holidays

Not Wishing You a Merry Christmas

December 13, 2012November 30, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

I am not going to wish you a Merry Christmas. I am not going to wish you Happy Holidays, a Happy New Year, or even Happy Ass Slap from an Expensive Hooker. No matter what we say anymore, someone's out there to complain. So, I won't offer you Xmas cheer, a Happy Hanukkah, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad or a Happy Solstice.I wish you more than this. So much more.When someone says to you: Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Have a nice Tuesday or a bitchin' Saturnalia, I wish you the clear-sightedness to see when another human is saying something just to be kind, affable & cheerful. I wish you enough common decency to choke down your pettiness, smile & respond in your own kind, affable & cheerful way. I hope you'll be reasonable enough to comprehend how one person phrases something shouldn't diminish your joy; that most battles never need to be fought & that being offended is a meaningless thing.I...

There & Back Again, Part 2 – Prickly Lodgings

January 21, 2010November 23, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

"Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit." -Kin Hubbard"Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper." -Friedrich Nietzsche . I truly believe that tragedy can bring out the best in people... & that the holidays can bring out the worst. Humans are fucked up like that. In spite of everyone's best intentions, sometimes holiday gatherings get tense or chaotic. No matter how hard you try, you may still end up feeling as though you've stepped out of reality & into one of those ridiculous Christmas movies where everything goes wrong.We arrived at our destination in rural PA a day late. We got to see a few relatives - some that I had not seen in several years & that Olivier had never met. We had a great time - in spite of my occasional fits of choking on mucous & bleeding from the...

Greed is Disgusting. Gluttony is Better.

January 6, 2009November 24, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

"I do like Christmas on the whole.... In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year." ~E.M. ForsterIt's finally over. The shopping, the wrapping, the unwrapping...the over the river & through the woods. Ugh. Finally. Over. It's not that I don't like Christmas...it's just that Christmas, like a great many things, annoys the living shit out of me.It's a time of year that is filled with stress like no other. Deadlines, travel plans, added expenses & the relatives that we've managed to avoid since last year. But the greatest annoyance of all is that greed is more apparent during the holidays than at any other time of year. At a time of year when many of us would like to be reminded of the beauty of the human spirit, I generally end up disgusted with it.People forget what's important about getting together for the holidays. It's not about the giving or the receiving...