Holiday Greetings

Merry Christmas Eve!!! (Wait, who the hell is Eve?)

Every year, I like to design my own cards. This year, we only mailed a few because Joe is all into saving trees. Most people will get a personalized email and a link to a special blog post we've set up for the occasion.

For you, my bloggy friends, a very special holiday greeting.





Some of you may remember last year's card. This year, I thought I had gone with a less specific greeting so all of my friends, even those who do not celebrate Christmas, would feel the love. However, SomeMonkey informed me that it was decidedly Old Testament. At which point I said screw it because I wasn't going to redo the whole thing.

So whatever/wherever/however you celebrate, hope it's warm and fuzzy and made of awesome!

Sing me a song - or don't

Know who else shouldn't be allowed to sing Christmas songs?

Elvis.

Oh yeah, I totally went there. But Blue Christmas is one of my most despised Christmas "classics". I'll-ah have-ah a balooo (woo oo ooo) Charistmus with-ah-out you (woo ooo ooo). Barforama.

And just to finish getting this out of my system, I also would like to declare my dislike for Feliz Navidad and Mele Kalikimaka. Because I hate Puerto Rico and Hawaii. I wonder if I have something against small islands for some reason?

But on a more positive note, I love O Holy Night, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, We Need A Little Christmas, and Silver Bells. Thought I'd throw that out there in case you were beginning to think I'm completely devoid of holiday spirit.

Also, I like eggnog so if someone wants to bring on some of that holly jolly, I'm all for it!

Come back tomorrow for my 2nd Annual Christmas Card!!!

Worthwhile Reading

I've been trying since yesterday afternoon to come up with something worthwhile to post here. In fact, I've been trying (and failing) since Sunday, which is why you were short-changed blessed with a repost yesterday.

Today, I shall (sorta) continue that tradition. I'm just going to link to a couple of other posts that I want you to read. So please humor me and do it.

First, a post at C. Beth Blog about the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays debate. You can read her post and pretty much just tag on an imaginary P.S. that says "Cate approves of this post.". Not that Beth needs or even desires my approval. I've thought about posting something similar but no need to reinvent the wheel when she's already written it so eloquently.

I'd just add that I tend towards Christmas-specific traditions simply because that's what I know. Santa, presents, trees, carols, Jesus and stockings are all familiar to me as that's what I grew up with. I may not be as firm in my practices regarding Christianity as I once was, but that's the habit I've formed over the past 30ish years. So if I say Merry Christmas, I'm not doing it to exclude anyone. And I'm not offended if you wish me a Freaky Festivus.

Beth also tweeted about The New Santa Tradition over at Eternal Lizdom. I don't have kids but I totally think the world might be a better place if you read that post and incorporate a version of it into your holiday activities. I plan to do the same if I ever am in a situation to do so. Liz's idea for teaching her children about giving makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

And if you're looking for a mix of holiday fun and some tender moments, I've been featuring related cues over at Seven Days Seven Answers for the last few days. Short little reads but some of the responses have made me giggle while others have really touched me. So while maybe that seems like a shameless plug, it's not so much encouraging you to go see what I'm doing as it is to go see what the others have written because they are awesome.

For having nothing to say, this post has rambled far too long. Go check those sites and I'll try hard to have something of my own to share tomorrow.

Repost: If the shoe fits

Note: Today I'm going with a repost of something I wrote last year (December 12, 2008 to be exact). My apologies to the three people who read it at the time but also, how fun to go back and see those early interactions! The only thing I've changed is to update the link at the end.

This is a holiday-related post so I'm going to warn you right now that I say non-politically correct things like Christmas and Jesus and Walmart. Just in case that sort of thing bothers you, please feel free to bail now.

Specifically, I would like to address a certain Christmas song. It's one of only three that I find so horrid I must change the station immediately. The song in question is The Christmas Shoes.

For anyone unfamiliar (and I don't want to spoil it for you) the song is about a little boy in a store at Christmas, buying some shoes for his mama. The hook is that he's short on cash and his mama is dying. He wants to buy the shoes so she can "be beautiful when mama meets Jesus tonight". Of course the guy behind him in line rushes to pay for them and is jolted from his evil consumerism in time to remember the true meaning of Christmas. And then the choir of children make their final plea because if you haven't burst into tears at this part, the final push of wide-eyed youngsters should do the trick.

Touching.

Moving.

Except...

This song makes me feel bad in all the wrong ways. I don't feel bad for this kid OR his mama. In fact, I want to call Social Services. Why is this kid wandering around Walmart (c'mon, you know it's Walmart) by himself trying to panhandle strangers into buying his mama some "Made in China" shoes for $8.96? Where's his papa? I guess papa's too busy with mama to keep track of the kid. And if I happened to be the guy behind him in line I'd probably pay for the shoes just to get him to stop with the sob story and quit holding up the line.

This song makes me feel the same way I'd imagine I would feel if I kicked puppies or poked sleeping babies. (For the record, I have never kicked puppies. I may have poked a sleeping baby or two, but that was just to make sure they were still breathing.) I understand how I'm supposed to feel but that's not what I'm experiencing at all. I'm not proud of this but it is what it is.

I think mostly I'm just angry because I hate being emotionally manipulated. Anything too saccharin, too syrupy, too made for tv makes me feel crazy in my rebellion to prove I'm not susceptible to their ploys.

Yeah, take THAT, sorcerers of sentiment. My heartstrings will not be so easily tugged by your carefully crafted formulas. My heartstrings are impervious to your tricks. I'm not even sure I have a heart anyways, let alone the attached strings.

P.S. Ok, see what you people (Lyndsay, I'm looking at YOU!!!) make me do? I actually made myself go to YouTube and search for the song just so I could include a link. Do you know how messed up that's going to make my "recommended videos"? I'm crying on the inside. Again, for the wrong reasons.

P.P.S. Oh yeah, the link, complete with lyrics on the side. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Cattention Span

After careful research, I have been able to determine the length of the attention span of a cat.

It is three months. I know this because Rusty poo'd in the tub again for the first time since we taught him a little swimming lesson.

Also, few things piss me off warm my heart like finding a typo in a post from three months ago. I'm totally firing my editor. Or at least decreasing her salary by 10%. Holidays, schmolidays. What do I care if she has three children to feed?

On a more positive note, the kitties are mostly leaving the tree alone. It's a 4-ft fake tree with only red velvet bows and a few pinecones on it. This due to the Great Christmas Tree Disaster of 2006. Because MY attention span is longer than three months, thankyouverymuch.