Christmas and I have a bit of a love hate relationship. I guess that is a funny thing to say about a holiday, but its true. Over the past few years I have come to realize that the part of the holiday I like the most is picking out what gifts I want to give people, and the anticipation of actually giving those gifts on Christmas. As I get older, I find that I care less and less about what others might get for me. My family says that I am hard to shop for, and maybe thats why I don’t really care what people get me.
A number of years ago, my siblings and I started putting our Christmas lists on Amazon. Amazon is a huge store, so even if you can’t find some specific thing you really have to have, you can at least put stuff there that you want or need. Now I purchased things for my siblings from Amazon this year, but my mom and sister threw me for a loop. They said that they didn’t like to get me things from Amazon, because then I would know what I was getting. Somehow, they wanted me to make a list of things I want, tell them, but not actually know what is on the list that I made. I don’t get it either.
With all the anticipation of Christmas morning, I really hate that it only lasts thirty minutes. It took me weeks to plan out what I was getting my family and friends, and in less then an hour it was all done. Sometimes I wonder if the Jewish have the right idea. Wouldn’t it be nice if your gifts were spread out over a few days? I’m not saying it has to be eight days, I’m just saying that Christmas should last a little longer.
I guess that everyone’s Christmas traditions are a little different, but I think ours are pretty normal. Christmas morning we open gifts with the immediate family, and Christmas evening we open gifts with the extended family. My mom has another tradition, you see she spends everyday of they year making a mess. Whether that mess be made from the 8 billion pages she unnecessarily prints off the internet, or mail, or just junk, she piles it up all over the house all year long. She has piles in the living room, the dining room, and especially the kitchen. Most people have a kitchen table, we have a pile of crap. Anyway, for the few short hours between opening gifts and when the extended family arrives, my mom yells and screams at people to help her clean up the house, because the place is a freakin’ sty. A lot of years my sister (whom I don’t really get along with) likes to get involved. So this year, after the presents I had two people bitching at me about how I should be cleaning this or cleaning that, and of course my mom doesn’t want to throw away anything. One day this house will explode with crap. I have no doubt. Sometimes, and today was no different, there is just a limit to what I can take. When it came time for lunch, I had to leave. I picked up a pizza for my dad and I. Casey’s pizza is really good (and cheap), and is probably about the only thing open on Christmas (yes that gas station). I know we have done Casey’s pizza on Christmas before…maybe is will become a tradition.
What I got after the break…
Okay, so no Christmas post is complete without a complete wrapup of what the author (ME) got. So here goes:
Jake (my brother) got me some socks. I am particularly fond of these under-armor socks, and have been wearing them for a number of years.
Amy (my sister) got me some “old man” slacks and two tee shirts.  I call them old man slacks, because they are grey, and honestly I will probably never wear them. I can’t wear them with my sports coat (cause its blue); I can’t wear them with my work shirts (cause casual shirts don’t look right with gray slacks); and I have no button down shirts. So while I appreciate the thought, the truth is I will never wear them. I haven’t tried on the tee shirts yet, but if they aren’t long enough to be tucked in…yeah I won’t wear them either.
My mom got me something like a pound of peppermint. I was really surprised. I guess it goes back to that hard to shop for thing. She also got me a single floor standing speaker. Its a JBL Venue Series Stadium 8-Inch 3-Way Speaker. Its pretty cool, but the unfortunate thing with speakers is that you have to buy them in pairs. So now I will need to go buy a matching speaker. Luckily, they are on sale, so woo.
More to come later.
Straight up, next level bullshit. 
