#20: Hanging from the mistletoe

Well, Christmas is over. All in all, I was probably right not to get so worked up over it. Take solace in the fact that nobody will have to look at tinsel or hear "Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (or Destiny's Child's "8 days of Christmas," I haven't decided which is the worst Christmas song of all time) for another... 10 months.

It was a weird year. I stayed up to about 2 last night, and then nodded in and out this morning between 7 and 8. I so wanted to be moved by the old Christmas magic enough to spring out of bed and run around the house getting everybody up... but it was just uncalled for. It's not the old days anymore.

That's not to say we didn't have a jolly old time. Dad came over, gifts were exchanged and enjoyed. We sat and chatted, and after he left, Eric and I watched Scrubs Season 2 for about 3 hours, until the Aunts started arriving. Called to North Bay, which always feels like a chore if left too long, so it was good to do it immediately while the feeling of the season was upon us.

Cameron was bushed out. He even took no interest in the bounty of gifts for him, opting instead to collapse on the couch. When Aunt Karen arrived with Ali, we got to it.

I was a little miffed at one thing. I was supposed to get Blake Petit's book, "Other Peoples' Heroes," but Indigo, those bastards, didn't ship it on time, leaving me high and dry one gift short.

That's not to say it wasn't an enjoyable Christmas. It's always fun to see the babies, and Aunt Lori and I had an enjoyably intelligent and thoughtful discussion about media, fear, violence, etc. She's the family member to whom I've always best related.

I was watching the Care Bears Nutcracker with Cameron and Ali, which brought back many memories of being creeped out by the thought of a "rat king." And I thought about a "Vizier," a generic title for a villain, and why he hated Christmas so much. and then I formulated a theory: he was probably supposed to get a gift off Indigo one year, but it didn't deliver in time, and he's held a grudge against the holiday ever since.

So all the hubbub has died down and all that's left is a wrapping paper trail, and a sugar high from Aunt Karen's decadent Christmas Trifle. I'm not sure if we're going to do anything for Boxing Day, but I told Craig I was just to excuse myself from taking his shift (or was it Albert? I can't really tell.) Inevitably, after my last shift, I'll still get calls from those guys and have to tell them "man, I quit like a month ago."

I had a thought to add, completely unrelated, but I can't phrase it properly. If I say it the way I was thinking it, it would be clumsy, awkward, and embarrassing. Maybe I'll come back to it someday when I haven't got anything else to say, and when I've remembered how I was supposed to sat it in the first place.

Well I guess that was Christmas. Not un-merry, but kind of a let-down in the end. That's life.

Hope you've had a merry one. I hope you got what you wanted but more importantly, that what you gave was appreciated. Nothing's so sad as an unenjoyed gift.

Well, there is one thing: a ruined supper. That's just the saddest thing I can think of. Any meal that gets wrecked, really, is a damn shame, because usually somebdoy worked really hard.

Well, that's an odd note to end a Christmas post on, but there you are. I'm a weird note kinda guy.

Let's all enjoy what's left of 2005... we'll find some way to do something.

Keep on Rockin'
---Scottor