Season's Greetings

Well, tis the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring except for a couple of mice, which indicate a much larger rodent infestation problem that should be addressed prior to inviting people over to celebrate the holidays. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care (except if you live in a residency that does not have a fireplace in which case you might as well just wallow in the sad state of your existence or rent a chimney for the night)with the hope that St. Nicholas would soon be there. (I wonder if Santa ever gets pissed off at always having to work on Christmas Eve.)

Yes, it is the night before the big day and I hope everyone is gathering with their loved ones or the nearest approximation of loved ones. Look, no matter how cynical I actually am, and trust me you haven't even seen the level of cynicism I am capable of, this really is a special time of year. What else can make people travel in horrible weather, risk getting stranded at airports, brave crowds at shopping malls just to spend a day celebrating with the ones they love. It is really a sign of all that is right in the world.

Typically I use this night before Christmas post as my place to ask that Santa bring me a fire truck. Every year I ask for a fire truck and I never get one because apparently the obese guy who really needs to start using Wii Fit has decided that my behavior has not been appropriately "good" for one even though I have never been provided with any metrics regarding good or bad behavior. Where is more scorecard and waterfall charts I ask you? Where is the evidence? No, some random guy who lives at the North Pole and runs an illegal sweatshop using forced labor has decided that I do not deserve a fire truck with extendable ladder and working lights and sirens. That is what I have asked for every year.

But this year I'm not. Last week I got my Christmas present. Kim and I are engaged. It still feels weird to write that but I am smiling while doing it. This blog has really been a document of my life to reach this moment and I don't know if I ever truly believed that it would happen. But it has and I am happier than ever. I hope everyone out there has the same feeling that I have tonight. It would make the world a much happier place.

Merry Christmas everyone. Even you, Tiny Tim.

Holiday Thoughts

I'm just going to toss out some random holiday thoughts as I am more that worn out from a day filled with family and food and more little ones running around the house than you could ever imagine.



I really enjoyed the fact that the local news, in addition to the usual stories from the homeless shelters and donation sites, had a story from a Chinese restaurant. I had never actually seen a news story that basically went, "If you ever wondered where the people who don't celebrate Christmas go, here you are. Let's observe them in their natural habitat."



One of the things I miss is the joy of getting up on Christmas morning. I no longer get to race down a flight of stairs in order to see what I got. Now I try to a) stay under the covers so I can get as much sleep as possible and b) recognize the fact that getting up early will not result in my getting any presents any earlier as we exchange them in the mid-afternoon.



Once again, Santa did not get me a fire truck this year thus making it twenty five years that the fat guy in the red suit has let me down. And I've been good this year. Ok, mostly good. I mean, what do I do that is so wrong? Oh yeah, the heartless cynicism. Right.



I still don't get the heartless part. I had an electrocardiogram this year. I actually have pictures of my heart. So there is proof that I have one, just that it is three sizes too small.



I am also a little bummed by the fact that Midnight Mass now takes place at 10 PM at my church. Partly because of the blatant false advertising but mainly because it reduces the number of people who arrive at church after a night of drinking. It always provided a last call atmosphere to the event that is sorely missed much of the year. Still, it is my favorite mass because of the fact that it is set apart at a special time and it features the intoning of the date where we discuss the date of the nativity in such terms as olympiads and years from the founding of Rome. I loved that as a kid and I still enjoy it today.



Yes I did get a Christmas present of a Notre Dame victory in a bowl game. I wish people wouldn't react to it as though ND has now returned to national prominence. We beat a bad Hawaii team in a meaningless bowl game. This isn't a celebration of how great we are; it is more like "wow, we didn't screw up this time." Also, what does it say when Weis doesn't even leave the press box at halftime? Did he at least call down to the locker room?



And no matter how cynical I am, getting to be surrounded by my family and looking at the same stockings and ornaments that we have had since I was a kid is a wonderful thing. Sometimes it is all you wish for in the world.



I might toss another post out this weekend. Enjoy the long weekend either way.

Thoughts on what is important

Comment on the Board Game Post: You seem to be missing "Life"

My reaction: Finally someone identifies what it is that I ponder while sitting in the dark late at night.

It is Christmas Eve, large portions of the country have snow on the ground, NORAD is tracking Santa and I am going to try to remove my sarcastic hat for a little bit. This is a major challenge as sarcasm is my main defense against this world to the point that people can't tell the difference between my sarcasm and my honesty any more. Earlier this week I joked that I was in the hunt to be cast in the fourth season of Beauty and the Geek and people believed it. I'm not sure what worried me more a) the fact that people thought I qualified as a contestant, b) the fact that people thought I was the type of guy who would apply for the show or c) that no one can tell where the cynicism stops and the honest begins. None of those are pleasant thoughts.

Still, this is the time of the year when you have to do your best to view the world in a sense of snow covered innocence. I've mentioned it before but one of the reasons I love the snow is that it covers all of the imperfections of the world with a white sheen. Everything becomes clean and pure. horrible to drive on and a pain to shovel, but there is a serenity to the scene. A serenity that adds to the heart of the day.

Here is what I love about the Christmas story. It is a story of God entering the world not as an adult but as a helpless child born in the simplest, basic, almost downtrodden environment. It is not a story of God entering as a heroic leader, or as a fiery avenger, or even a wise prophet. It is a story of an innocent child entering the world in a stable with nothing but a loving family surrounding him.

And that is what the day is about. Surrounding yourself with a loving family. All of the stories about people stuck at the airport trying to get home for the holidays showcase how important it is to be with the people you love on this day. No one is willing to sleep at O'Hare in order to get a Best Buy gift card but people will willingly do so just to be together for this one day a year. As much as we might have issues within our families they are still the people who will love you unconditionally. The people who will pick you up at your lowest point and remind you of your best self. We do not take enough time in our lives to remember this; it all gets caught up in the noise of every day life. But at least one day of the year we try to thank each other for all of the good that they do for us every day of the year. And I wish I could bottle up the feeling and keep it near me at all times. It would help me through a lot of dark nights.

So I sincerely (and yes, I can be sincere) wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy the day with the ones you love and cherish the moments that you have. Because life is a precious thing that should not be wasted or missed. We do too much of that as it is.

Holiday spirit (Bah Humbug edition)

Lots of holiday related thoughts on my mind as I actually did some Christmas shopping today. I mean, I could wait until Christmas morning and make my purchases at Walgreens like I usually do but I thought that I would try this year. Anyway, here are some thoughts on the season so far.

1) Did Jesus ever get pissed for having his birthday on Christmas? He was screwed out of presents every year and even when he did get something it was completely useless. Myrrh? How about a big wheel instead?

2) A few weeks ago I did my Holiday Viewing Guide and I was very upset that my favorite Christmas special was not scheduled to be aired on any network throughout the entire season. How can I make it through the month of December without watching Emmitt Otter’s Jugband Christmas? How are children today supposed to learn the importance of not putting a hole in the washtub or the wonders of forming your own bluegrass band? This was a true favorite of mine: a Muppet retelling of the O. Henry story featuring otters. What can be more Christmas than that? Ok, the California Raisins Christmas Special, which featured singing camels, but nothing else.

3) I read online today that KB Toys has filed for bankruptcy for like the twelfth time and is now closing its stores. When you can’t make money in a toy store at Christmas you can tell that the economy is bad. That said, KB Toys was the mall toy store you never really wanted to shop at. There was no order, you always had those yapping plastic dogs running around and for some reason everything seemed to have been made out of the cheapest material possible. I much preferred Toys R Us for my shopping escapades.

4) Oh, speaking of companies taking economic hits I finally realized which company is suffering the most this holiday season. The makers of the giant red bows you place on top of new cars must be tearing their hair out right now. I know that many people are against the Detroit bailout but think about the giant red bow manufacturing industry! If there is anything more American than a superfluous red bow on a large piece of machinery I know not of it.

5) I have been having a huge problem getting into the holiday spirit. It’s not because I’m a Grinch (look, having a heart three sizes too small isn’t that unusual); I think it is more due to my situation. Part of it is that I have absolutely no Christmas decorations up in my apartment. That is one of those things that happens when you are single and live alone. The idea of buying, much less putting up, a tree when you are the only who will see it seems kind of silly. But not having lights or stockings up means that my apartment looks no different than it does any other time of the year.

6) The other issue is one of location. It is not as much that I am away from my family but that for six years now I have been living in places where winter isn’t really winter. We’ve had two snowfalls in Delaware so far and they have both melted the next day (though still being severe enough to send people skidding off the road apparently). I can’t feel as though it is Christmas if I look out and everything is nice and clear. I have no idea how people in Florida handle this time of year. Christmas means snow on the ground and sweaters and shoveling driveways. I don’t really miss that I now avoid the below zero wind chills of my native Chicago but I really do miss the snow.

Best of 120 Minutes: In keeping with the Christmas theme, it is time for my yearly posting of Do They Know It’s Christmas. This year I’ll post the Band Aid 20 version because I don’t think anyone has ever actually heard this version. I’ll still say that this is one of the best songs ever written. It still puts a chill up my spine.

The time and the season

I don’t know if this is a result of where I live or how I live but it is really difficult for me to get into the holiday spirit. I know that part of this is just a factor of getting older and realizing that I will never look at getting presents with quite as much glee as I did as a nine year old. But there are some other factors there and I kind of want to talk about them.

One of which can either be described as either global warming or what it is like living a little farther south than I would typically like. See for me Christmas is synonymous with snow. While that wasn’t always the case growing up I am used to snow covered ground on Christmas morning. Here in KC we got a really nice three inch snowfall over the weekend where at one point it looked like a near whiteout. One of those storms that let you know that winter is here and it is time to focus on the season. Or that is what you would do if it wasn’t in the forties today and all the snow has melted. So instead of having everything covered in a blanket of pure, white snow I get to spend my drive to work looking at dead, yellow grass and trees with half their leaves still stubbornly staying put. That just doesn’t seem like Christmas to me.

I can’t really understand what someone who grew up in California associates with Christmas. The weather is the same weather it always is. I can’t see a kid going “I have to wear a windbreaker that means Christmastime is here.” I know this is a minor thing but to me it is as important as lights on houses and specials on television. It lets you know that time has passed.

But probably the bigger factor is how I live or at least how I experience the world. Most of my week is spent in an office where besides a few token decorations every day looks like every other day. As I’ve often said, I can’t even see a window so there is no sense of a holiday. At best you have a sense of people rushing to use the last of their vacation before they lose it. That’s just an odd state of affairs. Now I’m not fond of Secret Santa or any other organized holiday festivities but my office certainly isn’t a place that puts you in the spirit.

The rest of my life, well, it doesn’t match the pictures in commercials either. When you design for yourself a space age bachelor pad existence the holidays really don’t factor into the equation. I lack certain items like a tree or a wreath, which makes things seem a little less than festive. Again, I’m not sure if I find anything wrong with that. My life is at a point where having those things would seem completely silly. But I know I’m missing something and it bothers me.

I’ve been writing about the trappings of the season and I know those have little to nothing to do with the entire spirit of the time. A time to take a step back and recollect and thank those who help us through the year. I understand the meaning of Christmas but that doesn’t mean I always get to experience it. That’s what the trappings are for, to help provide emotional cues. It might be silly and cliché but sometimes that’s what you need in order to experience the moment.

Since it’s Wednesday and I needed to post a song I decided to go with the greatest Christmas song ever (and not just because I won money in a trivia contest for knowing that Midge Ure was the cowriter.)