Err.....This is rather off the religious part of the thread but I wanted to add to a side discussion.

I was never fond of birds growing up. My grandfather has a rather nasty Red-Lored amazon. Now I work at a pet store, and my view has changed entirely. I spent a good chunk of my day today cuddling with a Blue-Crowned Conure.

A lot of people have the same misunderstanding about reptiles as they do birds. My younger beardie comes up to greet me when I get home. She rides around on my clothes, eats from my hands, makes eye contact with me when I talk to her, and has people and things that she likes and dislikes. Even my snakes come out of hiding when I get home, and my Hognose will come to my hands if I put them down in the tank. Don't try to tell me that that is because they are warm, because she doesn't come to anyone else like that. (At least not to my boyfriend or any of his friends)


On witnessing: Most people; Christian, Catholic, JW, Mormon, will leave after a polite decline. I have only met one very stubborn man who would not leave my college campus one day. This man sat at our fountain for several hours, and ended up singaling out one of my gay friends and telling him that "the fags will burn" and such. The president of our Christian club even asked him to leave.


As to the main topic of this thread......I am pagan. I celebrate both Christmas and Yule. Christmas I celebrate mostly for the benefit of my family. At first when I found my faith, I tried to set aside Christian holidays and traditions altogether. I found myself increasingly alienated from my family. They are (mostly) not devoutly religious or anything, but for some reason the word 'pagan' sends them into a frenzy.

I enjoy the holiday cheeriness, even if the holiday itself is only a mimicry of the original (pagan) holiday, Yule. That is what many 'Christian' holidays today are though, so there is no escaping. I have even found a few things that I can enjoy with my family regarding the two holidays without hurt feelings. I am sure we will find many more, but we are just starting out now.

When the family says grace I either sit quietly or leave the room discreetly beforehand if possible.

My family is not very accepting. I might understand this if they had asked me about the faith and the practices, and found them apalling. It hurts that they simply shun me and dismiss something so important to me without othering to learn anything first. My father yelled and ranted last year at new year's because I left the room a few minutes before my aunt had everyone pray. I will not sit through something I am totally uncomfortable with if it can be politely avoided.

On that note; if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask, and I will try to give you as complete an answer as possible. Thanks for reading!