We begin the Christmas holidays here by debating each other on how it should and shouldn’t be celebrated—I usually win. It’s our CFI Christmas tradition.
We begin the Christmas holidays here by debating each other on how it should and shouldn’t be celebrated—I usually win. It’s our CFI Christmas tradition.
Well that settles it. Your gift is going back to the store and you’re getting a lump of coal.
Well, I have to celebrate the end of the world for one of my sisters on the twenty-first. I haven’t seen her for years and only talk to her long enough to finish the weather talk and she’s gotta run. She’s seem to have forgotten what I stand for and assures me that “Celestine Prophesy” foretells something about the sun burning us up when the Earth, Moon, Galaxy(sic) and Sun align in a row.
Well, apparently, according to the Discovery channel that I am watching right now the World will end when the caldera in Yellowstone National Park erupts and spreads an ash cloud over the enter world snuffing out all life as we now it. as the narrator’s scary voice tells us, lava is on it’s way up to the fussures as we speak and it COULD happen any minute releasing energy equivalent to 1,000 atomic bombs! Take that paltry Mayans with your phoney baloney crystal skulls. We got earthquakes and volcanoes ready to kill us in a heartbeat. This is a real apocalyptic ending, not some cobbled together pseudo-scientific garbage.
I complain about how much I hate the holidays, refuse to go to any of the holiday family functions, the get guilt-tripped into going anyway by my mom, sister, and girlfriend. Sometimes, for variety, I lie about having things to do and stay home eating tacos and watching Drawn Together.
What do people here do during the [unspecified December holiday] season? Do you do anything?
We still call it Christmas. <shrug> For us, it’s mostly about another mythical character: Santa. We do the ‘traditional’ stuff: get a tree and decorate it; put lights outside; and buy presents for the kids (occasionally for the adults when finances allow). I also like to indulge in some cognitive dissonance and pretend that people (including myself) are a bit nicer this time of year.
The other day we (my family and I) were walking into Lowes garden department and a family with two toddlers was walking out. As our two groups passed, one of the toddlers looked at me, waved, and said: “Bye Santa!” That made my day!
e still call it Christmas. <shrug> For us, it’s mostly about another mythical character: Santa. We do the ‘traditional’ stuff: get a tree and decorate it; put lights outside; and buy presents for the kids (occasionally for the adults when finances allow). I also like to indulge in some cognitive dissonance and pretend that people (including myself) are a bit nicer this time of year
That’s exactly what I was about to post Derek. Xmas has never really been about religion for us, even when I was a kid. Oh, we did the obligatory “church on Sunday” sthick but it had no real meaning as much as everyone wanted to pretend it did. It was a chance to visit with the extended family for that one night in the year and see aunts, uncles and cousins you hadn’t seen since last xmas, exchange presents and eat. Mostly I liked the eating. Couldn’t really stand most of my cousins, still can’t and my family and I are considered the black sheep anyway. We’re liberal dem. skeptics in a room full of conservative rep. Fundamentalists. We sit and smile while listening to my aunts spout fox news crap about the war on Xmas and how they would chase the ACLU off their lawns if they tried to take baby jebus out of the manger. I do point out that the ACLU has no problem with their lighted blow up nativity scenes so long as they keep them off the courthouse lawn, and they turn and look at me as if I had two heads. When we leave my parent’s home I give them all them a parting shot and wish them all a “happy holiday” (purposely removing christ from Xmas) and they fire back a begrudging “merry Xmas” and the war on Xmas is over until next year.
I began reading Ken Follett’s second book of the Century Trilogy. And it makes me think of how grateful we should be living in today’s Germany and not the one between 1933 and 1945. The book is almost 1000 pages so I need the Christmas holidays to be able to finish it.
Traditional “wild party” Xmas eve at my place.( Was wilder when the kids were in their 20s and I in my 40s.) My son & his wife are hosting Xmas dinner for the first time at their new house.
We do the ‘traditional’ stuff: get a tree and decorate it; put lights outside; and buy presents for the kids (occasionally for the adults when finances allow). I also like to indulge in some cognitive dissonance and pretend that people (including myself) are a bit nicer this time of year. 
My son & his wife are hosting Xmas dinner for the first time at their new house.