A man dressed in the finest cloth and covered in millions of dollars in gold and gems has the nerve to tell people that Christmas is too commercial and too focused on “the glitter”.
Tell me that again when you’re wearing normal clothing.
Is this someone you know, or some TV personality?
Some guy named Benny. You may have seen him, he works for a fairly large religious organization. 
Edit: Here’s a link Benny condemns Christmas Glitter
The headache I had this morning went away only to migrate to the other side of my head. Oh joy. I’m also kind of irrationally annoyed that we’re having dinner with neighbors until late because I really wanted to spend Christmas with my boyfriend.
That sounds really unpleasant for you. Do you have any idea how it started?
Really? Weird!
That sucks. 
I had a headache part of this morning and I’ve finally shaken it.. just in time to go hang out with the relatives. (Which isn’t bad per se, but will be a long evening).
Christmas Dinner at my sister’s house. Instead of one extra person, there were three unexpected ones. I hate to complain, because I do think it’s very nice my brother in law invited his dad and step-mom, but his mom was there too. And my mother. And my step-dad.
They’re all over 65. Their talk consisted of medication and illnesses. Don’t get me wrong, I understand, but all of them talk at the top of their voices, so conversation with anyone else was nearly impossible.
It was cramped and loud. And my mother, I love her, but she has to dominate all conversation no matter what. To make it worse, she does not like my brother in law’s mom, so I could see mom getting more and more agitated. Mom has a hair trigger temper anymore, and has no problem letting people know she’s angry.
The kids had friends over. I’m officially to old for them, and they are self absorbed when they have friends around so trying to talk to them was impossible.
Too much family too many days. Oh well, better than last year, when I had a fight with my mom about her bad temper…
ducks under my desk while laughing at the whooshes going overhead.
My rant…Tony…again. He moved his fridge into the living room so he could put plywood down in the kitchen because he’s living in a 30 year old trailor and the old floors are sagging and breaking.
So, the fridge is in his living room and he noticed that his food wasn’t as cold as he thought it should be. He turned the temp down. This morning, he wanted to get some ice to put in his warm milk and the ice was melted. Tony finally looked around and saw that the fridge was unplugged.
Now he is using my car to shop for food. On Christmas day. I never, ever buy anything on Christmas and other holidays. If I can’t plan well enough to live through a day without going to a store, its my problem and I just have to suck it up. I’ve got a huge moral objection to stores being open on Christmas…and now I’m enabling Tony to do it.
I’d be banging my head against the wall, but that would scare the cats.
What the hell would be open today other than a convenience store???
This is why I never shop on Christmas. Wally World is open, as is Safeway and Best Buy. PetSmart is also open. In my world, its only the small mom and pop stores that allow their staff to enjoy the holidays with their families.
I won’t be working tomorrow, but the trash guys will. This allows me to run out and give them tips and praise for their good service. Those folks will be spending their day picking up boxes and wrapping paper while wishing they had the money to buy their kids such cool toys. I know that my 10 buck tip won’t help their lives, but it does seem to make them happy.
Well, here’s my Christbitchmas.
My mother sent me the ugliest crap I’ve ever seen for Christmas. She wanted to know what I wanted, so I sent her a list of Etsys I love filled with stuff that I covet. Let me state here that I don’t care about the money. I would’ve cried with happiness to get a $10 pair of earrings hung with old Ottoman coins. A nice card would’ve been better than what she sent me.
My mother painstakingly went through those Etsys until she found the ugliest crap they had listed for sale. She sent me this bizarre looking crotched thing. I am not exaggerating when I say I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out if it was some kind of skirt, or if it was supposed to be worn on my head, or what. I had to call her to find out what it was. It’s a scarf, she claims. Wow, I would never have guessed that. Also I knit and for what she paid for this fugly thing, I could’ve bought yarn and knitted myself something ten times as nice.
She also sent me two necklaces on gold chain (I hate gold), one with fugly yellow stones, another with slightly less fugly blue stones. They look like costume jewelry. I don’t like anything chunky and brightly colored and costumey. I like delicate, feminine, gothic jewelry. She cannot understand this despite me only buying and wearing delicate, feminine, gothic jewelry for myself.
Like I said, I don’t care about the money. What upsets me is how these hideous things are physical proof of how out-of-touch my mother is with me. She has NO concept of what I like. The simplest and most basic elements of my sense of style and hobbies are totally foreign to her. I sat down and cried over this realization today. It’s the thought… if my mother had put thought into buying these things, she’d remember that I’ve knitted for about three years now. I don’t want some ugly tube crochet thing! My best friend is a MASTER KNITTER! If I needed a scarf, my BFF could make me something unique and spectacular that would be the envy of anyone. I’m seriously considering frogging the thing and sending the yarn to her so she can knit into something that’s not so hideous.
Offers you a hug and some bailey’s in hot chocolate.
I get that your heart is broken because you got gifts that would come from coworkers you have never met. Its not the money, its the thought and if your own mother can’t think about you…who would? I divorced my blood family a while back. It was the best decision that I’ve ever made.
I got litter boxes. A very thoughtful gift for someone in rescue. When I go to work on Tuesday everyone will sigh because they got jewells and clothes and I got litter boxes. I got just what I wanted. If I was still talking to my birth mother, she probably would have bought me white towells or something.
Same here. Altho I haven’t spoken to my family in over 10 years, my mother sends an Xmas card every year. Made out in my ex-husbands name. Who I divorced in the early 80’s. I’ve been married to The Engineer for 18 years and she shows that she knows he exists by putting his name on the envelope too. Talk about not know who I am!
I’m not a big fan of Christmas anymore. My mom loved it, and made it special. Without her, it really doesn’t mean anything… I did get a wonderful new camera bag - backpack stype, very well padded, with space for the Nikon with telephoto lens attached, a stash spot for the normal lens, pockets for memory cards and a place for my hockey press pass. Perfect gift.
I miss my mom. It’s been over 20 years but I still really miss my mom at Christmas.
I second this wholeheartedly. My mom’s been gone bit over 10 years now, and I miss her dreadfully, especially at Christmas. Now the whole season just makes me sad, and I’m glad it’s done for another year.
<Adds Frangelica, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and a sprinkle of cinnamon>
<doing decadent RIGHT for … a little while now, anyway> 
Wow. That is just so…picture me speachless.
I have a bulldog tonight. I was going to get some kittens and dawg was running on the highway, so I pulled over and opened the car door. Dawgs are so easy, “hey, sweetheart, lets go for a car ride” and they just jump right in. When the bulldog grinned at me, I was wondering if the plauge of bulldogs meant I should keep him. (2 english bulldogs in 6 months when I have never had one on my hands before)
Long story short, I called the number on dawg’s tag and his dad is in the hospital. From what I understand, they were part of a nasty car crash. Dawg’s mom will be here in the morning to get him.
I guess the bulldog thing isn’t really a rant, but I really did want to toss his collar out the window and take him as mine. So my rant is that I’m so honest that I can’t stand myself.
Hey, if they refrained from explaining their bowel movements at the table they were being polite!
I don’t know who’s worse about that, my 71yo mother or my 37yo SiL, the MD…
Nit: Morgyn, Frangelico. That beard on the good friar isn’t supposed to be from the gag store…
Yeah, well, there are many reasons why I no longer bother with them. To give them a tiny excuse, I am a completely different person than anyone else in the family…
I need to come over and get some kittens to foster - I am having serious baby kitty need here!
Bulldogs snore - loudly.
of course, so does the Engineer
Thanks, flatlined, **curlcoat **and Morgyn! I thought people were gonna rip me a new one for not being desperately grateful for having received anything at all. Of course I’m glad I got gifts. I just wish that at any point my mother had rubbed two brain cells together and gotten a spark. She wasted a lot of money.
To add to my Christbitchmas, my ex took me to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tonight. I walked out after Lisbeth’s second, brutal rape. I thought I was going to puke. I hadn’t read the book and was expecting an espionage thriller. I was really excited for Lisbeth’s character, thinking I was going to get to see her being awesome and unusual and kicking ass. I didn’t know that half the movie was her being graphically and brutally raped.