Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing-L back to normal/holiday celebrations

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Well. Let's get back to it then, shall we? Awesome job as usual, Fred.

December is the month of potential conflict for the holiday season. It
certainly doesn't have to be. After the first year, when some people wanted
a Christmas tree in the CH, and some didn't, it was decided that we would
have whatever celebrations anyone wanted to put together. Anyone in our
community can express their religious beliefs or lack thereof in the CH, as
long as they do all the work! We haven't had a Christmas tree in some time.
They cost money. But we have lights and other decorations up, as they don't.

We have a member who organizes a Posada every year. We've had this year's
already, and it was a big success. We even had a few alumni come in and join
us. It was very sweet to catch up with old friends and their much-bigger
children. The kids get to dress up as animals, so for them it's all about
the costumes.

One of our founding members died at this time of year, so we have had a
solstice celebration in her honor since then. She used to organize it. We
have other celebrations, including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, and those are less
regular.

Our regular rules about the frequency of outside events in the common house
go out the window in December. Many people have their office holiday parties
in the CH. Mine will be Friday. This is one of our favorite things-always
having a perfect venue for large gatherings. We've had plenty of
disagreement the rest of the year about how we want to use the common house,
but during December, it's agreed that we like to host our friends and
coworkers.

I hope everyone on the list will have a happy and satisfying holiday season,
and that those of you who aren't living in cohousing yet look forward with
joy to the day when you can have celebrations in your own common house.

Love, Liz


-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California
tamgoddess [at] comcast.net


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