Christmas Musings

Feeling conflicted about laughing? That's okay, so am I.


Anyway - I get the feeling I am going to offend people this time around . . . so, uh . . . there was your warning.


~ So for about the last month I've been looking forward to going to the mall and picking a name off the angel tree and finding the perfect present for some sweet little kid who deserves it. I'm sure you can all imagine my disappointment at seeing that there is no such tree at the mall this year. Instead . . . I'm not really sure just who this tree is providing for or why - since there was neither sign nor explanation anywhere in sight - but suffice it to say that were we able to afford a flat screen tv we'd be a little greedy and get one for ourselves first, and things like frosting and twine and scrapbook paper just don't inspire any sort of "doing such a good deed" feelings. And I'm really curious as to who decided the kids didn't need anything this year.


~ Remember the Christmas "warriors"? Of course you do, they wouldn't let you forget them if your life depended on it. They REALLY seem to be out in full force this year. And by that, of course, I mean that I am seeing people among my facebook friends choosing to be counted among their number. It's been rather disheartening, and frankly has been driving me nuts . . . as you may have noticed with a few of my recent facebook statuses (stati?). I get the feeling that my last rant will far exceed the character limit on facebook - so I shall preach to the choir (but pretend the people who need to see it actually will):

You know what the most obnoxious thing is about the people who are all "you can say 'happy holidays' to other people but you better say 'merry Christmas' to ME!" on facebook for, like, the entire month of December? Not only is it passive-aggressive, it's pretty much the most useless thing a Christmas "warrior" could possibly do! I mean, HELLO!!! The people you're friends with on facebook? They're, like, you know, your . . . FRIENDS. As in - people you actually know (theoretically). People who know you. People who know you celebrate Christmas and therefore shower you with the appropriate greeting. You know who doesn't see your rant? People you don't know, who don't know you, and who therefore do not know what you celebrate. Believe it or not, when you post something like that it is not broadcast on the evening news along with your profile picture to make sure that everyone in the vicinity knows what to say to you. That tired, overworked cast member . . . I mean cashier . . . that you screamed at because it's okay for them to tell other people happy holidays but they should just know to tell you merry Christmas? Guess what - they have NO WAY of "just knowing" who you are and what you do. They have a 50/50 chance of getting it right or offending you and they happened to guess wrong. But they've never seen you before and they'll never see you again (lucky them) and they probably don't really care how you spend December 25. And seriously what is up with this "it's okay for others but I want it my way" mentality? You may as well post a status that says "include everyone on your own time, when you're with me I prefer excluding people" or "I'm more important than everyone else so make sure you cater to my preferences." Seriously, what makes happy holidays okay to say to others (presumably including other people who celebrate Christmas) but utterly unacceptable for strangers to say to you? That sort of self-important privileged thinking quite frankly disgusts me, and I'm really hoping the small number of my friends who have re-posted it did so without actually thinking about what they were saying.

Okay, that went on a little longer than I was anticipating. You people need to stop me when I get on a roll like that . . . :-)

Anyway. Moving on.

~ Our tree is the little 3 foot baby tree I've had since college. Years of outdoor storage have taken their toll, and when I put it up 3 weeks ago one of the branches didn't come out of the box with the rest of the tree . . . the plastic just snapped. It's a little sad I suppose . . . but Walmart has trees twice the size for $20. And now we have room for one that size so I will SOOOOO be snatching one up around this time next week - YAY!!!!!!!!! Full size Christmas tree again!!!!!! Here's wishing a real tree was a little more affordable. Also - we may have to finally invest in some lights for our bigger tree.

~ Fully prepared for there to be no repeat of last year's Christmas awkward on Wednesday . . . which means, of course, that some random person I never talk to is going to show up with some hand woven tablecloth or something. (Oh! Oh! I know - Katie, what do you want to bet Ms. How-do-you-scroll shows up with some loving crafted quilts or something, lol)

~ If we do not have a white Christmas I will be seriously unhappy. If I liked green Christmases we'd still be in Florida. (well - it's a lot more complicated than that . . . but it sounded good!)

~ There is an inflatable Christmas tree out on our "front lawn." It's tall enough to just about reach our windows. I'd just like to take a moment to remind everyone that we're on the second level - and state that I've never really understood the whole inflatable lawn decorations thing.

Anyway . . . yeah. Woo hoo for Christmas . . . and all the other holidays and any other excuse people can find to party this month. Yay!!

P. ost S. cript
Saw this commercial a couple of hours ago and I am still cracking up. I can only assume that Clapper sales have been dropping off the last couple of years . . . you can only get someone so many of those and chia pets every year before you just need a new no-thought-required gift. So let's upgrade the old one!!! :-)