when I'm pagan. To which I reply 'hahahahaha!'.

I think a better question would be 'why do christians celebrate Yule?'

The answer, of course, is the almighty god of marketing decreed it so. No, I'm not kidding.

When the Romans were casting around for a new religion, they had a choice of Mithralism (a Klingon like cult of which little is known these days) and christianity. Christianity had better holidays and they were easier to merge with the pagan calendar.

Yule itself is strictly speaking at the Winter Solstice, 21st December. The shortest day of the year. We celebrated that last weekend.

Am I a pagan? Probably not. Probably more like a Heretic. I have very strong religious beliefs, the strongest of which is 'I don't know shit about God'. And I am in constant search to find answers. There can be only one ultimately Godhead, and it does not look like Charlton Heston. But within the formative world are the many aspects of deity conceived and thats where you find Zeus and Aphrodite, Gabriel and Raphael, Pan and Osiris, Jesus and George Burns.

Is this real or is it in your mind? The best answer to this question is that it is all in your mind, but you have no idea how truly huge your mind really is.

What is also in our mind is the Christmas spirit. It is ineffable, but it is at the same time almost tangible. It can be the loneliest time of year. If you know someone that is spending christmas alone this year, call them. Go see them. Invite them over. Sleep with them. Blow them. Well may be that's a little extreme - but however you choose to let them know they are not alone at christmas, doing so will help keep the christmas spirit alive. I've had my share of christmases spent alone watching 'Its a wonderful life' with a box of hankies in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other. Come to think of it, I watch a lot of movies like that, but only when everyone is out of the house. And sometimes I have to put the bottle of Jack down...

I digress. If you are spending christmas alone, try reaching out. Go find someone worse off than you are (shouldn't be that hard, really). Then laugh at them. No, wait. I mean, help them or hang with them, or whatever.

As for me and the family Catpewk, we're going to get up late, unwrap presents, cook roast beef and yorkshire pudding and just fall asleep watching the DVDs that we got for christmas.

So here's wishing you all a little bit of the same. Have a wonderful, safe christmas, whatever you call it...