embracing love at christmas.
a collage of memories and joy.
i actually was going to title this post “Xmas in Hell”, but i’m running a little experiment to see if a heartfelt title would catch your attention- not for the sake of likes or follows, etc- but, to see how the human mind works. did it work? did the sentimental title draw you in?… the brain fascinates me so! (probably won’t do too many more of these titles down the line though.)
let’s talk about hell.
when i was 7 years old, there was a neighboring house that we had to drive past on the way to school every morning that had a HUGE lit up sign that said “Merry Xmas”. every morning, my dad would say “good grief!* those people are taking the ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’ and are going to hell!”
naturally, it made me want to say XMAS even more.
*good grief! was a phrase that my dad said on the daily. (but, not in a Charlie Brown tone. picture Charlie Brown exclaiming “GOOD GRIEF!” having walked in on his sister and Linus kissing in Charlie’s bedroom. more like that.) and then my step mom came along and her catch phrase was: good night! in the same tone. that one made less sense.
he exclaimed good grief loudly in June 1994 (i was 8 years old), when he took my siblings and i to see the lion king in theaters. as we exited, he explained that Mufasa appearing in the clouds was actually a demon manifesting itself. but, the most embarrassing one was in 1999 when we saw Never Been Kissed. he actually yelled “GOOD GRIEF! we’re leaving! that’s enough talk about sex!” in the movie theater. also muttered that Drew Barrymore was a harlot. want to talk about hell?- that moment was hell. the movie title was literally about kissing… not sure what he expected…
in bible college, i had a professor teach that “X” came from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós, which became the English word for Christ. sounds like a shortcut (and i’ve heard variations of this since then).
let’s bust out some algebra: x(MAS) = Christmas.
it made me feel vindicated about the Xmas issue growing up.
my degree is in youthwork and not divinity or theological studies- apologies if i’ve butchered the legitimacy of this concept.
(if X holds true, maybe the twitter name change actually means Christ, and signals that the second coming is nigh. actually, i’m not even going to go there…)
…
the greatest Xmas song is No Doubt’s cover of “Oi To The World”.
the end.
…
i’m pretty hardcore with the Xmas.
it was important for me to establish some traditions with my kids.
this year is kind of different. i can’t exactly say why (sounds like a hallmark movie plot), but it’s become a bit more loose and fluid.
i’m doing Xmas shopping in December, not in October like i usually do.
the halls in our house are fully decked out and the tree has been up for weeks, but we haven’t decorated it yet. the simplicity of the lights only is actually serene.
December 15th is our annual “let’s drive around and look at Xmas lights while we eat candy cane blizzards from Dairy Queen in the car” was replaced by going to see Wicked. but, we might still get our ice cream on.
and then the elf of the shelf… before you balk at it, let me just say: i freaking rock elf on the shelf because i don’t play by the rules of “can’t touch the elf. and he’s spying on you to tell Santa if you’re being naughty”. our elf is also a Funko Pop and not the creepy original version. i’ve been moving that little guy for the past 10 years with no repeat events- we’re talking 240 unique events around the house. but, it’s getting a bit tough to come up with more (i’ve seen every Pinterest idea imaginable) and this year, i created a Facebook page for him and he announced he was taking 2024 off to have a tropical holiday. 2 days later, my daughter found where the elf is stashed and she’s taken over on moving him. which is actually pretty cool.
…
coffee in eggnog is tastebud bliss.
doesn’t take much. just a splash in black coffee.
enjoy at breakfast, noon, or late at night.
…
two of my favorite Xmas memories were from two years ago:
i received a DM from the wife of an Instagram follower. her husband and i had a couple of brief chats prior. she wanted to gift him a copy of my book, Thin Spaces, in his stocking and asked if i would write a personal message in it for him. okay. that was really rad.
around the same time, i had another friend of an Instagram follower let me know that she was going to buy a copy of my book for her and wanted a gift to be a FaceTime call with me to discuss the book and how it impacted her life. which… kind of blew me away. it still does. (at the FaceTime, she shared that she met another person at a swimming pool in Iowa who had read my book as well after making the connection when she saw that her phone lock screen had a line from my friend
life can be so connected. at that point in time, there were only 3 copies of my book in Iowa, and 2 of the readers just happened to meet at a pool.
these experiences were worth more than any gift that money could buy.
even better than a starbucks gift card (which is my favorite Xmas gift to receive).
(also, someone purchasing the book is another great gift. shameless plug over.)
…
i have a wee bit of a nutcraker obsession.
however, they must be fun and interesting, or they don’t get to leave HomeSense.
…
finally watched Die Hard for the first time last week.
it was good. not sure i see the hype. but, a decent movie.
…
my Xmas gift to myself this year is to catch a newly released shiny Sandygast in Pokémon Go.
wtf is a Sandygast? it’s a haunted sandcastle Pokémon. what does shiny mean? it’s just a different color than a normal one and really rare- there’s a 1 in 500 chance that you’ll encounter it. but, i’m feeling lucky. as an artist, a different colored variant of something is very, very important.
the game typically does a big winter theme around Xmas in the game with snow falling etc. this year, they’re acknowledging that it’s not winter in the southern hemisphere, but summer- and being inclusive of the players on the lower half of the world. i actually think that’s pretty cool.
cheers to being inclusive with the power of data collecting, augmented reality, and haunted sandcastles!
…
ever heard of Running With Scissors?
the author, Augusten Burroughs has a book of Xmas stories, You Better Not Cry.
i like to read a few stories from it every year.
think of it as The Night Before Christmas, but with family dysfunction and hilarious antics.
(i see that there is a Xmas book circulating this year about tales from The Office (US). skimmed it. wasn’t worth the purchase. but, good on them for making it happen).
can’t talk about The Office at Xmas, without acknowledging Belsnickel.
(or princess unicorn. “my horn can pierce the sky!”)
the real question is: have you been impish or admirable this year?
…
“Presents are the best way to show someone that you care.
It’s like this tangible thing that you can point to and say, ‘hey man, i love you this many dollars worth.’ ”
-Michael Scott
and on this week or so before Xmas, i would like to give you two gifts:
1) the gift of music. see my Xmas playlist below.
2) the gift of art. one of my popular art prints, Hipster Santa, is something i would like to gift you a digital download of. just send me a message and i’ll email you the download for free. go print it off. give it away. make it your phone wallpaper. or just enjoy it. i hope it brings a smile to your face.
3) a bonus gift: more advice- please don’t say “Happy Ho Ho” as a silly way of supplementing the word “Christmas”. it’s just weird. it’s baby talk.
be like me. stick it to my dad and say “Merry Xmas!”
…merry xmas!…
This is peak stacking of subs