"Roses are reddish
Violets are bluish
If it weren't for Christmas
We'd all be Jewish."

~Benny Hill

Good Evening Everyone.
I hope this fine friday night in December is finding you all well.

It is indeed that time of year again.
Whether you want to kvetch about the general level of anger, greed and bitterness this time of year tends to bring about in people, or whether you just want to try and ignore it and actually enjoy the holiday season, I hope you're all happy and enjoying yourselves.

As Yuletide draws nigh, I hope you all have someone or something dear to cleave to in this time when we're all tacitly reminded of the value of the ties we hold in this mortal life.
And I hope that you all had a better Christmas than I did last year. For me, frankly, Christmas last year sucked big, harry moose balls.

I won't go into all the awful details, but being slave to an industry that doesn't know the meaning of the term "Holiday Leave" didn't help matters. That and I happened to be burdened with particularly detestable coworkers at the time.
The only immediate, material comforts I had to keep me sane last year were my friend, scuba buddy and drinking companion Steve, the lecherous Canadian with a heart of gold. That and the very kind care package of Christmas cookies my dear friend which I consumed in about four minutes by virtue of the stress and anxiety that threatened to rend my mind in twain.

But this year shall thankfully be different.

Tomorrow I'll be winging up to my homeland, sweet, glorious New England for eight days of joy and cheer with my family.
While I won't technically be spending Christmas with my folks, seeing them around the Holidays is infinitely better than not getting to see them at all around this time of year when my loneliness would only be compounded.

So, once again, vacation time for me.
I'll be online and off. But mostly I plan on spending time with my dear sister, my parents and my friends and relations, reading comics, possibly working on my novel and otherwise just trying to ease my weary mind.

I hope the rest of you are having stellar Holiday seasons. Already, this year is looking up for me.
Knowing I would be occupied in the coming week, I already sent out the majority of my Christmas cards and parcels (which some of you might already have received. )
Already I've gotten my 3rd annual Christmas card from the everlastingly awesome Which is particularly school.
Yet perhaps more significantly, I recently received a parcel of sinfully decedent French Vanilla Hot Chocolate, as a care package from a particularly fair and kindhearted young lass...
It's very good.

Well, in any case, it occurred to me that since I'll be seeing my family for Christmas (kinda) My Christmas wouldn't be dissimilar from the one described by Tim Minchin in his song "White Wine in the Sun."
Only instead of White Wine, it will be Winter Solstice mead. And instead of the sun, it will be the cold gray rain and sleet of New England.
I couldn't think of anything more perfect or fitting.
Furthermore, save for having a child to love and rear, I find the views Tim expresses on the Holiday season very much in keeping with my own.
So listen, and enjoy.

[link]

Merry Christmas Everyone!


I'm looking forward to Christmas
It's sentimental, I know, but I just really like it
I am hardly religious
I'd rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tutu, to be honest

And yes, I have all of the usual objections to consumerism
The commercialisation of an ancient religion
And the westernisation of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer
But I still really like it

I, I really like Christmas
Though I'm not expecting a visit from Jesus

I'll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun
I'll be seeing my dad
My sisters and brother, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun

I don't go for ancient wisdom
I don't believe just 'cos ideas are tenacious it means they are worthy
I get freaked out by churches
Some of the hymns that they sing have nice chords but the lyrics are dodgy

And yes I have all of the usual objections to the miseducation
Of children forced into a cult institution and taught to externalise blame
And to feel ashamed and to judge things as plain right and wrong
But I quite like the songs

I'm not expecting great presents
The old combination of socks, jocks and chocolate is just fine by me

Cos I'll be seeing my dad
My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun
I'll be seeing my dad
My sisters and brother, my gran and my mum
They'll be drinking white wine in the sun

And you, my baby girl
My jetlagged infant daughter
You'll be handed round the room
Like a puppy at a primary school
And you're too young to know
But you will learn yourself one day
That wherever you are and whatever you face
These are the people who'll make you feel safe in this world
My sweet blue-eyed girl

And if, my baby girl
When you're twenty-one or thirty-one
And Christmas comes around
And you find yourself nine thousand miles from home
You'll know what ever comes
Your brother and sister and me and your
Will be waiting for you in the sun
Girl, when Christmas comes
Your brothers and sisters, your aunts and your uncles
Your grandparents, cousins and me and your mum
Will be drinking white wine in the sun
We'll be waiting for you in the sun
Baby whenever you come
We'll be waiting for you in the sun
Waiting...

I, I really like Christmas
It's sentimental, I know...