Thursday, December 10, 2009
comments
Ok, all....I fixed my page so comments are a little easier to leave now. Turns out I had the comment moderator on the most difficult setting.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Happy Holdays!
Or as i usually say, Bah Humbug!
I'm sorry. I just can't help it. I hate the holidays.
Dont get me wrong...I don't hate what they stand for. I just hate what they have become.
One of my neighbors has had their Christmas lights up since mid-October (and they probably won't take them down until mid-February). People spend way too much money on gifts often putting them in debt until July. Grocery stores are so overrun with shoppers that you can't even find the bare necessities. And don't even get me started on goodwill towards all! There are more fights around the holidays than any other time of year.
I hate the holidays.
But there are certain things that I don't hate. And they are the things we should hold onto because they quickly seem to be slipping away.
I love Christmas cards. I admit that in recent years I haven't sent them out to everyone like I should and I promise to try better. But I do love getting them. Got my first of the season today! I love the fact that someone took the time to write my name, look up my address, sign a card, buy stamps, and put it in the mail-all for me! Yes it's nice to get a text or an email, but it only takes a second to push a button on a computer. It takes so much more time and effort to send a card. We get way too many bills in the mail. Isn't it nice to find a card in the middle of all the junk? I love them, cherish them and I do keep them. I still have cards from my grandmother and from time to time I get them out just to see her handwriting.
I love Christmas carols. Nothing beats Elvis. I can listen to him sing Christmas songs all day long. Blue Christmas is tops. I have some of his carols on my ipod and I listen to it throughout the year. I cry when I hear him croon out the line "I'll be home for Christmas....if only in my dreams." It does bother me that radio stations have been playing carols since before halloween, but I will confess that I put them on the radio.
I love Christmas specials. I haven't watched The Charlie Brown Christmas Special in years, but when I see it's on the tellie, I feel better about the world. My favorite is "Twas the Night Before Christmas." I love that little mouse. Stations don't show it as much as they should and it's hard to find, but when I do, I make the time to watch.
I love traditions. Or as my cousin, Chris, called them when he was a little kid 'reditions." Everyone has their own differnt ones. My favorite is putting out my stocking on Christmas Eve that my gram crocheted for all the grandkids. Mine was Rudolph. It still gets filled each year. Yes. I'm thirty-six and I still get a stocking every Christmas morning. Its the first thing I look for.
I love Santa. I still believe he exists. I just think he has a different M.O. now. Parents buy their kids everything they need and/or could want anymore. And the population increase had him stretched way too thin anyways! Santa has become more selective. He knows where he's needed the most and shows up there. He may not put together playstations, but he travels around incognito and puts the spirit of Christmas in people's hearts making them his unofficial helpers. They bring joy into the hearts of those who need it the most. Sometimes it could be a volunteer in a retirement home who spends extra time with an elderly person just listening, or a maintenance man at Children's hospital who takes extra time stringing christmas decorations for poor little kids who are stuck there faced with the possibilty of never seeing another Christmas. Perhaps it was Santa who made one of us stop and put a five or ten dollar bill into the Salvation Army bucket instead of throwing in loose change or passing it by altogether in our hectic dash to buy more things we don't really need. I know he's real. Even in my scroogelike state, I see evidence of him everywhere.
Oh, yeah. And I forgot to mention that I saw him flying over my gram's house when I was little. Rudolph's nose was leading the way. Its true! I saw it. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in her bedroom and my mother was yelling at me to go to bed. I checked out the window and saw him flying over Clifton Road. I aint making this shit up!
If I don't get a chance to tell you, I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas. I didn't get into the religious aspects of the holidays on here, because to each their own, but please realize that when I said 'Merry Christmas!' I mean just that.
I'm not accepting Christmas gifts this year, but what I think would be nice is if anyone would, please leave a comment on here, telling me about a favorite Christmas tradition or memory that you have. Those are the kind of gifts I cherish the most. If at least 10 people do, I'll tell the q-tip Christmas story.
I'm sorry. I just can't help it. I hate the holidays.
Dont get me wrong...I don't hate what they stand for. I just hate what they have become.
One of my neighbors has had their Christmas lights up since mid-October (and they probably won't take them down until mid-February). People spend way too much money on gifts often putting them in debt until July. Grocery stores are so overrun with shoppers that you can't even find the bare necessities. And don't even get me started on goodwill towards all! There are more fights around the holidays than any other time of year.
I hate the holidays.
But there are certain things that I don't hate. And they are the things we should hold onto because they quickly seem to be slipping away.
I love Christmas cards. I admit that in recent years I haven't sent them out to everyone like I should and I promise to try better. But I do love getting them. Got my first of the season today! I love the fact that someone took the time to write my name, look up my address, sign a card, buy stamps, and put it in the mail-all for me! Yes it's nice to get a text or an email, but it only takes a second to push a button on a computer. It takes so much more time and effort to send a card. We get way too many bills in the mail. Isn't it nice to find a card in the middle of all the junk? I love them, cherish them and I do keep them. I still have cards from my grandmother and from time to time I get them out just to see her handwriting.
I love Christmas carols. Nothing beats Elvis. I can listen to him sing Christmas songs all day long. Blue Christmas is tops. I have some of his carols on my ipod and I listen to it throughout the year. I cry when I hear him croon out the line "I'll be home for Christmas....if only in my dreams." It does bother me that radio stations have been playing carols since before halloween, but I will confess that I put them on the radio.
I love Christmas specials. I haven't watched The Charlie Brown Christmas Special in years, but when I see it's on the tellie, I feel better about the world. My favorite is "Twas the Night Before Christmas." I love that little mouse. Stations don't show it as much as they should and it's hard to find, but when I do, I make the time to watch.
I love traditions. Or as my cousin, Chris, called them when he was a little kid 'reditions." Everyone has their own differnt ones. My favorite is putting out my stocking on Christmas Eve that my gram crocheted for all the grandkids. Mine was Rudolph. It still gets filled each year. Yes. I'm thirty-six and I still get a stocking every Christmas morning. Its the first thing I look for.
I love Santa. I still believe he exists. I just think he has a different M.O. now. Parents buy their kids everything they need and/or could want anymore. And the population increase had him stretched way too thin anyways! Santa has become more selective. He knows where he's needed the most and shows up there. He may not put together playstations, but he travels around incognito and puts the spirit of Christmas in people's hearts making them his unofficial helpers. They bring joy into the hearts of those who need it the most. Sometimes it could be a volunteer in a retirement home who spends extra time with an elderly person just listening, or a maintenance man at Children's hospital who takes extra time stringing christmas decorations for poor little kids who are stuck there faced with the possibilty of never seeing another Christmas. Perhaps it was Santa who made one of us stop and put a five or ten dollar bill into the Salvation Army bucket instead of throwing in loose change or passing it by altogether in our hectic dash to buy more things we don't really need. I know he's real. Even in my scroogelike state, I see evidence of him everywhere.
Oh, yeah. And I forgot to mention that I saw him flying over my gram's house when I was little. Rudolph's nose was leading the way. Its true! I saw it. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in her bedroom and my mother was yelling at me to go to bed. I checked out the window and saw him flying over Clifton Road. I aint making this shit up!
If I don't get a chance to tell you, I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas. I didn't get into the religious aspects of the holidays on here, because to each their own, but please realize that when I said 'Merry Christmas!' I mean just that.
I'm not accepting Christmas gifts this year, but what I think would be nice is if anyone would, please leave a comment on here, telling me about a favorite Christmas tradition or memory that you have. Those are the kind of gifts I cherish the most. If at least 10 people do, I'll tell the q-tip Christmas story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)