I'm glad you had a good holiday and got to add a little SG spice to it.
Personally, I love the holiday season, even though, like you, I'm not religious and I am wholly and decidedly in the "family you choose" camp. And even before, with my birth family, we were (& remain) so small and geographically scattered that we never had huge family gatherings.
I guess I just love the traditions associated with this time of year; I could give two shits about the jingoism of Thanksgiving or the religious winter holidays, but the traditions, the food, the family togetherness, and the whole 'peace on earth, goodwill towards men' thing . . .
Can you say, "I spent quality time with people I like/enjoy/love/alloftheabove?" That's happy holidays.
I'm glad it was a good one for you. The best things often come from left field.
There are so many aspects of this to which I was nodding my head and raising my lighter to you in appreciation and recognition.
I found my best "family" dinners to be the ones I spent with the misfit toys we gathered along the way in a variety of foreign territories.
Nowadays, if we just pin down at least one traditional family dinner with relatives we can bow out of the rest claiming to be embracing the traditions we have created on our own and for our own. This diverts the rabid beasts, I mean relatives, and allows us the kind of family time we can enjoy.
Personally, I love the holiday season, even though, like you, I'm not religious and I am wholly and decidedly in the "family you choose" camp. And even before, with my birth family, we were (& remain) so small and geographically scattered that we never had huge family gatherings.
I guess I just love the traditions associated with this time of year; I could give two shits about the jingoism of Thanksgiving or the religious winter holidays, but the traditions, the food, the family togetherness, and the whole 'peace on earth, goodwill towards men' thing . . .
Yeah, I'm a sap.