Surprisingly Warm

CWs: holidays, alcohol, food

I expected it to be super cold today. It will be cold tonight (probably in the 20s or so), but today has been almost 50F. I haven’t been outside much today, mainly to grab something from the shed out back and to take the trash and recycling out to the cans on our back porch. If you’re celebrating, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah!; if not, I hope you’re enjoying your day. We celebrate Christmas in pretty much the most secular way possible: it’s just a day to hang out with family (and kitties!) and a day off from work. I grew up celebrating Christmas with my family, though, and it was a big deal as a kid especially. Christmas Eve is when we had our big blowout dinner, and opened at least one present, saving the rest for Christmas proper. I realized today that I haven’t spent Christmas with my family in Oregon since 2013. Wow, that’s been a long time. In 2014-15 I spent Christmas with my spouse’s family, which was lovely, but definitely different being in the Florida sun and heat. Christmas at 75-80F is not ideal for me, ugh. It was still nice to be able to spend it with family.

I am famously not religious any more (used to be Presbyterian, then Catholic, now atheist), but I honestly feel like Christmas can be more of a secular celebration for many these days. Just a time to get togethe with family (if you enjoy their company!) and take a breather from life in general. So I do not care about any of the Jesus stuff for the holiday, and it frustrates me that Christmas was likely just Christian hijacking of pagan holidays (e.g., Sol Invictus, Saturnalia). I just enjoy this time of year as the year winds down and we look ahead to the next, and contemplate the embers of what was. Late December is kind of a bummer for me in general, since it means days are getting longer, and eventually hotter. Autumn and winter are my favorite times of year since they’re cold; the rest of the year, especially summer, can be ridiculously hot. So I want to hold onto Winter in my heart for a little longer, and hoping it doesn’t get super hot until late May, if we’re lucky.

My spouse and I have a Christmas Eve tradition that we started many years ago. I think inspired by some cultural tradition, I can’t remember (something Scandinavian?). We do a book exchange and get each other a book. I am terrible at buying books, so my spouse usually gives me their Bookshop.org wishlist, and I pick something off of there. They bought me a really interesting-sounding book on wild cacao, so that will be very cool. I got them a book of poems that are based on Taylor Swift songs.

Last night we had tamales (green chile & cheese), black beans & rice, and esquites. We did a similar meal last year, just to switch it up a bit, and it was delicious both years. We’re gonna do more tamales and leftovers of the latter two tonight, probably with some brussels sprouts. We watched I’ll Be Home for Christmas, a really terrible Disney Christmas movie with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jessica Biel. Earlier in the week, we watched Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I’d never seen. Both movies were really awful and I never need to see them again.

After staying up lateish, I woke up a little before 7am this morning (kitties) and listened to creepy podcasts until my spouse got up. We had breakfast: red & green pancakes (my spouse’s favorite), sausage (Morningstar for me), and scrambled eggs. It was delightful! And we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of my favorites this time of year. I love how it perfectly captures the essential melancholy nature of the holidays. It is a real bummer and I love it. A little later, we watched the ridiculous Disney Christmas parade special on Hulu. It was pretty goofy, just like the Disney Holiday Celebration that came out a few weeks ago.

It’s been a generally lazy day. We are gonna be doing stuff the next couple of days (need to get the title for the new car, and my spouse has an eye appointment, both tomorrow; then plans on Friday as well). But we’re gonna enjoy the time off. My spouse is off of work until next Thursday, so that is great; I will be working Mon & Tues but no big deal, then off Wed for New Year’s Day.

I am on the laptop and probably going to play some more games. I never know what to play anymore; too many emulators and Steam games to choose from, not to mention itch.io games that I almost forget about most of the time, even though they’re great! Indecision reigns, but oh well.

I hope y’all are enjoying your days, whatsoever you’re doing, and getting some much-needed rest. Take care of yourselves. <3