A Modern Day Christmas Greeting...

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all...

And, a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of the other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, national origin, disability, or political affiliation.

(Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for him/herself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.)

A Rare Bit of Christmas Spirit...

Just so that it's on the record, I absolutely HATE this time of year. For a variety of reasons most of which I will not go into here. I will say that this season brings back too many bad memories and buried frustrations and mixes it with a disgust fueled by the cynical view of the world I have. Now, I'm not trying to convince other people to hate the holidays. If this time of year brings you warm, fuzzy feelings and makes you all gooey inside, more power to you. I am not a completely evil, heartless, soulless bastard. (NOTE: I said "not completely".) I don't begrudge everyone else having a happy holiday season, just don't push your good cheer on me!

That being said, there are certain points of quality entertainment that I enjoy related to this season that allow me to get through every year. I want to share with you one of them.

Back when I was growing up (oh so long ago, it seems...), there was one Christmas special that I enjoyed watching. For some reason this special tapped into a version of Christmas that felt very real for me. And the music wasn't cloying or overly saccharine. My favorite song was their version of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by none other than "The California Raisins"!!



Doesn't that video just ROCK!!! If you get the chance, check out the whole special. It's only a half hour, but it's pretty cool!

My Christmas List...

My history with Christmas is not a pleasant one. Most of my memories of this "Festive" holiday involve a great deal of emotional and physical pain. Consequently, christmas has become a non-event in my eyes. You will not see me getting a Christmas tree, lights, or any other such holiday nonsense. To all that crap, I give a wholehearted, "Bah Humbug!!"

Now unlike the villians of Christmas, Scrooge & The Grinch, I don't care if anyone else has a good time. Go, be merry, exchange gifts, kiss under mistletoe or mistlefoot, or mistlearm or whatever. Just don't push your good cheer on me. Now since Christmas is a non-event for me, I usually don't build a list of things that I want. But, there are tons of people out there who keep asking me for this list. After years and years of this, I have finally come up with an effective tactic against this. Widespread advertising of the things I really want.

So, for those of you who can't help yourselves and want to buy me a Christmas gift and so you don't have to bother calling, texting, or emailing and asking me for what I want, here's my Christmas list. Feel free to purchase me any of the following:


01) A Girlfriend
02) A 2004-2006 Dodge Durango
03) A JVC Kaboom box
04) A Mac Laptop (15 or 17 in screen )
05) iTunes Gift card
06) Best Buy Gift card
07) Playstation Network Gift Card
08) DVD Movies
09) Blu-Ray Movies
10) Cold, Hard Cash

And so we're clear, the movies better be good ones! Nothing like "Eat Pray Love" or "The Notebook". If you have doubts about buying the movie, just get a gift card instead. 

By the way, this list also works for my birthday as well!!