The time in between

We all like this part of the Christmas season, don't we? The week in between Christmas and New Years Day, where the holiday feel is still upon us yet the exhaustion of the time is gone? I know I do.

It isn't, and I feel as though I say this a lot, that I don't like Christmas and even the anticipation of Christmas. Yet I don't care at all for the trappings of it. I am admittedly lazy about the decorations and preparations for Christmas. This is in part because I am lazy about what I consider unimportant (and much of what 'must' get done for Christmas is indeed unimportant) but also because the devil in the details has reached the point of taking over Christmas. Christmas is spectacularly important on its own. We do not need the perfect backdrop to improve on that. I'd be okay simply enjoying time with family and friends watching the specials, listening to the carols, eating pizza and leaving it at that.

The week in between I think supports this point. We're beyond the traps yet still have time to enjoy that holiday feeling. The pressure and the worry, the very things which Christmas is supposed to relieve us of (yet we hoist upon ourselves), is actually gone. We can simply enjoy the time now.

I'm not sure Christmas gets any better than this week in between.

Cosplay Christmas

I will confess up front that I am about to go way too far to relate a simple enough joke. But that's okay. I have the time to kill and apparently you do too.

Cosplay (you'll need to know this) is when you dress up for fun as a favorite character of yours from the fiction world, sort of like dressing up for Halloween or a costume party. To be honest, I used to mock it. Then they day came when I realized that when I am buttoning up one of my Detroit Tigers jerseys as I put it on I feel, if only for a moment, that I actually am a Detroit Tiger. So anymore I cut cosplayers a bit of slack.

Now, one thing that our family and a great many others have done for Christmas is get Christmas poppers. They're little gift wrapped sleeves with tiny gifts in them. You can read about them here:

https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/crackers.shtml  

What you do is you and a friend grab opposite ends of one of the poppers and pull. It pops open and you get the contents. Then you do it again so that the friends gets gifts too. 

It is a neat little bit of childlike fun, and while the gifts are only the trinket variety hey, remember, it's fun. Yet I've noticed that there is one common gift which seems to be in each and every popper: a small paper crown. You know, the kind with eight or ten points on it, just like Jughead Jones wore in the old Archie comics.

We were watching a Christmas special yesterday as a family in the show got out some poppers. Soon enough everyone was wearing one of those paper crowns. Soon after that someone else remarked, "Cosplaying Jughead is a treasured family tradition for us."

Look, reading this this far for that payoff isn't my fault. As I said earlier, you clearly had the time to kill. 

Christmas 2020

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Merry Christmas everybody

It's Christmas Eve

Tonight is the night. God, who loved the world so much, sends his Son into the world as the weakest thing possible: a child, an infant, a mere baby. He could have sent hordes of angels or simply taken the just to Heaven and obliterated the evildoers. Yet He didn't...because all human life is sacred and He wanted all to have a shot at salvation.

Stop shopping. If you don't have what you need by now, you've got enough. Stop putting up decorations. The house looks fine. Stop trying to save the world: you won't (and that's why He's coming anyway). 

Don't worry about the food: there's plenty in the larder, undoubtedly enough that you ought to give some to the needy. And not just the old can of asparagus at the back of the shelf. Something instead which the poor and hungry would appreciate as you would.

Don't fret if you don't see everyone, each family member and friend dear to you, at Christmas or at all during the holidays. You know you love and appreciate them. They know this about you as well.

Stop saving the economy and start saving yourself from all which ails the world. Do what you can, and none of it in excess, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Okay, now it's December. Now I will talk about Christmas. 

I really don't hate Christmas. I really love it. I have great memories of the Holiday season with a great many people, some are gone and some remain as John Lennon says, but all pleasant. But me being me, I'll start off being funny. Or attempting to be funny as you like it.

My favorite Christmas songs of the novelty genre are:

1. I Really Don't Hate Christmas, by Dr. Heinz Doofensmirtz. You see, he's an evil scientist and like evil scientists he hates everything. But he doesn't 'hate' Christmas so he can't destroy it. Make sense?

2. Christmas at Ground Zero, by Weird Al Yankovic. A truly funny take on traditional Christmas carols and traditional Yuletide themes. I love it! Classic Weird Al. Look up the video, it's a hoot.

3. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, by Gayla Peevey. Simply a cute, fun song with an infectious beat.

4. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, by Dr. Seuss. Come on, you love it. Especially knowing he's good guy at the end.

5. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, by Elmo and Patsy. A must on any Holiday shuffle.

That's it for now, and I'm only just getting started! Merry Christmas everybody!