This is my face from when I saw Santa in the Oakland Holiday Parade.
I know that Christmas is terrible for a lot of reasons, but it's also great for a lot of reasons. I especially like it this year because I don't have to go to school, and I had an insanely busy semester. Channing gets a much-needed vacation from work, too. Plus, our friend Gregg is coming to visit on Christmas!
I always like Christmas, whether or not there are friend visits or school vacations, because it's really over the top and ridiculous. I like that there is a mythology involving snowmen who come to life, elves who live at the North Pole making presents all year, and other equally ridiculous stuff. In fact, when I was a kid, the very idea of snow seemed like a crazy mythological thing because I never saw any until I moved "up north" to Missouri.
I like cookies, and my mom taught us how to decorate amazing gingerbread masterpieces from an early age using a variety of colored icings applied with toothpicks. Here's my dad with his freshly decorated Navy veteran in a Speedo Gingerbread Man.
Last year Channing got to decorate cookies with us for the first time. I talked about it for weeks beforehand and it was one of the most exciting parts of Christmas. My sister recently reported to me that her husband gets upset that he can't make the eyes, and she has to remind him that she's had years of practice.
I applied for a job as an elf for a mall Santa a few years ago. I got hired, but I didn't take it after they explained that the uniform was a red shirt and black pants, instead of the pointy shoes and striped tights I was hoping for. This year I went ice skating dressed as a snowwoman.
Oh, was I skating too fast? I guess that's because I am really good at skating! (Not really, but I only fell down once.) Ok, here is a picture of me going slower:
Channing went as a reindeer, but there are no pictures of him skating. He sat out most of the time and took pictures of the rest of us due to an ill-fitting skates-induced foot pain. Instead, for your viewing pleasure, I present you with our holiday card!
I love sending mail, so this is a good excuse to send something to everyone I know. Or at least everyone whose address I know. These are really fun to make. Channing did this year's, with some backseat photoshopping provided by me. The recipients think they are funny or think we are weird, but mostly people like them, as they already know we are weird!
Anyway, lately I've been hearing some of my friends talk about how Christmas is the worst because they're forced to listen to Christmas music for months and all the stores are decorated starting in October to encourage people to buy, buy, buy! And not everyone celebrates Christmas anyway! And I agree, that stuff sucks.
But! I am happy to say that I live an exceptionally charmed life in which
1. I don't have to work in a place that plays Christmas music, so I almost never hear any except in passing or by choice.
2. I don't own a TV, so I don't get bombarded with ads about buying stuff for Christmas. I don't watch a lot of shows so I don't get annoyed that every episode is a Christmas episode.
3. I never go shopping at the mall or almost anywhere else besides the grocery store, so I don't have to deal with crowds and angry shoppers.
4. Absurdity is one of my favorite things in the world, which is great at a time of the year in which there are often costumed gingerbread men or pine trees walking down the street. These tap-dancing Christmas trees, for example, are a yearly fixture in the Oakland Holiday parade.
And here are "Shamu and Friend" riding in a convertible even though it is impossible for them to ride in a convertible because they have to be in the water to live! But here they are, because of Christmas. I tried to get a picture sooner so you could see both of them, but they were driving like 2 mph, so it was understandably impossible for me to keep up.
I think it's an oversimplification to say that people who are annoyed by the media's and merchants' focus on Christmas should just get rid of their TV and stop going to the mall. It works for me, but I guess a lot of people really like shopping and watching TV, so telling them not to do it during a certain season isn't very reasonable. I do think it's reductive to claim that anyone is forcing you to listen to Christmas music, unless you have a job where it's played and there's no option to change it to something else. I've had those jobs, and it was pretty awful. Commercialism sucks, but Christmas really doesn't have to be about presents. It can be about religion, presents, cookies, dancing, ridiculous costumes, eating, getting drunk, or whatever else you want. If you hate what Christmas is for you, start your own traditions. Complaining isn't going to prevent merchants from trying to sell you things or stop the radio station from playing Christmas music. And in case you didn't notice, merchants are trying desperately to sell you things all year long, not just at Christmas. I'm not saying complaints aren't valid, just that they aren't especially productive.
I really want to read the book described here about the origins of modern Christmas. (This blog, Four Pounds Flour, is really good. It's all about historical foods, which the author often attempts to re-create. This particular post includes a recipe for Christmas cookies from 1796.)
We also went to the Nutcracker at the San Francisco Ballet this weekend. It was really amazing. The snowstorm! The set changes! The horses! OMG! The horses come in at 5:30 below, in case you don't want to watch a bunch of dancing but want to see ponies.
So much better than the Oakland Ballet's budget Nutcracker that we saw last year where the funny kids in the audience were the best part. Channing stayed awake the whole time and reported that he liked it even though he doesn't care about ballet at all. Sorry Oakland Ballet, I know you tried.
I'm going to make some cookies as soon as I get some sugar. Mine are going to be a lot less fluffy than this one, and more whimsically decorated.
Oh yeah, the other thing I'm excited about: Christmas vacation means I will have some time to work on editing my movie! I bet you thought I'd forgotten about it, but no! I have been thinking about it day and night, getting the songs stuck in my ears and the images stuck in my eyes. I am so excited to have time to work on it again. I'm currently still recovering from my semester, but soon!
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