Chrishanukkah

Well folks, Christmas is barreling down on me like a atomic-bomb laden with bitter cold, sparkly lights and a catchy jingle. Anyone who knows anything, realizes death by jingle is the worst way to go. Christmas, like most of reality, was much better when I was a child. For one, I didn't have to get anyone anything. Although, Mom was the exception and I would make her something like an oven mitt at school and with great pride await her to bestow her gratuitous thanks upon me. Don't get me wrong, I love the anticipation of someone opening a present I had bought them and then the actual opening, which usually lasts about 26 seconds. Other than that, the processes is wretched. The planning, the finding, fighting through the mini-van and SUV stuffed parking lots, hoping you made the right choice, hoping you spent enough, trying to track packages down from overworked mail persons, it is all nauseating. Also, when I was a kid, Christmas lasted about 16 hours. We had Christmas eve, Christmas morning and after dinner my gift unwrapping high had already plummeted and I was planning my selections for the following year. Fast forward to present day. Christmas planning now begins a few days before Thanksgiving, which is ludicrous, and will continue a full 2 days beyond Christmas day. Every year I seem to buy more and more people more and more stuff and go to more and more Christmas functions. I used to think Ebenezer Scrooge was such a drag, but now I just want to hang out with him and exchange neatly wrapped boxes of our discontent. Truth be told, I will probably have much more fun than I act like, it just doesn't make for a very good post, at least not for me, I will let somebody else tell you stories of Christmas miracles.