Holiday spirit freak style

I wrote a post earlier today, but I don't think I'll ever publish it. It was too bitter and came too close to naming names. I'm going to try again now that I've got it out of my system.

The post was about how little I have to do at this time of the year compared to how much so many other people do. Or think they have to do. And how all other aspects of life seem to stop in December.

I don't send Christmas cards. I did the first few years we were married. Then I got tired of writing personal messages and letters in them all just to get "Love, Mr. and Mrs. Don'tgiveacrapaboutyou" back. Oh sure, they probably do give a crap, but would it have killed them to put at least a sentence in them? As my mom always says she does, "I burned my bridge while I was standing on it" and quit sending cards. The few that go out now are sent as a message with a gift or as a thank you.

I don't buy many gifts. We don't have the money for one thing. I can't see that I have to spend what little I have to send someone some piece of crap they don't want in the first place that they can more than afford to buy if they wanted it. I'm supposed to do that to show them I care. If I care, I think people are able to pick up on it throughout the year. If you require a dollar value attached to my love and friendship, well I'm too polite to say what I think of that. I would have quit on gifts long ago, but Mr. I kept insisting we send them to cousins and such on his side of the family who haven't the foggiest clue what a thank you note is. He claims it isn't necessary to send thank you notes. As I type this, Violet is working on hers. They are necessary. To nieces and nephews who have never sent a single thank you, you have your Uncle Incredible to thank for your continued gifts. Aunt Freak wanted to cut you off long ago.

We do some baking and some cooking. We pick fun meals for Christmas Eve and Day. We don't do many family celebrations because we just don't have much family. Almost all of our extended family live out of state.

So I have lots of free time to catch up on things I can't do the rest of the year when I'm working and homeschooling. But everyone else is busy and is unable to get back to me because (and I see their point) it isn't that urgent compared to the holiday which is breathing down their necks. (That was the main point of my post, I've cooled off now.)

Once, when I was still in my 20's I shared an office with 3 other girls and 1 Jewish guy. He listened to us talk about all the Christmas stuff we had to do and on and on (the office was designed for 3 people, we had 5 in there full time plus another who was primarily offsite but had all her stuff there - we were in his face with glad tidings even if we didn't mean to be). Finally he said, "why do you girls do all that?!" Our answer was "we have to." I've since come to realize that I don't have to. And I don't do it. I do what I want or what is important to Violet and Mr. I and me. But nothing else just because I feel obligated.

I'm not a bah humbug. I'm really not. I just refuse to buy into the frenzied, hectic, make yourself crazy mentality that permeates the country this month.

And now a joke:

Dee, "Are you in Illinois right now?" (insert the state you are in)
Fred, "Yes"
Dee, "Then you are in state."
Dee, "Are you in the US right now?"
Fred, "Yes"
Dee, "Then you are incontinent"

Hahahahaha. Get it? In continent. Incontinent. Dee is the real name of the very cool person who I heard tell that joke at a nursing home convention. Fred is a made up name of the guy she pulled it on. But in Fred's defense, he was quite drunk at the time, I doubt he'd recognize himself here if he saw it.

Hope your holidays are neither frenzied nor incontinent.