Merry Christmas

Ah, the wonders of Christmas. To be honest, I was less tired at Christmas when I worked the night shift at Toys R Us than I am these days. Probably the travel. Leave on Thursday for Missouri, leave there for Madisonville, KY on Sunday, leave there on Monday for Louisville and back to Lexington on Tuesday night for work Wednesday. And yet I'm the lucky one since my brother left Madisonville for Alabama on Monday with three kids under the age of eight in tow. There's plenty to like about Christmas - tons of food, seeing the family, repetitive showings of A Christmas Story, listening to carols..........



but there are drawbacks. Mainly gift giving. I don't have a problem spending money on gifts, but I hate picking them out for other people. To begin with, I suck at buying presents. If no one tells me exactly what they want, there's going to be massive disappointment. Sure it's the thought that counts, but if it's a gift from me, the thought becomes "why the Hell did he give me this?". Secondly, it involves shopping which is one of my least favorite activities under normal circumstances. Add Christmas crowds to stores that routinely hire semi-retarded cretins and you have my vision of Hell on Earth. Well, that and a Dennis Kucinich administration. I'm perfectly willing to forgo presents to me in exchange for not having to buy them myself. Of course, there's not much altruism there. There is simply not much that I want for Christmas. If it's in a bottle or possibly wearing tacky, fishnet stockings, I might be OK with that kind of present. Otherwise, I'm unconcerned. And it's not that I have some hostility towards the commercialization of Christmas. After all, it is a birthday celebration (the commercialization of Easter is a completely different matter). I would just leave it mainly for the kids. Nothing says Christmas like watching your niece and nephews attacking a stack of presents like ravenous wolverines.