Great Holiday Party Ideas

This year, thanks to the hard work or many, I found a great deal of information about old ways and new age traditions that brought smiles, wry grins and insight into the meaning and value of the season. We have all known the traditional family gathering, either by participating in it or through the endlessly marketed idea of it. The image of the overly drunk uncle, or the extremely manipulative mother-in-law are stock in trade for our modern vision of the Holy Days. Just knowing that there is a better way has liberated my ideas about what the giving season can be. Rather than what it is, I am finally internalizing the fact that it can be what we make it.

Researching Saturnalia, I found guidance on the number of people to invite. The Ancient Romans believed that between three and nine guests were optimum. In my experience, this would have improved many of the gatherings that tended to be less intimate, less enjoyable and too stressful to host or attend. The discipline required to pare down a guest list seems far too difficult for most, but when practiced, it yields valuable dividends for the host as well as their guests. Some of the activities practiced during Saturnalia survive in modern times, but those that might have offended the puritanical among us have receded into hedonistic enclaves. The topsy-turvey time of year is still honored in many subtle ways and I will leave it to the interested student of history to seek this incredible information for themselves.

Several modern approaches to the season have inspired me this year as well. The idea of a Chili Dump seems the most interesting. Rather than a traditional potluck, each family brings a chili that their family might have for supper. All the chilies are dumped into a large communal pot and the chili dump melds the flavor of all the samples brought by the different families. So simple. I have also been enamored by the rise of fondue during the New Year's Celebration. Dipping in as it were to one another's lives, sharing the communal dipping sauces and the mirroring of the many tiny tidbits we consume has for the many bits of each others lives that are shared in the intimate setting, around pots filled with warm savory and sweet sauces, heated by open flame. Just the thing for a long winter's night.

Whatever your traditions, however you celebrate the winter solstice and the associated holy days, remember, it is about people, not the gifts, not the perfect meal, or the accumulation of greatness and wealth. Just being together eith those you love can have transformative power.
Enjoy it. Be yourself, and use this time of frolic and enjoyment to find out who you would like to become in the new year. You may be surprised by what you find! Remember, traditions are created by what works. If your traditions are not working for you, research what others have found in their culture, and put that to use for a change, you just might love it!