Tag Archives: holidays

‘Tis the Season…to Consume

Yes, still procrastinating on the novel. Start a new chapter, reveal who’s gonna be taking over for Stavin, reveal her connection to Maree…then leave ya hanging for a couple weeks. Those of you still hangin’, that is. I’m snowed in tomorrow most likely, so might be a good time for some power writing.

In the meantime, I wanted to find out from y’all how you deal with the consumer/consumption aspect of this gift-giving season (Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Festivus, whatever).

Myself and Mrs. Blue, we’ve been trying to live a lot leaner, and not just because we’re short on income these days (though I have some hope of see things improve in terms of the size of my clientele soon). We’re also faced with a little girl who always wants, wants, wants. Little Girl Blue is delightful. She’s smart, perceptive, loving, kind, and many other positive things. But she also has some intense personality features that challenge my patience, and her desire to have so many things—which seems a bit more than the usual 4-year-old, Id-fueled level of desire—is one of those traits which drives me up a wall.

So, while I don’t desire to deny her gifts this season, the wife and I do want to accentuate the real reason we’re celebrating toward the end of December, and so I don’t want Christmas to be all about ripping paper off boxes and then forgetting about half the stuff she just opened after an hour has gone by.

What I think we are going to do is have a “9 Days of Christmas” kind of thing, with her opening 1 gift on Christmas Eve and then one each day thereafter, all the way to New Year’s Day. Given her number of gifts, once you factor in the ones from relatives, she may get to open two or three on Christmas Day.

Anyway, it seemed like a good way to make her appreciate the gifts more if she doesn’t have all of them piled around her feet all at once, while also playing up the season and the approach of the new year a bit more.

I don’t know…what do you think of that? And do you have any special plans to de-commercialize or redefine your approach to the holidays?

Holiday Mop-Up by Miz Pink

pinkhair-britney-spearsI see Deke bailed on us yesterday the lazy bum.

Not that I have much to say today either to be honest.

Except that if you made it through the holidays so far and didn’t kill any family members (or vice-versa) and you didn’t get decapitated by Santa’s sleigh sled-blade-thingies or pummeled by reindeer hoofs, don’t get cocky.

New Years Day is coming up. You know: Amateur Night. Folks who don’t drink heavy most of the year suddenly think they can pound them down all night and then drive home. Believe me I know. I did it myself a few times until I wised up and realized that staying at home and cuddling up with someone and with something bubbly to ring in the new year was much nicer. I’ll take falling asleep on the couch over a DWI or getting hit by one any day.

If you feel you just won’t survive unless you’re out on the town, just be careful. Be careful of others and be carefly of yourself.

Let’s all come home safe and start off 2009 with as few tragedies as possible…aside from the 5-pound holiday weight gain.