That said, above is a picture of my gift from my two stepsons.
The wonderful thing about this mug isn't that it's Spider Man, but that our 7 year old chose it for me. That means everything. I shall drink my usual 3 pints of coffee first thing in the morning until Freya probably breaks it once for all, very soon.
I had my best xmas day bit already - breakfast with freya and Kimono - bacon, eggs, mushrooms, toast, 3 pints of lavazza red.
We 3 returned late from a whistle-stop visit to the North West to see my folks. We have had a turbulent number of years previously - mainly because my Mum and I have very similar dispositions and have tended to clash - particularly over the "sanctity" of the xmas feast itself.
Since my undergraduate days, I've considered xmas to be a babylonian invention, brought about by foreign culture and implanted by a well-meaning, Roman Emperor into the early christian church to satisfy political ends.
Constantine the Great, who was a genuine believer, decided to make everybody one for the sake of the empire. To do this, he "fused" all this religious belief, practice, ritual, etc into a state religion.
So heathens and pagans were forced effectively to embrace Christianity. Of course, this is one source of a great number of problems.
So I've never really gone for all the turkey and shit that xmas brings. What I really don't like is how it often seems to bring out the worst in people - particularly those you're close too.
What I have learned to appreciate is that you only have one family and this is the time of year they need to be shown that you care. That's particularly so if they don't get that impression the rest of year.
Anyway, whatever you're doing, I hope it's what you want to.
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2 comments:
I'm married so I'm rarely doing what I want to do, but I find alcohol helps soothe frayed nerves around the holidays, I mean after all there is all that good food.
Santa left me coal this year Charles, so when life hands you lemons you make lemonade, so I will be grilling some steaks an burgers on the grill today. Sounds like you're off to a good start,Bill
It's nice for the first time this Xmas from hell to be able to crawl down to our ancient desktop and indulge in The Gonzo Lecture.Admittedly the posts are sometimes above my level of comprehension but then the man is a professor after all and one has to respect that.In fact it presents a challenge which adds to the read. I've never gone into Xmas from a historical or religious perspective,just take it for granted that it's there once a year, and it always seems to contain elements of the best and worst of humanity. This year on a personal level Annie and me should have been celebrating Xmas dinner with our children and grand children,not laid up with some stinking virus that completely knocked the stuffing out of us.After all the preparations we were just too exhausted to enjoy it and had no appetite for food of any kind.Well it happens, especially in this foul climate of ours and life is short so we move on.It's always spoilt for me anyway by the bloody TV charity ads showing all these dying kids who you desperately want to reach out to but know that if you made a DD for every appeal you'd be stony broke at the end of the month. So you pick the ones that look the most in need and make a single donation in the hope this will somehow make you feel less guilty for being alive and salve the conscience, knowing you're not even scratching the surface.The Sally Anne were collecting in the village earlier, just to remind us of our own home grown problems, and there are plenty. I wonder if the Bransons and Abramovichs of this world take this on board when they buy there latest ship,soccer club or Carribean Island. I'd like to think so.I can't imagine having all that wealth, however hard earned without wanting to give it away to help others. You can't take it with you so why not use it to level the playing field a little for the good of all. That's what Xmas should be about.
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