12.04.2006

You know, as for a title, I've pretty much got nothing... so uh... yeah

Mimey has started the ball rolling on AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED in the wake of her NaNoWriMo victory. Do check it out. It's open involvement at the moment. There are six two-sentence pairs; three from each of us; and you can jump on any one of them should the mood strike you.

So it's December. I am, in fact, a fan of the month. Of course it is in fact fraught with Christmas shopping and the marketing blitz attatched to that, and of course the War On Christmas. I know I've touched upon the War before. I basically have two things to say.

One, To the uber-Christian cavemen who sneer when people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas": Fuck you. This holiday was around before you applied your savior to it and Jesus wasn't born in December. And are you really that much of a miserable jackass that you'd be against someone who wanted to include other people celebrating other holidays in the greeting?

To the grenadiers in the War On Christmas: Fuck you too if you try and harsh this season. Yeah you're right on a lot of points and commercialization is bullshit, but who wins if everyone who doesn't buy into it has a shitty time? Humankind has had celebrations of one kind or another at this time throughout a huge chunk of recorded history. So if you don't want to join in fine. An I have no qualms with you taking shots at frivolity, but seriously you need to grab an eggnog and brandy and chill the fuck out.

This is also the time that Christmas music plays on the radio.

The Christmas music that plays on the radio, in general, sucks ass. My goal this year is not to have to listen once to "Dominic the Donkey" or "I want a(n) [I forget which animal goes here] for Christmas," or any other fucking stupid song that circulates. For the record, Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" does not belong on that list; I'll happily listen to it at least a few times in the month but it does have a nasty tendency to get overplayed.

And I fucking love Carol of the Bells

Even the traditional songs that aren't necessarily bad get butchered on the air by cheesy performances. Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, and BB King are good bets though.

So basically, you won't find me blasting teh radio much this month.

I guess I could have just said that.

Whatever

Peace.

5 comments:

  1. Sometimes I wish we would just call the holiday "Solstice" or "Yule" or something. Like they do in New Zealand. You haven't lived until you've cut down a Christmas tree that's actively growing (as it will be in December in the Southern Hemisphere) and watch it droop before your eyes, dropping all the ornaments on the floor. Kiwis finally got wise and celebrated Christmas (as "Yule") in July ...

    As a Bostonian you surely know that the Christians there once banned Christmas. Too much partying going on ...

    And about those Christmas songs. You think the audience has got it bad? Pity the poor musicians. I'm starting to get an allergic reaction to The Christmas Song, and I (as an amateur) only have to play it a dozen times a season - each season for the last five ... same arrangement ... and there's a new set of kids each year that has to learn the whole thing from scratch ...

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  2. Hate cards, hate false cheer, hate the mindless pursuit of consumerism as affection, but I do like overeating and not leaving the house for a few days.

    We put the decorations up at school today. It looks so much better like this. But can't we have new year decorations, and late spring decorations and so on. All year round and not tied to the irritating festival that veers from Christian brainwashing to consumerist, erm, brainwashing without stopping in the middle for any good cheer at all.

    What was I saying?

    Good sentences, I feel inspired, and what a lovely site this ATWH is. Mmm.

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  3. Anonymous1:17 AM

    Ah,
    I send cards only to Australia, couple of friends in England and South America and to a couple of old great Aunts.

    I buy gifts, starting about now often earlier, but they are usually people specific things I see at odd places, things which remind me of someone or that I know would mean something to them or they would understand. I used to paint picture or draw gifts but have not time for that now.

    I like Christmas songs played by Jazz bands.

    Happy Holidays to you too.

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  4. Actually the whole tradition in December thing really started because of the winter equinox in an ancient (and actually Iranian) celebration called Yalda which then got picked up by the Germans in the fact that they used a tree (and other similarities I am too lazy to look up since the one who originally educated me on this subject was the Loverboy) blah, blah, blah... so if they are going to bitch about it then "get your facts straight bitches" is what I would say...

    As for the commercialization... well, no one puts a gun to my head to buy into it or go shop like a freaking zombie! Dios Mio! I say let it be... those who like it can buy into it and those who don't...

    I tend to listen to flamenco Christmas songs but the damn music is all packed so this Christmas we have nothing up... the tree, the decor... all packed! I just want a ticket home you see.. FO SHO!

    and yep, happy, happy, joy, joy and all that jazz!

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  5. i sometimes have the opposite problem in a academic crowd. if i say merry christmas, some of them look at me funny....like "why did you bring christ into this?!?! that's not politically correct!" fuck that too, i say. fuck that. a greeting is a greeting is a greeting. merry or otherwise. christ-y or not, here i come!

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