DarqByte

Despite Thanksgiving being my favorite holiday of the year, I do still like Christmas quite a bit. Once you get through all of the commercialization of the holiday, it’s quite nice. Colder weather leads to more snuggling between couples, the wreaths, lights and other decorations are nice and if you live in a snowy area, snow can be excellent so long as it’s not a massive snowstorm. And despite the massive chunk of money (and potentially, stress) required, getting gifts for people can be very fun and rewarding.

Christmases past saw Laura and I practically crumble under the financial pressure to get people gifts, and there are a few Christmases sprinkled throughout where we were highly stressed out on the gifts. Sometimes you just don’t know what to get someone, or you’re worrying too much on whether or not someone will like what you’ve gotten them. Really, Christmas isn’t supposed to be about the gifts anyway, it’s supposed to be about family and Jesus.

Yes, I’m talking specifically about Christmas here, not the holidays in general. I’m aware that Hanukkah is this time of the year, as is Kwanzaa and other religious holidays. Being Catholic, I don’t have much intimate knowledge of those holidays, so I’m sticking to what I know best. But no offense to those that subscribe to other faiths. I totally wish you a great insert-your-holiday-here!

Anyway, this year has been better on us regarding gifts. We’ve limited the people we’re getting gifts for because we just have way too many friends, so the financial burden isn’t as bad. And for the most part, we’ve been able to get people to tell us things they want for Christmas, although my Mom & family up in Michigan took awhile to get their lists to me, so I hope their gifts arrive in time.

One person I’m really excited about opening their gift from me is… Yes, you probably guessed correctly… Laura! She never really gives people much of a list to people for Christmas, so this year I’m trying to shop for her based on what I think she’ll like. I initially settled on one particular item I thought she’d really like, but after researching it more and talking with people about it, I ended up wavering on it and wasn’t solid enough in my opinion to get it for her. I considered close alternatives but couldn’t settle on them either. Having given her gift a lot more thought, I wrapped it up yesterday for her and it now sits in our dining room, waiting for the moment she will tear into it.

I’m confident she’ll like it, and I can’t wait for her to open it. I’m really looking forward to her face and (hopefully) joy when she sees what I got her. That’s one of the most fun things about Christmas, is the happiness that a gift can bring. But like I said, temper that enthusiasm for gifts with the knowledge that people should really be happy to spend time with you over Christmas. Money is not necessary.

Really, I just like getting Laura gifts year-round. It’s fun and I love the look on her face when I get her something out-of-the-blue and she doesn’t see it coming. I don’t need Christmas to get her gifts and treat her right. Hell, I bought her a MacBook Pro this year with some extra side money I made because her old laptop was becoming decrepit for what she needed it for. Of course, now I want an MBP, so go figure… Haha.

Hmm, something else I’m thinking about regarding Christmas… I like to say Merry Christmas. Most people have reverted to Happy Holidays and rightfully so — most people don’t want to greet in a religious manner and offend someone. That’s fine, but I still prefer Merry Christmas. Christmas has more meaning to me than the generic “holidays,” so when I tell someone Merry Christmas, I mean it. I don’t mean to convert to Christianity, I’m just wishing them well. And if someone told me Happy Hanukkah, I’d take it as a nice compliment because they’re telling me to enjoy their holiday even though I’m not Jewish.

There’s this big backlash among a lot of Christians to put Christmas back in the forefront for the holidays. Some are upset at the government, media and retail over the usage of holidays over Christmas. Really. Those people come across to me as thinking their religious holiday is more important than others. It isn’t, folks. It may be to you, but not to someone who celebrates Kwanzaa. You can say Merry Christmas all you want and truly mean it, that’s fine. But don’t force your religious holiday on other people, even if you think that the US was founded as a Christian country. We’re supposed to be tolerant here. Just wish someone a Merry Christmas from your heart, rather than a Merry Christmas because you think it should be that instead of Happy Holidays.

Oh, and something you can get me for Christmas — a jacuzzi!