Lived Experience Forum

[Owlunar]

Aw @eth

Thanks for sharing - children can be down-right practical at times - how did your mother react to that

I am not sure if I would be so okay about all the live lambs heading for Christmas dinner like that - and yes - I eat meat grateful for the animals that turn grass into protein for me - but the image of the lambs being carried past in bags bleating - I am not sure how practical I would have been as a child - 

I know they are not baby lambs either but young sheep

I grew up in a semi-rural area where there were many small farms - often mixed stock and there would usually be a stud near the house - I knew more about animal husbandry than I did about human reproduction - I sometimes wonder why I was kept in the dark about the human side of it when animals bred out in the open and I just knew what went on

Dec

[Zoe7]

There are some traditions I miss @Owlunar @Hope4me @eth @Maggie @Former-Member @greenpea

I miss the early morning visit from my grandparents and the cutting of the ham first thing for breakfast, I also miss watching my grandparents prepare the lunch with all the roasted veggies they cooked. We still do something similar but it feels more like a chore than a lovely family get together - hoping this year will be different though. I will go around to my sister's house to help her prepare things this year. The last time we had sucha big gathering she put on a lot of food (way too much) but there will not be as many people this year so hoping she keeps it a bit simpler.

[eth]

@Owlunar  "That which having been must always be" - such a wise saying - thankyou for that.  I may have reason to use it while mum is here.  She has re-written history in many ways to suit her current way of thinking (evangelical Franciscan Anglican) and denies that a lot of traumatic things ever happened.  Even relatively recent things.  That same history cracked open in me a couple of months ago in response to something she said about my adult child and their family and philosophy (very different from hers and something of a new way).  I didn't speak to her for a couple of months since then and have only this week exchanged a few words with her.   That's why I'm expecting it to be a mine field having her around.  It's on A Long Rave thread but I couldn't tell you which page sorry.

I think there might be quite a few of us on the forums that experience Christmas gatherings as a mine field, that's why I send wishes for the ability to be your authentic  self to everyone.

[eth]

LOL re husbandry vs human reproduction knowledge @Owlunar!

[TAB]

nice @Zoe7 

[Zoe7]

Welcome to the loungeroom @TAB 

[TAB]

Is there eggnog ? @Zoe7 lol

[Zoe7]

In the virtual Christmas Loungeroom there is anything you like @TAB 

[Owlunar]

Hi @eth

It's true that the past happened - can anyone deny the truth that leaves it's mark? People like your mother and mine try to do that but I really love the idea of being our authentic selves - especially at Christmas - we might examine our scars but they are the reminders of the truth and the truth is something I honour 

I didn't speak to my mother through the decades - there were years on end when I didn't see my family and it was hard at the time but as I have grown long in the tooth I am glad I kept out of it and now - with few people left - I still do - 

Although I honour the past I do not like the idea - or the experience - of someone picking through the past to put it back together how they remember it. I'm sure everyone remembers things differently - and why not? - but trying to enforce someone else's truth onto anyone is not polite behaviour

Okay - I know about Evangelican Anglicans - Fransicsan adds another dimesions to that - I don't know about it. I left the Church some years ago for my own reasons but haven't lost my faith - that holds up well - I am Anglo-Catholic and really liked the form of service etc and I had grown up with it - but alas - people in the church as like people everywhere and sometimes we can fall out - and fall out I did - but I still believe in the 

Reason for the Season

But yes - let us always be authentic to ourselves - we are really the only person we have to please every minute until the Kingdom Comes

Dec

[eth]

Mulled wine for breakfast!! ... As if!  I don't think it'll  help matters if I drink too much.

@Zoe7@TAB @Owlunar @Maggie @Hope4me @Former-Member