Not being a big fan of Christmas, I'm not complaining here. In fact, in some ways, I'm celebrating the fact that we're not awash in the commercial trappings of a religious holiday that no one in this household is a disciple of. But here's the list, for posterity's sake.
1) There's approximately... well, zero snow on the ground outside. This is a good thing, for my money, because it meant I got to ride my bike one more time this past week, and of course it's nice travelling weather for anyone who has out of town plans for the holidays. However, it's certainly not a Christmas-y scene when I look out my window. Maybe Global Warming will make white Christmases a thing of the past in these parts?
2) No matter how hard you look, you won't find a Christmas tree up or presents out on display (yet) in this house. We decided to keep it low key this year in terms of presents, which around here translates to keeping it down to six or so packages going each way between Vicki and I. The tree-or-no-tree decision is always up to Vicki and Tammy (I always favour no-tree). We have an artificial tree that might still go up, although with Tammy sick and Christmas less than 30 hours away, it'd seem kind of silly now. Back to the presents, we usually have them bagged by this time (we use cloth bags for all family presents, along with re-usable cardboard boxes and tissue paper, where appropriate) but that activity's just not been high on the agenda so far. Typically that happens after the tree goes up, and so here we are.
3) I don't recall the official sounds of the season soundtrack including the distinctive barking cough of someone throwing up, and yet that's what we've had today, as poor Tammy knelt at the porcelain throne throughout the afternoon. As Vicki joked, Christmas dinner for the 20-year-old may be chicken noodle soup, unless she has a quick recovery.
4) For whatever reason, this year we just haven't had much interaction with kids in the days leading up to Christmas. Usually we'll be visiting friends with young children and I'll see that sparkle in their eyes that reminds me that, if you don't buy into the whole birth of the Son of God business, then it's really all about the excitement of the young. I'm sure it's happening, as usual, but I just haven't seen it this year.
5) And, as mentioned here, there wasn't any kind of big and expensive Christmas comic item that got my blood racing this month. For an incurable comic geek like me, there's a real tradition involved with this that's hardly ever been missed. I even said to the comic store owner this week, that had I wanted to send Vicki his way to buy me that special something for Christmas 2006, I don't know what she could've picked up. And he felt the same way. Fortunately she had our Chicago comic convention in August to stock up on old comics so I remain hopeful that not all is lost!
Again, this isn't a list of complaints, but rather observations of how unusual the lead-up to Christmas has been this time around.
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