Things About Christmas...

I have such a love/hate relationship with Christmas.

Things I don't love?

The materialism.  The push towards consumerism.  The obligation to buy people presents and not having a clue what to buy.  The crowded malls.  The over-played Christmas music.  Realizing that the only things I want for Christmas are fairly impractical things that money can't really buy (a record deal, a man that's not a total train wreck, consistent hot water in my apartment...).  Leaving my Christmas shopping until the very last minute and then getting everyone significantly lame presents.  Becoming melodramatically nostalgic and remembering every Christmas I've ever lived through, a mental activity that often leads to hours of drinking tea and thumbing through photographs of people I no longer communicate with.

But the things I love?

The traditions.  The festivity.  Walking around downtown and looking at the lights with friends I haven't seen all year.  Going home and seeing my brother's life-sized Yoda wearing his Santa hat and beard.  Listening to Alan Sherman's "Twelve Days Of Christmas" and singing along every time he says the words "a Japanese transistor radio!"  Watching abysmal Christmas specials with people I love (i.e: "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians" with my best friends from high school and "The Pee Wee Herman Christmas Special" with my family).  Getting Christmas cards in the mail (I'm looking at you, Allison - seriously, your card made my day).  Making paper snowflakes with my hippy family while drinking glogg, a warm Scandinavian drink that has to be lit on fire before being served.  Making enough snow flakes to completely bury one of my neighbors.  Eating Chinese food at Nanny's house on Christmas Eve.  Waking up early on Christmas morning to snoop around the tree with my brother.  Realizing that I am very lucky to have so many people in my life that I can celebrate the holidays with.  I've got my family that has done nothing but support me and all of my wacky ideas for 23 years.  I've got my friends from high school and college who have remained loyal despite the fact they don't always understand the rock and roll lifestyle I am pursuing.  I've got a commune full of my newfound hippy family - a group of people that tell me I'm a rock star on a daily basis and cheer me up by bringing me coffee and inviting me to plant trees.  And last but certainly not least, I've got all you fabulous blogger friends that I've met in ye olde blogosphere this year.  Naturally, this includes the members and readers of The Transatlantic Support Group.  This blog is grand and I am thankful for it's existence.  Tom and Allison are also quite grand, and I am thankful that they put up with my quirkiness, my reoccurring lack of timeliness, and my occasional drunken emails.

Anyway, there is a lot to love about Christmas, and I hope all of you have a really freaking merry one.  

And now it's time for the picture montage of sorts that goes along with that monster paragraph of things I love about Christmas:

Huzzah!

That's all I've got.  This is The Yank, signing out and wishing you all a... *drumroll, puh-leeze...*

MERRY CHRISTMAS!