[QUOTE=Beware of Doug]
Yeah, it’s getting so all I care about anymore is the eating and the drinking, neither of which I should be doing much of.
[/QUOTE]
Well, for me, it’s the drinking, as long as it ain’t on my dime. The eating’s good, too, as long as, of course, I don’t have to cook it.
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug]
I hate buying gifts, wrapping gifts, hell, I’m not even nuts about getting gifts.
[/QUOTE]
Are you my long-lost twin?
Seriously, as a rarely-broken rule, I don’t do the gift thing, either. It’s not my way of saying that I don’t care about you–it’s just that I hate shopping. Despise it, actually. As I do trying to figure out what you, you, you, you, and you might want, y’know?
And, please, honsetly, don’t go through the trouble for me. Really, it’s cool. Whatever I want, I can buy for myself. And the fact is, my material wants and needs are, with little exception, distressingly simple. Shelter, sustenance, wine (yeah, WINE, and good scotch, too), a few items of clothing to replace worn-out items, and, once I’m no longer burdened by school and work, international travel–or, hell, travel, period.
If you really, really MUST give me something (despite my repeated objections), unless it’s something that you’re sure I’d appreciate but wouldn’t think to buy for myself, money’s always good. I’m no fool, so I won’t be offended by the so-called lack of thought that goes into such a gift.
Barring that, give to some meaningful charities. Year-round, if you can afford it. Doesn’t have to be in my name. Just give. Try to fulfull a need for someone who really *has * a need. That’d be really cool.
As for the rest of the holidy stuff? Meh.
Though I AM doing my eyeball exercises in preparation for the the many :rolleyes: 's that will surely ensue upon hearing Christians (the nut-job, insecure ones, I mean) bitch and moan about how Christmas is under attack because they can’t put their baby Jesus in the town square, or because people are saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,”* or seeing the relentless “human interest” stories about overcrowded malls/airports/train stations/bus stations, what’s big this season, who camped out overnight in frigid temperatures for the “big thing” this season, blah-blah-blah.
Oh, and the bullshit heart-tugging, pat-ourselves-on-the-back stories about how people are giving to the needy because “this is the season for giving, y’know?” despite the other three-hundred-some-odd days of the year that people are in desperate need. (Hence my “year-round” comment above.)
Yeah, meh.
Oh, and to the OP: I don’t know how old you are (though I’m guessing early 20’s), but let me tell you what I think one of the greatest gifts of adulthood has been for me: Being able to decide that, if I don’t *want * to see/talk to you or have you in my life, I don’t *have * to see/talk to you or have you in my life. No explanations necessary. And I still sleep soundly at night. Priceless. Absolutely priceless.
*Which reminds me: I’d better dig up my yarmulke with the Santa and reindeer and Jesus-in-the-manger motif, all the easier to identify myself to the clueless as a Jew who really gets the warm and fuzzies every time I’m told to “have a Merry Christmas!” Y’now, since my regular, run-of-the-mill heathen motif yarmulke isn’t sending that message. (Okay, okay, even though I do dig Handel’s Messiah, and will more often than not listen to it when I’m around and my local classical music station plays it on Christmas day. And no, I don’t really get all THAT worked up over the “have a Merry Christmas” thingie–please, I got bigger fish to fry. Mostly, I find it…annoying. First of all, PAY ATTENTION–yarmulke =/= Xmas. Secondly, you don’t speak to me any other time of the year, so why fake it now? And thirdly, Christmas is not my holiday, so I really won’t feel offended or excluded if you don’t wish me a “merry” one.)
For me, Thanksgiving is just the “kickoff,” to borrow a football phrase, to the Christmas season. The real Christmas season, not Hallowgivingmasyear.
