participation is required!!! come up with a favorite something about xmas - i get a sneaky feeling we'll pull/push something into the post-mod xmas project.
Long years ago one Christmas Eve while I was still in college, my future wife and I became quite intoxicated and Midnight Mass from the Vatican came on the TV (the Pope before John Paul II) and we decided it would be amusing to use straws and kleenex to shoot little spitballs at the TV - bonus straight to Hell points for actually hitting the Pope - until there were dozens of little spitballs festooning the screen. Then we passed out. The next morning my mother came in and seeing the TV covered with spitballs said, "What the hell happened here?"....."uhh, nothing".
i have a couple things to share...i'm going to be vague on this one. an individual noted for being very reserved, became increasingly cynical as the holidays progressed. christmas took the brunt of it. but as the interlude between xmas + new years shifted so did the mood. and that mood was a sense of lonliness...mebbe even a hurt. new year's eve came into focus and i asked if this person had plans. no...and this person - very uncharacteristically - alluded to having a prior new year's not go well.
in many ways i failed. i should have said "you wanna talk about it?" instead i fell behind the cold exterior the person usually maintained and let it drift.
christmas with the boys. !!! i have been spoiled a bit on this one...uncle bud was the best santa of all time - passed away just this past march (his wife having passed away in late december). i'm hard wired to continue "santa" as a result of uncle bud's passion...over the past 5 years i've constructed a letter from santa to the boys (once they are old enough to read)...when they come downstairs they run to the coffee table by the fireplace to see if he's had his way with the milk + cookies they left...and to see if he has left them a letter.
the content addresses all the good things they've done over the year - with the definitive point that santa is amazed and proud at the good that is each. if nothing else, i can write great things about my boys.
as far as novel touches, i use "font in a red suit" font for santascript.
Alright. I'm just going to toss out my most memorable Xmas memory, but be forewarned: it involves gay sex.
In 1996, I was at the end of a five-year relationship. I'd been living in Southern California to attend graduate school, and my then partner was still living in our house in Salt Lake City. I went back to SLC to visit him, and our plan was to travel to Blackfoot, Idaho and spend the holidays with his family. He was being a real ass, however, and at the last minute I got pissy and refused to go, so he went off alone. That night I went to a friend's Christmas Eve party and was drinking pretty heavy to drown my rage and sorrow. I met a hot solidly built lumberjack type named Adam, and we ended up going to his place and breaking mattress springs all night long. The next morning his roommate knocked on Adam's bedroom door and said, "I'm off to work, but from the sound of things last night, you're probably going to want this," and he left something in the hallway. When we opened the door, we found a jumbo-sized bottle of Johnson's Baby Lotion. It was one of the most thoughtful--and immediately useful--Christmas gifts I'd ever received.
say, i just came across this rather dated letter from santa
dear little johnny:
while you have been a very good boy this year, i'm afraid i don't have any mechanical pencils with ball joints - i hope you like this eye patch and fake wooden leg instead.
Comments
in many ways i failed. i should have said "you wanna talk about it?" instead i fell behind the cold exterior the person usually maintained and let it drift.
the content addresses all the good things they've done over the year - with the definitive point that santa is amazed and proud at the good that is each. if nothing else, i can write great things about my boys.
as far as novel touches, i use "font in a red suit" font for santascript.
merry christmas.
santa chas
clink.
In 1996, I was at the end of a five-year relationship. I'd been living in Southern California to attend graduate school, and my then partner was still living in our house in Salt Lake City. I went back to SLC to visit him, and our plan was to travel to Blackfoot, Idaho and spend the holidays with his family. He was being a real ass, however, and at the last minute I got pissy and refused to go, so he went off alone. That night I went to a friend's Christmas Eve party and was drinking pretty heavy to drown my rage and sorrow. I met a hot solidly built lumberjack type named Adam, and we ended up going to his place and breaking mattress springs all night long. The next morning his roommate knocked on Adam's bedroom door and said, "I'm off to work, but from the sound of things last night, you're probably going to want this," and he left something in the hallway. When we opened the door, we found a jumbo-sized bottle of Johnson's Baby Lotion. It was one of the most thoughtful--and immediately useful--Christmas gifts I'd ever received.
dear little johnny:
while you have been a very good boy this year, i'm afraid i don't have any mechanical pencils with ball joints - i hope you like this eye patch and fake wooden leg instead.
santa