Inevitable Holiday Season
Well, as much as I would like to wait until December 1st before I start acknowledging the holidays, I'm going to be realistic/indulgent and just accept the fact that it's here. I've also resolved to maintain a few ethos this holiday season.
1) We're definitely celebrating Hanukkah this year. I need to get candles, and it's later this year than it has been the past few years, but our menorah is out in the window and it's ready to go. Hell, I've even commissioned a special Hanukkah icon that's much like this Yule one... More on that later, heh.... Hell, I'll advertise since we're friends.
2) I'm also going to do my best to refer to Christmas trees as Yule trees. It's in response to this thing that's been going around facebook that Ben Stein (ugh) wrote. He was complaining about how Christmas trees shouldn't be called Holiday Trees because they were Christmas Trees first. Now, I understand the sentiment. Calling it a holiday tree is as disingenuous as calling a menorah a holiday candelabra. But Ben Stein's concern is, in my opinion, more politically motivated than semantically motivated. The dude's notoriously conservative (I'm fairly sure that the dude wrote an editorial trying to say that Nixon's actions that led to his resignation weren't that bad.... WAT), and he's using this to be like BAD LIBERALS WAH WAH WAH, HOW DARE THEY APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS. He even uses the 'I'm a Jew but I LOVE CHRISTMAS' argument. So, if he's so concerned about appropriation, I'm just going to take it one step further. Seeing as the Christmas tree was appropriated from Pagan rituals, I'm going to call them Yule trees. When a friend re-posted that article on the face space, I told her of my plan. She conceded that my point was a good one.
3) We're going out and actually getting Christmas lights today (not Yule lights, as these festive blinking decorations weren't stolen from Pagan groups) to put in our window. And I'm going to try and made room around our oh so cluttered apartment to put up these lovely candle holders Megan got me a few years ago. Then I'm going to budget out the holiday spending money. I think I have more wiggle room this year than last year. It's hard to know. I've already promised 25 dollars to Heifer International, as is the Malfeld Women tradition. I think we're buying a water buffalo this year...
WHY am I doing this before my birthday, I ask myself. I can wait the two days for my birthday and THEN start worrying about Christmas/Hanukkah. But... I still have a trip to Vegas to plan (though the dinner reservations for New Years Eve are booked!). So I need all the time I can get.
Tis the season to be stressy.
1) We're definitely celebrating Hanukkah this year. I need to get candles, and it's later this year than it has been the past few years, but our menorah is out in the window and it's ready to go. Hell, I've even commissioned a special Hanukkah icon that's much like this Yule one... More on that later, heh.... Hell, I'll advertise since we're friends.
2) I'm also going to do my best to refer to Christmas trees as Yule trees. It's in response to this thing that's been going around facebook that Ben Stein (ugh) wrote. He was complaining about how Christmas trees shouldn't be called Holiday Trees because they were Christmas Trees first. Now, I understand the sentiment. Calling it a holiday tree is as disingenuous as calling a menorah a holiday candelabra. But Ben Stein's concern is, in my opinion, more politically motivated than semantically motivated. The dude's notoriously conservative (I'm fairly sure that the dude wrote an editorial trying to say that Nixon's actions that led to his resignation weren't that bad.... WAT), and he's using this to be like BAD LIBERALS WAH WAH WAH, HOW DARE THEY APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS. He even uses the 'I'm a Jew but I LOVE CHRISTMAS' argument. So, if he's so concerned about appropriation, I'm just going to take it one step further. Seeing as the Christmas tree was appropriated from Pagan rituals, I'm going to call them Yule trees. When a friend re-posted that article on the face space, I told her of my plan. She conceded that my point was a good one.
3) We're going out and actually getting Christmas lights today (not Yule lights, as these festive blinking decorations weren't stolen from Pagan groups) to put in our window. And I'm going to try and made room around our oh so cluttered apartment to put up these lovely candle holders Megan got me a few years ago. Then I'm going to budget out the holiday spending money. I think I have more wiggle room this year than last year. It's hard to know. I've already promised 25 dollars to Heifer International, as is the Malfeld Women tradition. I think we're buying a water buffalo this year...
WHY am I doing this before my birthday, I ask myself. I can wait the two days for my birthday and THEN start worrying about Christmas/Hanukkah. But... I still have a trip to Vegas to plan (though the dinner reservations for New Years Eve are booked!). So I need all the time I can get.
Tis the season to be stressy.