Christmas

My Christmas Vacation

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Today was my first day back at work since December 20. Rather than dwell on that bad news, I thought I would subject everyone to a boring post about what I did on vacation.

We headed out of town on Saturday the 21st. It’s an 8 hour drive, so travel day is pretty much only a travel day. We did drive into some winter on the way.

img_2036 We usually drive in on the 23rd so we had two extra days before we had official Christmas plans. I read a lot. We went to see the new Star War movie(I enjoyed it). We went out to eat at Red State BBQ where I have my favorite non-alcoholic Kentucky drink(pictured below) It was nice to be in town with some days to relax before the family obligations. We also went to see the Christmas lights at Kentucky Horse Park. The lights were nice, but the park police were terrible at directing traffic and caused us to wait an hour to get in. I might have left the car at one point to go yell at them for holding our lane too much. I returned to cheers from other cars.

We then moved on to family obligations. Christmas Eve was an hour’s drive to one part of my wife’s family for lunch and then the drive back for dinner with the other side of her family.  The good thing about both on the same day is that Christmas day is more relaxing. We can open gifts without rushing and just relax. The big surprise for me was a new iPad. Now I just need to learn how to type on it so I can use it for more than reading the newspaper in the morning.

The next day we headed west for Christmas with my siblings and a few days just hanging out at my brother’s house. This means basketball, frisbee, escape rooms, and Mexican food.

We also watched UK beat Louisville in basketball. L’s down!

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and saw moe Christmas lights.

It was a good time with family that unfortunately had to end. Now we are back home. My son is back at his house. I’m back at work. My daughter will go back to school soon. There are no fun plans on the horizon. At least the days are getting longer.

In Search of the Christmas Spirit

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It’s a dark and dreary night. I’m spending my second night home alone. My wife is out of town for work. It’s still one week away from my daughter coming home from college. My son is at his house. I’ve done nothing really Christmasy this year. Last year at this time we were at Zoo Lights at the National Zoo and then went out for dinner. This year, as mentioned above, I’m alone. The dark and dreary weather matches my mood. I can’t seem to get in the Christmas spirit this year.

I dressed up as Santa for work yesterday and had multiple kids get their picture taken with me. It still didn’t get me in the mood to celebrate.

We have our work holiday party tomorrow. Usually, I would be looking forward to some time with coworkers having fun instead of working. I’d rather have a snow day and stay at home alone.

Our Christmas tree is up and next to the couch where I’m writing this. Still not helping.

It might help if all this rain was snow.

It might help if I didn’t feel ill about leaving the house every day.

It might help if I wasn’t alone so much.

It will help when we get in the car and head toward Kentucky.

Only 9 days to go…

 

 

The War on Christmas

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Setting: The North Pole, Santa’s Compound

It is going to be hard to infiltrate Santa’s bunker. His intelligence department is one of the best in the world. They see you when you’re sleeping. They know when you’re awake. Trying to take down Santa could be a big mistake. Luckily, the Happy Holiday Alliance had a man on the inside. A disgruntled elf has promised to provide inside information in exchange for asylum in the states and admittance to dental school. We thought we could turn a member of the Reindeer Force, but he was promoted to lead reindeer and guide, so that is no longer an option.

Another issue – their secret weapon – the Christmas Cheer. We’re not really sure what it is, but it seems to give them extra power. We’ve also hear that is spreads when people sing loud for all to hear. We have distributed noise canceling headphones to the troops to combat the issue. Our corporate sponsor Starbucks is lending a hand by distributing non-specific holiday cups and wishing people happy holidays as we’ve heard that saying Merry Christmas and putting non-religious, but Christmas specific symbols on the cup also increases the Christmas Cheer quotient.

With all of these precautions in place, we are ready to take the compound and finally win the war on Christmas. Hopefully, tomorrow I will check in during a victory dinner of grilled reindeer and Santa will be defeated.

 

Santa Problems

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Soon I will write a fresh post. Until then, I will share some of my favorite Christmas themed posts. First, my problems with Samta.

The World's Common Tater

rudolph

I saw this picture on Twitter this morning and started thinking about some other issues with Santa.

In addition to the above, Santa was also very rude to the elves in Rudolph. He really didn’t come across as a nice person at all in the majority of the show.

In Santa Claus is Comin to Town he is a much nicer person but spends the entire time breaking the local laws. I also find it disturbing that a man comes to town, seduces the local teacher and uses her to convince the kids to leave their doors unlocked at night so he can sneak into their houses. His best friends are a confused penguin and a reformed evil wizard.

In Year Without a Santa Claus, he is depressed and quits his job because no one respects the work he does. I can relate to this one more than the rest…

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Finally Some Christmas

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If you are friends with the real me on Facebook or Instagram you’ve already seen these and you can go about your life.

Until last night I had not done anything even remotely Christmas. I haven’t watched a Christmas movie. I haven’t really gone out shopping. I had only seen Christmas lights if I drove past them on the way home from work. I’ve really gone nowhere but work since thanksgiving.

Finally, last night, we went to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo in DC. Once we finally got there and I got over some issues with parking, I really enjoyed it. I needed a break in the routine and some Christmas spirit. Here are some pictures I took.

Let’s Talk Turkey

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We just celebrated Thanksgiving. This has been a breaking news alert. Most people probably ate turkey this week. Most people have probably eaten turkey several times in the last few days. We are now a month away from Christmas and talk has turned to food for Christmas parties and Christmas dinner. I don’t understand the people who want turkey again.

I’m done with turkey. Turkey is OK, but the side dishes are the stars of Thanksgiving for me. I like a turkey sandwich the next day or so after Thanksgiving. It’s fine. It’s a nice change from my normal lunch, but not my favorite. Why would I want to have turkey again?

For me, turkey is Thanksgiving and ham is Christmas. No one should want turkey again this soon. Ham is a superior food. Ham sandwiches are better than turkey sandwiches. When ham is the meat, the side dishes go back to being sides and not the stars. Why would you give that up for more mediocre turkey?

Non-traditional food is fine as well. Why not have a taco party for your office Christmas party? Tacos and burritos are good all the time. There is no offseason. Barbecue was mentioned as a possible entrée for one of the Christmas dinners we will have when we visit family next month. I’m all in for Christmas barbecue. Who would choose turkey over tacos or a barbecue? Crazy people, that’s who.

Turkey is fine. I will give turkey Thanksgiving, but then I’m done until next year.

Welcome to Tater After Dark

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Welcome to Tater After Dark where I write now because I have time to do it without having to leave for work. Of course, I started so late now I’m rushing to finish before my wife gets home.  This post is not nearly as exciting as the title makes it sound. It’s basically some rambling thoughts about a few things.

  1. I posted on Facebook this weekend that my early New Year’s resolution was to stop joking about finding a new career and actually look for a new career. I started a little of this process today interviewing for a job at another system. As I move forward in to the new year, I will consider looking outside the library profession and possibly move on from the library world if I find the right situation. It would have to be the perfect situation as I would be giving up being less than 7 year to retirement. I just know that things need to change and I can’t just sit around and hope the changes will come. I have to try to make the change myself.
  2. I watched the last Rick Grimes episode of The Walking Dead last night. There are spoilers after this sentence, so stop reading if you haven’t watched. While I agree that the announcement of Rick Grimes movies cheapens the whole “last Rick Grimes episode” thing, I did like what they did and what it will be going forward. I l know people think it’s cool to not watch the show anymore, but I do still enjoy it. I think they found a good way to write Rick out of the show without killing him. I like the time jump and I like the idea of seeing Judith as a kid who has only ever known the zombie world. I think the show without Rick can be better and I look forward to seeing what they do with it.
  3. I was looking on Twitter today to see if there was any news about the Ravens firing John Harbaugh. They didn’t and I found a lot of people saying they didn’t think they should. I disagree. I know Harbaugh won a Super Bowl, but 4 sub par years in a row is too much, The team needs a change. Status quo isn’t getting it done. You don’t pay millions for mediocrity.
  4. Time change was yesterday. It’s now cold and dark. It’s also rainy. If it’s going to be cold and dark it might as well snow. Cold, dark and rainy sucks. I need to put up the Christmas tree to add some festivity to this cold, dark and rainy world. I’m sure it will go up the day after Thanksgiving like normal. I also want to go look at Christmas lights and really enjoy the season this year. It might be time for me to head back up to 34th street in Baltimore. I would also like to go to NYC for a day to enjoy the decorations there. I need festive.

I hope you have enjoyed Tater After Dark. Stay tuned tomorrow for some other random post and a random time of day.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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Yesterday was Halloween. Not exactly breaking news there, I know. The Today Show was talking this morning about how we are now going right in to the holiday season. Starbucks will release their holiday cups tomorrow. Right after the segment a Starbucks commercial aired advertising the release of the peppermint mocha. The commercial was full of snow and Christmas wreaths. Soon we will have the option to listen to Christmas music all the time on the radio. I know there are people who think it’s too soon. They will cry “What about Thanksgiving?” While I do enjoy the day when we give thanks by shoving bread up a dead turkey’s butt, it’s just not the same as Christmas.

Thanksgiving means I get one day off. I stay home. The kids will be home, but one probably just for the day. We will have a nice meal and then we go back to the real world the next day. A nice day, but no major break in my routine.

While Christmas brings  the annoying War on Christmas debate(spoiler alert – there is no war on Christmas) and with it the complaints about people saying Happy Holidays and Starbucks cups being generic holiday, it is the best time of the year. Even before we get to the actual holiday, you get a month or more of festivities. Decorations go up and the world looks more festive. There are various holiday parties. People bake cookies for others. Everyone, for the most part, seems a little nicer. People take a break from their regular lives and spend time thinking of others. The world becomes a better place.

For me personally, it comes with a nice break from the real world. We head off to visit family, this year for the first time since last Christmas. We have a three day Christmas starting on Christmas Eve where we spend time with celebrating with family and then we have some extra days to just enjoy being away. I might have time to see a couple of movies at an actual theater. We will go out to eat a few times. We will do fun things with my siblings. It will make me not want to come back home.

I don’t think it’s too early to start celebrating. I welcome the possibility of a kinder, gentler world for a couple of months. I welcome the anticipation of the holiday to take the edge off my day to day that is not the greatest of times at the moment. Join me in taking a step back from life and enjoying the festive season.

My Busy Christmas Schedule

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We had our holiday party at work yesterday. I’ve got one week left before I am on vacation until January 2.  Here is our busy schedule:

Friday – 9 hour drive to my mother-in-law’s house

Saturday – Bonus rest day since we are arriving a day early. Hoping to see Star Wars in the morning and then watching the UK basketball game in the afternoon. Downside – watching the game on a terrible TV.

Sunday – Christmas Eve with one side of my wife’s family. Gifts and food! It is at my mother-in-law’s house this year so no driving for us. Possibly another movie that morning.

Monday – Christmas morning at MIL’s house and when we open all of our immediate family gifts. Hour and a half drive to have lunch with my wife’s dad’s side of the family and then hour and a half drive back.

Tuesday – Two and a half hour drive to my brother’s house to have Christmas with my family. More gift exchanges and more food. Much noisier and chaotic than the previous day’s gatherings and I like it that way.

Wednesday/Thursday – undetermined. We used to go to my mom’s house each day but now that she’s gone we have to find other ways to spend the days.  Last year we did indoor mini-golf and ice skating.

Friday – back to MIL’s house. Still hoping to be surprised with tickets to the UK/UL basketball game.

Saturday/Sunday – one of these day will be the 9 hour drive back home. If we go back on Sunday, maybe a movie again on Saturday. New Year’s Eve will be at home watching TV.

Monday – probably a lazy day at home and then back to work.

A lot of driving, but it is a nice end of the year. Family, food, movies, reading. and no work. My kind of life.

ps. If you look at the left hand side of the blog you will now see a link to Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook link is to my Tater page that I created and abandoned. I am going to attempt to remember to post there more. Like it if you are so inclined and follow me on Twitter. I will try to be more interesting there.