Empathic Writing Journey

There are a lot of spiritual and cultural celebrations happening, and the generic "Happy Holidays!" greeting is, to me, a way to acknowledge that more happens in the winter season than Christmas -- like Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa and others. So, Happy Holidays everyone!My spiritual roots were planted in Christianity, so this post is a celebration of Christmas from that perspective (which actually includes many blended, but usually unacknowledged, traditions like Saturnalia and Yule, but that's another post.)  A "tradition" is a transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. It is an inherited, established, customary pattern of thought, action and behavior. Christmas is one of the most tradition-rich times of year.Maybe it's because I'm not a big fan of repetition, or because I need to understand whyI am doing something over and over, but I had to ask "WHY?" If Christ is so central to Christmas that the name is inherent in the word, WHY do so many non-related activities exi