The Horrordays Are Upon Us

 And so this is Christmas? 

Don't get me wrong...I Love the holidays, I do...I get 12 paid holidays off a year (this year I got 14-15 because of the Friday/Saturday thing)....so that's a good thing.  I get to see most of my family & friends (the ones who matter most to me).  We go out, we visit, we eat, drink & get quite jolly on the holiday!  I get to cook All the Ethnic foods from my childhood: perogie, tholma (dolma), cookies (well mom does these), borscht (no beets, the fermented Polish version), I buy tamales.....the champagne flows, as does the wine & tequila.....

Some years I have a tree, most years I don't, in fact mom hasn't had a tree for at least three years now.  I've giving up on wrapping paper...the gift bags I get @ the thrift store & 99 cents store are perfect and saves me so much time, ribbon...they look just as nice.  And, come on, let's be real, who looks at the wrapping any more.....it goes in the trash, the gift bags are re-useable!

Gifts:  what to get & for whom to buy......  Let's see, mom & I buy each other gifts throughout the year.  We go shopping together quite a bit, so if one of us sees something we'd just love to have, the other buys it.  I got my gift this year while at the County Fair, a beautiful painting of Peruvian women carrying flowers & children on their backs by R. Rivera.....  Mom just got hers two weeks ago, she was at Macy's and saw a pair of white gold diamond hoops that she wanted....she bought them, I paid her back.  Simple as that.  I buy my gifts for others all year round....sometimes I give them early and may or may not get them a second one.  I like to give gifts all during the year, I don't need an "official day" or reason....I just have it, I see it online, in the store...you like it...I give it to you!  Hey....it's the thought and it's a "Random Act of Kindness"....it's a "Let's give you some joy today" day.

So then it comes to this....for me christmas is not a "Holiday" for everyone...it is something that is forced upon the people, who are by Majority NOT "christian", in fact they are only 33% of the world's population, but obviously the "squeakiest", pun intended.  Hey, but who am I to kevetch?  I get two paid days off of work this year...and again all that scrumptious food.

New Year:  When is that, Actually?  January 1st?  December 21st?  My birthday, December 17th?  Your birthday? Rosh Hashanah?  Easter?   Vernal Equinox, March 20th/21st?   See what I mean?

Ok...I don't know where I'm going with this...they are random thoughts I have about holidays.....

I don't like shopping for gifts because I "have to".....I really hate the fact that Hallmark brings out their "christmas ornaments" in July...GAG ME!  I like to shop whenever the mood strikes me....like "If I stay in this building (work) one more minute I'm gonna kill someone....time to take a walk...I'll just go to T.J. Maxx"...  You know something like that.....I shop online, I shop when I go to Disneyland (hey the kids [of all ages] love it). I don't like crowds of people, especially ones that barge in front of me and refuse to say "Excuse Me"...or have kids running amok & screaming & grabbing EVERYTHING they want in sight!   Nope....just not gonna do it.

Why can't it always be Halloween?