Catholicism and nakedness.

We put up our Christmas tree last night, and damn, it looks good. Depsite my previous ranting on the subject of "the holidays", I do love this time of year. I love the hunkering down aspect of Christmas, when it's ass-cold outside and my family is snug and warm on the couch and the fire is blazing. I love all the visceral Catholic imagery, Joseph and Mary craahing at the manger for the night. (Again with the hunkering.) I love the solemn Christmas carols, especially "These Three Kings" because it's in 3/4 time and the melody has a bunch of tritones (the original devil's music!). It will be a challenge to keep our 2 year old away from all the shiny objects on the tree, however.

I don't mean to get all Catholic on you (meaning me, the sole reader of this blog), because I'm not a religious person at all. I am firmly agnostic. Who the fuck knows what the hell is going on? Not you, not me, not even the Dalai Lama. Some people have some great ideas about making time on the planet a little more interesting and compassionate, but that's as far as I go.

But I was raised a Catholic and jumped through all of their hoops up to and including getting married in a Catholic church and having our kids baptized, but not because I "believe". I just happen to love ritual; I am endlessly fascinated with how people decide to mark life's events. People are faced with a situation, for instance, "it's starting to get ass-cold outside and the crops no longer grow", and cook up ways to mark/define/explain it. Whether it be snake handling, modern-day crucifixions or getting naked in the desert (but particularly the latter) I'm fascinated by it all. And hey, that's the original meaning of the word "catholic", anyway. Check it:

"Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive: "The 100-odd pages of formulas and constants are surely the most catholic to be found." (Scientific American).

Including or concerning all humankind; universal: "what was of catholic rather than national interest" (J.A. Froude)."

That, or I'm just non-committal.

More importantly:

I got a hit from somebody who googled "sexy Christmas gifts for wife". Ha! I love Site Meter!!