Taking Back YOUR Holidays....
Hello and Happy Day to everyone, no matter where in the world you might be!
A lot of things have been going around in my head lately with the Holidays coming up, and even tho I am barely into my first cup of tea, I wanted to try and get them down.
Maddy and I are spending the day in a Movie Marathon and making pizza by and by, from scratch of course, and eating some really strange cupcakes. (I am home with the Bengals for an hour, I don't have them here, I can't shoot them. Later. I will Twitpic them and Speedy Jess can link them for you)
Yup. I can hear the shrieks. "No, you can't have PIZZA!" "Don't you have anywhere to BE?" "You could come here"
Yes, we DO have somewhere to be, and we are having exactly the really great meal that we want to.
We've been invited to dozens of places. And yes, Maddy had the option of traveling with either of her parents. She didn't want to travel, and we didn't want to go anywhere.
Isn't that kind of what the Holidays should be about? What you WANT to do?
I hear a lot of "We have to..." in connection with the Holidays. We have to go here, do this, buy this, eat this....Because, what? You HAVE to? Who decides this? And what is UP with this needing to BE somewhere for the Holiday because if you are not you will be depressed? huh?
A day where I don't HAVE to do anything, a day at home, watching whatever, eating whatever, with no one wanting anything from me is NOT something I tend to get real sad about. Trust me.
We've been bombarded with Xmas music since October. Wallmart takes DOWN the Halloween things a few days before Halloween and put up the Xmas things. People have gone nuts getting up at 5:00am for Black Friday sales.
People, those sales are available all year round. It's a media event. Think about it, the media also tells us that a size 6 women is a plus sized model.
You HAVE to decorate your house a certain way, you HAVE to buy for people, you HAVE to send cards.
Do you ever hear yourself saying "I get so stressed and worn out, there is so much I HAVE to do" "I get really depressed at the Holidays" or "I feel so guilty if I don't.."
Get over it. No one can make you feel anything, you are the one taking that on.
If you find yourself saying this season "I/we don't want to go...., but we have to" Stop one second. If you don't want to, don't. Take back the YOU. What DO you want to do? Is your family going to be, whatever, if you don't do something? Well, get this, they need to take you as you. If you don't want to, don't.
It's like what I always found works with kids. You don't say NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT,(wear that, have that) Offer them a positive alternative.
It's not about being selfish. The opposite in fact. Don't overload the lifeboat, if you do, everybody drowns.
Hate going into debt? Well, everything is WAY on sale in January. Don't buy something for someone just because you HAVE to. Ask them what would be cool. Going out to eat the next month together? Do they have a cause they support you could give a little something to (Fivers add UP people) Can you write them an e-mail saying, "I really hate all the crap that goes on this time of year, but wanted you to know how cool you are" (I'd phrase that better tho)
Get on the travel sites e-mail lists. You can put in the city of your choice and they will send you an e-mail telling you when the fare drops to what you want to spend, then grab it and tell your family you are coming for the weekend. Same with hotels. Make it something FUN, not an ordeal. Meet somewhere you all want to be.
Today isn't the day to be thankful for what you have. You should be waking up EVERY day thinking about that. Xmas is not the day you show the people you love how much you care abut them. You should be doing that EVERY day. All the time. And not by buying them something they don't need.
Have the Holiday when you want it. You don't HAVE to have it on a specific day. Make it work for you, and for Fod's sake do what you WANT to do. What makes you happy.
If you are feeling guilty about that, think real hard, you have some work to do.
Learn from your cats. Or your dog. Or kids. They wake up every day ready for wonderful things.
They do what they want to.
No more Have to this year.
Love and Holidays,
Lorraine
88 Comments:
My favorite Thanksgiving was the year that my parents went out of town and my brother and I spent the day at the movie theater.
Kay (sandykidd) and I are considering a Halloween party on Thanksgiving next year. Because, y'know, it'd be fun - a ton more fun than the dinners we usually go to.
Wise indeed. I am fortunate that I have a widely spread fabulous family that is actually looking forward to gathering. They come to me (for that I am thankful) and they stay for the weekend and we watch our children enjoy their cousins and my cousins and themselves. Thanksgiving for us a day of joy. I always start to cry when we sing grace. 30 voices together.
Gotta go make a pie - my beloved niece's favorite.
May you and Maddy have a fabulous day. And to fiends, everywhere, the same to you.
To which all I can add is, "Happy Thanksgiving."
Great advice - I rarely use the word should about holidays (or any other time for that matter) and when you're true to yourself, the other people in your life are OK with that. Mostly. At least that is what I have found.
Today, however, I am thankful that even though Calvin's last chemo treatment didn't appear to work, and we are running out of options, today he is eating and purring and being petted and sleeping in the sun. Yea.
Later we go to my brother's for dinner, should be about 25 of us, immediate family! And fun will be had.
You know, I have never cooked a "Thanksgiving" meal, don't like to cook, so just don't. Nobody ever expects me to cook.
Enough rambling, Happy Thanksgiving and happy Thursday!
And that, my friends, is the sanity of the season.
Amen. The campground we're breezing through today has a potluck, so that's cool and easy. I'm bringing a ten minute dish, and spending the rest of the day writing in bed and whining about my sore throat.
But I love my life, and I wake up every day ecstatic about it. I'm sorta contrary and when everyone tells me to be grateful today, I get annoyed. Like you said, I'm grateful every day. I don't need the world to tell me to be, LOL.
I like the holidays, but i also don't get all up in arms over getting things done. i'm spending a day with Jon. he has to work tonight. i think i'm going to go make cranberry sauce while he is sleeping. we are having lasagna tonight.
Happiness for all, whatever your holiday needs and wants are. I'm thrilled to have found this blog and all of you. You make my days shiny and happy. Thank you.
Hi Natasha and welcome, I don't think I welcomed you properly before.
That's it, my Fiends, all about what you want, whatever it is. What makes you happy.
Have a Halloween Party (might need an invite to that!) go and write, stay in bed, go to family if it fills you with joy (Kate, love the image of the 30 voices!) Love your pets and be happy they are with you. (Happy for you Jane)
Wish Maddy would wake up and we could start the movie and eat our doughnuts....
I'm spending the day with Dan (not DanGuy) watching movies and eating turkey (because we love turkey). We were supposed to go to visit chosen family today, but I'm still too sick for the drive.
I'm thankful I've found all you Fiends this year, because you make me laugh, you make me cry, you make me feel like I have a bunch of insane people just like me to hang out with.
HO (The Native American kind that means what you just said is profound/on point and I'm noting it.) not Ho-Ho-H0 (The Santa sort)
Especially for the every day gratitude part. Essential to my mental health!
Enjoy your pizza
I can't wait for New Orleans. Then, I can have the awesome holidays I want, probably wandering around the city I love. I've always hated the holidays because my whole family goes crazy and nothing's ever good enough for them. It's gotten worse since I converted to Judaism. Last year my sister even said I wasn't getting any presents because I converted.
Although, Christmas is usually awesome. I took a date to eat a traditional Jewish Christmas meal at a Chinese restaurant then went to see Twilight at the theater last year. A few years before that, my friend and I had a traditional Hannukwanzmas movie marathon on Christmas. We watched Ginger Snaps, Mirrormask, and some other movies that were awesome. I think Newsies was also on the list.
I don't think my family understand how horrible their celebrations are. Tuesday my mom's rescheduled traditional Thanksgiving dinner was ruined because she burnt the crescent rolls. Today should go much smoother, because we're having fondue.
you poetic horse owner you!
lovely sentiments, all.
I'm with Danth on the no-that-wild about turkey.
never have been.
today I am making Asian slaw and shrimp-on-cucumber bits...
holla you tradition breakers!
love you.
oh kitty, that sounds yumtastic!
we are also watching movies. watched animal house last night, and i have blazing saddles out for today. oooh and trainspotting. i <3 trainspotting.
i'm really digging hearing about everyone's holiday plans and how different they all are.
Wendy, THAT is what I am talking about. Their loss, not yours. You can't change them, you can't fix them. Go on being yourself.
Go where your heart leads you, and when you get there, look around and see who is there with you.
Just because you are related by blood doesn't make them Family.
THIS is family. Right here. One of them anyway.
It is pretty cool, Vampi. Maddy still not up and we have SERIOUS movies, tho I forget what exactly, to watch.
Kid you not, at one point in the store, Maddy suggested a Horror movie, and we both realized we had never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Sadly, all copies had been rented. Who knew it was a Thanksgiving Fav?
Sounds like a spectacular way to spend Thanksgiving. Enjoy. And thank you for being you.
Maybe you can get out the exploding knife and a video camera and shoot your own version of TCM.
Years ago I had requests for homemade pizza for Xmas dinner! Hope you and Maddy and all fiends everywhere have a great day. Hubby and I are actually doing a cat run today, picking up 2 persians from our shelter and transporting them part way to Indianapolis. We will have Thanksgiving dinner at the Cracker Barrel we are meeting the next person for the cats. Even though I am not a "persian" person, if we can save two from being put down it is meaningful.
Also, sorry Lorraine I didn't comment on your beautiful new horse, you both look glowing. Isn't it amazing how your first love is always in your heart.
Janet, excuse my language, but that is totally the fucking coolest thing I have heard. Ever.
I want serious applause for Bengalgirl now, for not only today, but how much work she does year round saving not only Bengals, but any other cat that crosses her path.
YOU ROCK, GIRL!
The sad thing is when it's just me and my mom and my stepfather, we do what we want. When the rest of the family gets involved, everything is about "tradition" and nobody's happy. It's all posturing and trying to keep up with each other. Although Tuesday night I did have an awesome discussion with my niece about her first semester at college and why she's agnostic. I don't think the rest of the family even knows about that. Although, I doubt she could ever live up to my Jew black sheep status.
Happy Day to you (and Miss Maddy, too)
And yes, great to do what you want, rather than something you don't much enjoy because you feel you have to.
I have been getting much better at buying gifts based on who I want to give them to, and what they will like, rather than feeling I *ought* to buy a gift for X or spend Y.
same with cards. If I send one, it's becasue I want to, and not becasue I feel I must or because I expect one in return.
I enjoy the family traditions we have around Christmas, but don't feel hideboud by them. It's supposed to be fun. If it's not, you're doing it wrong!
Yay Bengalgirl!
#1: L, I'm grateful you got your horse, because the expressions on both your faces are so priceless, and I'm happy to witness that kind of joy, even from afar.
#2: Your pizza and movie party sounds stellar. I gave up on what other people think my holidays should be like long, long ago. I do what I like, and that seems to keep my little fam happy.
Hopefully Ms. Maddy has awakened by now and you are enjoying your doughnuts.
Happy day to you all wherever you are, and whatever you are doing.
Thanks Q! Not sure how thrilled hubby is with this considering he is giving up some football but...
For any of you that want to help in the animal rescue effort, transport is a wonderful way to do it. Without transporters there would be no rescue. These two persians will be going on an interesting trip. The cats will spend the night in Indy and then go to MO via Trucker Tom, who drives his own semi cross country, loves animals and will volunteer to help whenever needed and on his route.
We all love Fod* (**That's what we call God, Allah, Yahweh, Great Spirit, Universal Being, Goddess ect here.) in out own way, and HOW we love ought be no one's business. Words, people. It's the heart that matters.
Janet, I say again, WAY cool. I wish I was doing that today. LOVE to Trucker Tom, please! From all of us.
I love it that there is a whole network of people all over the country, helping save kitties.
It Makes A Difference.
Maddy is NOT up yet.
I always hated it tho when my parents would wake me on Holidays or weekends and say if you don't get up you won't be able to sleep tonight. Teens NEED a lot of sleep they don't get people.
I am going to shoot our cupcakes now.
Janet! What a great way to spend Thanksgiving - you know those 2 cats are giving thanks.
You are wonderful.
<3 janet! i somewhat miss the crackerbarrel hashbrown concoction. hooray for saving kitties:)
i somewhat feel sorry for those cupcakes on the firing line...how do the other sweets feel? terrified they will be taken out back and shot. lol
I twittered the Really Weird Cupcakes, shot against Chinese Hats, if someone wants to link them...
I'm staying home today, and NOT cooking. Still recovering from last weekend!
Although I suppose a pie may occur at some point this weekend. I'm taking tomorrow off too, for a four-day weekend. Hooray!
I have projects I want to work on, Nick needs to spend some time in the knife shop, as prototypes for the project I'm not supposed to talk about are due the end of the month. (SOON! And then all will be revealed.)
And I need to figure out how to get all the cooking gear back into its storage bins... anyone want to come over and help???? :)
And quite possibly sushi for dinner, depending on the energy levels around here tonight.
And I'd just like to say: my throat does not hurt, and there's no possible way I'm getting sick. Truly.
totally cute cup of cakes
when i was little, we visited my uncle near my birthday and they got me cupcakes to celebrate. apparently i screamed "CUP OF CAKE!" so now every family gathering i have to hear cup of cake. <3 cupcakes.
How marvelous, Bengalgirl.
Texas. Chainsaw. Massacre. Is a THANKSGIVING favorite?
What?
Lorraine, you are right. Just because you're related by blood does NOT make you family ... I have people say stupid things to me about my "father" - that we'll make things up one day, that he's "half of me" (possibly the worst), that he's "still my dad" ... and they don't quite understand what he did not only to me, but to my brothers and mother. And he still tries to "connect" with me on holidays and my birthdays.
And his family? Most of them are just like him. And I don't consider such persons family.
Thanks Vampi for linking the Cup of Cakes!
Emily, very true. Sure would be nice if we were all a Hallmark Card, but get this, it ain't so. People should mind their own business.
We choose out real families and they are based on a whole lot of love. Welcome to the real world.
I totally agree. This morning I was updating my FB status and had typed in, "I am thankful for my family." But immediately thought, I'm thankful for them everyday, why is today so special. I also detest the xmas down your throat stuff. And really hate the fact that so many people don't realize there are a lot of people out there that don't celebrate xmas. One year I am going to make business cards that read, "I was going to patronize your establishment, but the incessant holiday music made me leave."
I think your day sounds awesome, and I wish you and Maddy a lovely day!
Ps-Send cupcakes.
You guys rock so much I can't stand it! Lorraine, Wendy and Marjorie, can I use some of your words in this thread in a speech I have to give next week? I was asked to do the inspiration for the garden club's holiday luncheon and fundraiser. I can't think of a better message than to try to reduce the stress in your life and do what you love.
All of you are cool to the nth degree. And Janet (and Trucker Tom!) - rescuing some fluffballs in need of a home! That is something to be thankful for.
We're going to spend today with friends we love. Woot!
Hope you all have a great day, with your Cracker Barrels, turkey at home, Alien Cupcakes, or sushi!
Fluffy, hurrah for spending time with loved ones. And for me, of course! Hope the speech goes well :-)
just saw this How to Ride a Pony and thought it might come in handy...
Karen B just suggested I name my pony Dracula. Drac. Kind of like that.
Marjorie! Abraham Lincoln, on a pony, fighting giant scorpions with a machine gun. Oh, my.
Dracula the pony! Like it. Very Hallowe'eny
I would forgo the chainsaw, tho.
I love that we choose our own families. I don't love that it hurts sometimes to be born into a family, but I love that we choose our own - not just that we have the option of choosing our own, but that we do choose our own. If that makes sense.
Haha! I love the strange cupcakes. They're wonderful. :D
Good thing Doni is on the ball today, because Speedy Jess is about as speedy today as a very slow thing. I've been eating mini quiches and taking pictues of the birds on my parents' feeder. Chickadeerific is what it is out there.
No pine siskins yet this year. Last year by this time we were lousy with pine siskins out this way. Someone alert Birdchick.
I liked the yearly Christmas routine right up until the year Mr. Jess and I moved back here and we all got in the Non-Injurious-Yet-Scary Car Accident trying to do the usual Christmas Day visiting marathon. It shouldn't take a car accident to make you realize that the usual thing ain't working. Sometimes the Universe speaks, and sometimes it whacks you over the head.
This year we're going to have at laid back Christmas at my parents' house, and we're going to make them watch Doctor Who. \o/ And they will damn well like it!
p.s. this keyboard is hard to type on and it's driving me nuts love and typoos Jess x
Can we talk about the phrase "eating little Quiche's?"
(by the way, pine siskins came here, we it's Siskinpalloza.)
I know, that's why I mentioned the Pine Siskins. I thought it was weird. Has been warmer than normal this season, though-- maybe they just haven't come this way yet.
There are mini spinach quiches and mini quiche lorraines. Every time I eat a little quiche I think of you. :P
Quiche, perhaps this will help clarify if you should be worried.. Are Your Loved Ones Plotting to Eat You?
(and Emily, yes, it makes sense)
LOVED the pony thing! Need a print of that...
I thought you'd like it. .
and hooray and Hallelujiah to all that!! I agree totally. I love doing things differently instead of the things you are "supposed" to do. Pizza and movies all day sounds fabulous and I'd be over with you in a shot if I could!
Have a great day and love and cats and BunBun the rabbit to you too!
Thank you, Marjorie. I have a 46% chance of being eaten by loved ones.
Am starting to really like the idea of naming my horse Dracula. Drac for short.
You're welcome, Jess.
I have a 34% risk of being eaten. Of course, this may rise once I am actually shut up in a Tower with my siblings for New Year...
BTW, having now managed to log in to GoogleWave, I apparently have 8 invites. email (margomusing @ hotmail dot co dot uk) or DM me on twitter if you's like one.
I am cooking an amazing meal (which I LOVE to do; I've been giddy about for days) for family of choice and friends here. The food is going to be amazing, but we'll eat on plates off of our knees because I only have a four-top table.
You know what? That's ok.
Happy holidays, Fiends one and all, whatever days those might be for you, and whatever they bring.
Thank you for the wise words, o Fabulous One!
On family of choice-- I am fortunate enough (and have enough distance from/am independent of) to have a birth family who loves and supports me, but I wouldn't trade my chosen family for the world, either. They stood by me when I was (and still am) struggling with becoming a whole, independent person, they bring joy into my life every day, and I love them and they me.
Thank you, Fiends, for enriching my life this year, which has been a time of great joy and a time of horrible insecurity. There were days, though I didn't mention it, commenting with Fiends was my only interaction with people at all, and you kept me sane (such as it is). Thank you.
Wonderful blog, Q. And words to live by.
I'm going to my in-laws today. They are Italian and there is always SO much food I will be in danger of exploding. It's easy to say "Well, just don't eat it all." But it's so delicious...
Pesto mashed potatoes anyone?
THIS! {hug}
Well said! :D
I decided I'd have a holiday today by working as little as absolutely necessary, and making myself happy by cleaning the house a bit. We're greatly missing the family and friends we would normally have a Thanksgiving meal with, so while today is not about "should be" it is for us about "wishing we were..." Yet we will have a feast together and watch football (Hook 'em, Horns!), squeezed between work and parent-teacher conferences for both monsters, and call some family to wish them a happy day because it will make us all happy to visit that much. Some food is in the oven and the monsters and I are about to watch a little Dr Who.
Happy Day to all, far and wide.
what a wonderful blog and comments.
Hmmm, very glad my chance of being eaten by my family is no more than 44%. Actually, it didn't ask me if any of my family members are vegetarian, and a lot of them are so surely that reduces the odds?
Oh, and if you're on google wave, I'm ltlpengy at googlewave dot com
Pizza LOOKED done. We're very proud.
But it wasn't done. Back into the oven goes the Thanksgiving Pizza.
Mads and I , we watch the new Lady Gaga vid. Couple of times. Then Mads pulls up an analysis of the vid, and the symbolism used.
We talk. Watch Vid again.
BLACK Pizza.
Never never never leave your Thanksgiving Dinner Pizza in the oven while you watch Lady Gaga.
Making Mac and Cheese.
Holidays observed as one wishes....
There are only the two of us here at the house today (well, four counting the furbutts, as one should), and some might say that isn't much of a Thanksgiving. But I give thanks EVERY day that my mother is doing reasonably well, and has come through the stresses of this past year (moving, buying house, et cetera).
I'm actually this very moment down in the lower back yard (great wireless router, Qwest!)...sitting in front of this concrete/fire block/copper *thing* which came with the house....figuring out how to burn, er, cook yams. (the smoke sure smells good!)
And up in the house, I can see my mother through the kitchen bay window...the light spilling over and turning the rose bushes into Victorian silhouettes. She is cooking a beautiful turkey from Trader Joe's because she wants to do it...because this is our first holiday just here...in *her* lifelong dream...our house.
And we may not eat until 10 pm...who knows? Who cares.
But whatever we eat will taste delicious, and we will be thankful to have it...and to have a place in this world--the world which really might not be so very bad after all, if loving people can find/make homes for innocents in need....and if those who aren't so well at least have loving arms to hold them safe for a little while.
Thank YOU, Lorraine and F(r)iends... hugs all around...
and all my love.
burnt on one side yam, anyone?
Would you like some Hallowe'en yam with that pizza?
(um, black and orange. Just sayin. Still smells good. :))
I'll have some burnt yam Lys -YUM.
I am having fun imagining all your Thanksgivings. We don't have anything remotely like it here.
The Japanese restaurant was actually closed! Cheese and bread and beef and dolmates for dinner, and Japanese tomorrow.
Very, very mellow holiday here. Both of us working on projects. No friends, no relations this year, just us. But sometimes that is good.
Sally, it has turned into a holiday for food and good company. Everyone needs some of those!
Those cupcakes look too friendly to eat!!!
I am full of Thanksgiving fondue. Now, I have to hopefully knit a friend a crazy hat (I need to find my knitting needles, there is always yarn around here, lots and lots of yarn) and watch movies, which, thankfully, doesn't involve much movement on my part.
pumpkin pie!
i can get behind a holiday tradition that includes pie. oh yes i can.
Random plug: If you guys have the chance and don't mind sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, and violence, check out Sons of Anarchy. It has just about the best cast I've ever seen on TV and an awesome story line. It's about a bike gang who control a small town, and this season is about the bikers vs. a bunch of white supremacists.
And, it stars RON PERLMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He was the F'ing Beast!
And, I'm totally bringing this up because I've been obsessively watching it since I got home.
I agree witht he Christmas Music, Quiche. That is exactly why Dian and I started the "Yule CD Project". Holiday music so odd that it is, actually, enjoyable.
Hi, Dallas D, Kat Howard, and Metafrantic! Y'all are now Fiends, so grab a white jacket and personalize away! Don't worry about the buckles, they only rust with disuse. ;)
I love you.
Shoot cup cakes? Are they in season? Is it allowed? Do you need a permit to shoot them? Do waffles and muffins need to wear special capes to avoid being shot at by over enthusiastic shooters?
Love and Holiday Happiness to everyone. Got to spend the day with my best friend cooking our 16th TDay meal together. And some drama from her folks made me appreciate mine even more.
Hear hear! Wise and beautiful words all round.
Two very nice friends have invited us to a late thanksgiving dinner next weekend, one of them hails from the US. I'm going to make a crazy amount of gingerbread - does this reduce the 45% likelihood of my loved ones eating me?
There are certain local shops that started playing Christmas songs in September. Boycotting them! I am looking forward to Thea Gimore's Christmas album though, will be buying my copy when I see her play next week!!
Morning all!
I love you too, Nathalie! Congrads on the Sand Book coming out! Very cool!
I wish I was seeing Thea next week, Hellie! She is so good, never seen her live, can't believe I didn't go east last year when she was here.
I missed why people are getting eaten at thanksgiving, but I know you all to be a strange lot.
Home Bengaling for an hour or so, since Mads is long away fro being away, then a massive work and catch up day, last weekend kind of backed things up to say the least. Office looks like it has been shook horribly by a giant.
Amen, Lorraine, amen.
When people around me start talking about how stressed they are about the holidays or how broke they are because of the holidays...I laugh and laugh and laugh and then I tell them to STOP. Just STOP.
My husband and I stopped buying gifts for people a few years ago due to financial constraints and we just never went back to it. And guess what - the world didn't end! It is soooo nice NOT to be out there in the malls or stressing out about finding the PERFECT gift for someone or being worried about seeing those credit card bills in January.
It's idiotic, is what it is. But Americans literally buy into the whole "you have to buy gifts for people or you suck" mantra. And that's ridiculous.
I find it especially amusing that a lot of the people who stress out the most about gift-buying are Christians. Isn't buying a butt-load of presents for someone leaning more toward the SANTA part [or the Magi part, to stay biblical about it] of the season than the CHRIST part of the season? Never have understood that.
Morning, Q. That giant has been at my house as well!
DH finally put away all the camping stuff that had been piled in my sewing space since the end of October. Yay! Oh. Now I can see all the stuff I've piled there since I last sewed, probably in August. Hm. Well, cleaning is definitely better than shopping on Black Friday.
I will call it creating order from chaos and see if reframing makes it less unpleasant.
Jill:
I stopped buying stuff. Now, I make stuff. Unless the stuff comes from an indie store I particularly like. Then, I might by gifts from them just to support them. Like today I'm going to my local indie bookstore, and I'm going to buy a cookbook for my niece, because she said she needed one. Or, I might decide to make cookbooks for the whole family... HMMM......
That's impressive and very crafty Wendy!! I did paint some little pictures for some of my friends last xmas, but I'm not confident enough in my own abilities to give them out to everyone!
Hmmm that giant has obviously been doing the rounds, done a fine job of trashing my living room too!
Hope Thea makes it back to the US for you soon Lorraine, or maybe a nice Dublin gig to coincide with your visit next year :)
Oh, you are too awesome. I AGREE. I had a nice holiday with extended family (that is not always nice) after a long outdoor walk/run (and I am not a size 6 but I run my behind up that sledding hill anyway) and today am going to our state park to look for cool birds, deer and ghosts (there is an abandoned farm site there once owned by an anarchist poet). NOT to the mall.
Dan's comment reminds me of my favorite Christmas. Spouse had food poisoning and spent the day in bed, we could not go anywhere, and when he passed out I had a few glasses of nice white wine and read my new John Cheever red book of stories with the cat. All day. It was great.
The Bengals are restless. Not enough screen time.
Have faxed that.
Bengal update post UP!
Hellie, you'll love Thea Gilmore's new album, not to mention the pleasure of seeing her - I saw her show last weekend. It was ace!
Hallelujah! We had a family conference to discuss Christmas yesterday and have decided to do something different this year. We are going to have a buffet instead of a huge, sit-down, stressful roast dinner. Yes, there will probably be roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings, but they will be eaten with the fingers and will sit alongside salad and quiche and pizza. When the plates are loaded up, we will all head for the living room and watch a fun, family film whilst eating. Sounds like so much more fun than the way we have 'traditionally' done it.
Wonderful to see so many other people here, jumping in with ideas for reclaiming the holidays. Happy day to everyone :-)
Very well put Lorraine!
We bailed on thanksgiving with the family years ago because we come up here to Mendocino and crawl through the rainy woods looking for mushrooms. Thanksgiving to me is about the tasty fungus feasts. I love my family and I'll see them, just not on the only long weekend we can make the drive up here during the rainy season! We even bailed on the big stressful gathering of fungophiles this year, i made dinner for the three of us and it was awesome.
And this year we're doing xmas at my mom's on the 26th because it is soooo much easier for everyone involved to get there the day after. All the kids can wake up to santa presents in their own houses, etc.
Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, whatever you chose to do.
Now to read the other post....
Yup. Gotta make the holidays your own.
I enjoy stuff that is traditional and stuff that is not. I love the big stew of winter (for us northern hemisphere types) holidays that we can have in this time and place where so many different people have so many different things to celebrate and so many different ways to celebrate them.
The "shoulds" can be seductive. People want to capture the warmth and light that they know are sort of the point of it all. But that warmth and light doesn't come from a turkey or a song or anything external. Those things can help some people remember that the light and warmth are inside them. I think holidays are meant to remind us of that but some people forget that whatever it is that reminds them of the warmth and light they carry may not be what reminds anyone else.
And this probably should be my own post on my own blog! I'll shut up now. I am very grateful for everyone here in Fiendland and for the wisdom of FabLo!
Wendy:
I'm all about making gifts or buying something special from a small shop or boutique. Considering your niece said she wanted a cookbook, I wouldn't consider that a bad purchase - particularly as you're planning to buy it from a non-Borders/Barnes & Noble store.
My best friend likes to knit and I mentioned to her that if she just HAD to give me something this holiday, I'd like a scarf knitted in the Gryffindor colors from Harry Potter. :>) I'll have something I can actually use AND it'll be extra special because I'd know she knitted it with love. Much better than some cold trinket from Wal-Mart.
Good on you for escaping the treadmill of commercialism!
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