December 2016
What’s your favorite thing about the holidays?
Geneva Hollyer
I really love how, during the darkest times of the year, when we have more night, we get to come together with our community and our family and celebrate and enjoy one another and give thanks for our abundance. I really love the spirit of celebration that comes even when the energy of nature is quiet at this time of year. It’s a very nice contrast to have that celebratory energy with our family and our friends.
Last night, we had our Elephant Cloud employee Thanksgiving, and it’s my second year being a part of that. It’s just so amazing, such a great tribe of people I feel really grateful for. Michelle and Benjamin and what they’ve created here and they’re so generous with our family and our community. And I love the sense of community that comes from Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and there’s so many different ways to connect with the people in Crestone during this time of year. I’m part of Winterfest, and love getting to share my artwork with people.
This time of year represents the renewal of the cycle, but that’s different depending on what culture you come from. For me, the Solstice is the holiday because that’s when the darkness reaches its fulcrum and we start moving back in the other direction. I’m not really Christian, and don’t really celebrate Christmas, per se, but I do celebrate Solstice, and that’s really fun for my kids. We try to make it not really materially orientated, but more about the celebration of the renewal of the season.
Alexander Kofi Washington
Every day is there for us – ya know, every day it’s a celebration, it’s a holy day, it’s a happy Earth Day, ya know, and Thanksgiving. So it’s like we’re waiting on the world on these days for us because we try to be in that space as much as we can throughout the year. But then we’re happy when the family - ya know the mass-mind is somewhat into that, so we don’t want to rain on nobody’s parade. (laughing) So it’s good for the family to get together, good tidings and good feelings and respect and lovin’ each other. Laughter of the kids and happy things. We enjoy them.
Being in Crestone, in the sacred valley, where’s there’s accelerated energy, and having the elk around and the deer, the eagles and the hawks. It’s just so beautiful and it’s way more connected to the earth than in the city. My Lakota family, when we’ve been in ceremony and watch the sun come up when it’s been dark all night and you’re working through your fears, that sun coming up and even the grass is giving thanks, animals of the night are going to sleep and the trees and grass reaching up and that thanksgiving, that gratitude. So we should take a holy day of thanksgiving in the light of all the stuff that’s happening in the world and in our country. Just put all that down for a second and let’s be in gratitude. This cathedral here then, in Crestone, in the San Luis Valley, it’s accelerated, yeah, it’s beautiful.
Jacob Pesqueira
My favorite thing about the Holidays is the awareness of each other and the beautiful things in our lives. Trapped in a little battle between finding what to do with all this energy and where to put it and to try to do the right thing, because often around this time I feel so abundant and there are a lot of people who aren’t abundant, so I try to reach out to my kids and get that into their minds. At this point, it’s kind of a battle but I still enjoy making them aware of what’s happening in the world while they ask for toys. I’m just happy for the awareness of all that this time of year, instead of everything just going on like usual. To just stop and think about everything that’s happening a little deeper, ya know, go inside. And of course just having time with family and friends and however they celebrate this time of year. I’m always interested to find out the different ways that people celebrate it and what touches them.
Jennifer Daveler
Eggnog! My sister-in-law makes homemade eggnog. So we spend an evening making eggnog, which takes about 2 hours to prepare. We do a non-alcoholic version and we put Southern Comfort in the adults’, (laughing) which is great. For the kids we used to make Gingerbread Houses. We put air-heads for the moat around them, and then all kinds of candy and stuff, and then we’d eat the crap out of it! It was good! But no, it’s just about family and community, and coming together for one night and everybody’s tradition. Crestone is a lot the same, just different kinds of family. You meet new people and get your circle of families. Last year, we went to a friend’s house and it was a community potluck and that was really awesome because everybody got to try a little bit of everything. I made a pink salad, which was also my sister-in-law’s recipe, and that was a hit, so yeah, it was great!
Sasha Lovelace
It’s not the gifts, ya know, it’s the fun, the company and the spirit that goes around everyone. You feel more uplifted, and everyone is open, and receiving and giving love and affection and it’s just a good time, a really good time. I don’t necessarily like the cold, but I love the snow! And here in Crestone, you kind of get a feel for the whole thing. The deer are walking around. The snow is on the ground. The mountains are there, and they’re beautiful. I just love it!
Lonny Roth
What I like about the Holidays is mostly the Solstice and the dark, and I think with Christmas lights and everything, people kind of bring out their own light and the parties kind of bring out our own light, ya know? When there’s so much darkness we have to do it ourselves. I really like that, and I like the Christmas lights. And for me, it’s a great season for business. That’s good. I don’t really like the classic Holiday stuff, in a way. But I like that we create energy ourselves. I like having my kids. I get to hang out with my kids. And if it gets really cold, I like how quiet it gets. If it gets like 15 below zero, the snow’s severely crunchy and silent. That is really cool. The starkness when people are afraid to be here, I like that. I like how scary it is.
