The holidays...from a nonstandard point-of-view.

C and I talked a little last year about the holidays - I think he was trying to distract me from my grandfather passing away in early December - and we came to a conclusion about a few things.

Before I go into that, though, I should give a little background.
Both C and I were reared in the Catholic faith, and attended Catholic schools. We both began to question the teachings of the Church early - in my case, I was in middle school. I believe he began to question things earlier than that. I don't know anything further regarding his separation from the teachings of the Church, but I know my final separation came after 2000, the details of which I will discuss another time.

Anyway, long story short, neither C nor I attend church, follow any Christian rituals, or really believe in the whole "one god" approach to faith. We've been celebrating Christmas as a secular holiday, and focus on the family closeness, food, and giving of ourselves (in the form of gifts, time, etc). We try to avoid too much materialism, and attempt to keep the holiday somewhat understated in our home. He doesn’t really subscribe to any faith, as it were – he’s too logical for that. Me, on the other hand…I believe in the possibility of something greater, but not the idea of a monotheistic religion. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
I've started to read more into the Druid faith - both current traditions, as well as what (limited) information is available of the ancient traditions. While I cannot say I'm a follower of this particular faith, I agree with some aspects of it. I continue to read about it as I get time, though I find time is a bit lacking of late. Chalk it up to working on getting more physical activity into my daily routine.

This year, I sortof celebrated the Solstice. I gave C a small gift and had a very small candle ceremony when I got up to see the eclipse (though I missed the eclipse itself). I expected it to feel silly, but it didn’t…it wasn’t anywhere near what I feel when I used to go through the motions at Mass.

Awhile back I asked what religions/faiths you follow, but I didn’t really get into it. I don’t know if it was merely a lack of desire to get into a discussion, or an outright aversion to it, but I’d like to talk about it now: what do you believe? Are you a member/follower of an organized religion? Are you a Buddhist? Pagan? Follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?