Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays 2022

[Okri]

Had a bit of a toothache that required a root canal so did that instead on Christmas Eve (which... root canals are very very boring.)

I'm surprised you were able to find a dentist's office open on a Saturday, let alone a Christmas Eve Saturday.

Yeah, my dentist office is pretty awesome.

[Greg]

So Florida has been sort of hit by the "winter storm of the century." It did get just below freezing temperature where I live for a short while; but, it was dry so there was no snow, sleet, ice, rain, or wind.

This does remind me of a time when I was about 12 after my family had recently moved to Florida. We lived next to a fernery, a farm where they grew decorative fern plants. It was another rare time when the temperature dipped below freezing. To protect the ferns, they were actually sprayed with water to grow ice on them. The ice acted as an insulator. While the temperature of the air on the outer layers of ice surrounding the ferns fell a few degrees below the freezing temperature of water, the ice was insulating enough so that the temperature on the inner layers of ice that made contact with the ferns stayed at the freezing temperature of water. The ferns could survive that temperature, but, not the lower temperature of the air. This made quite a spectacle with all the ferns draped with ice. There were actually people who would drive by and take pictures.

[Greg]

Had a bit of a toothache that required a root canal so did that instead on Christmas Eve (which... root canals are very very boring.)

I'm surprised you were able to find a dentist's office open on a Saturday, let alone a Christmas Eve Saturday.

[Okri]

I wish all of you a restorative holidays and happiness in the year to come.

I like that - a restorative holiday. I was planning on travelling to see my parents but like many travelers, the winter storm absolutely upended that and I ended up not be able to go. Had a bit of a toothache that required a root canal so did that instead on Christmas Eve (which... root canals are very very boring.) My brother and I watched both Knives Out movies today (for his separate travel plans were also upended) and enjoyed meal together (yes, I saw the new Knives Out movie twice)

Happy Holidays!

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
A friend once said to me that the genius of the holiday season (at least for Americans) is its location on the calendar. Scholars think if there was an actual birth of Christ worth noting, it probably took place sometime in Spring. But positioning it here -- in the darkest/coldest part of the year in the Northern hemisphere -- makes it feel like a balm for battered souls. It also, by way of leading into the turn of the calendar, helps us mark the passage of one year into the next, in a way we might not perceive otherwise.

I like that. I'd certainly agree to that.

I spent last night at a Christmas party with my oldest friends in Los Angeles. Many of us used to be roommates. It's now become a bit of an extended family, one whose Jewish girlfriend had family over. We ate pizza, talked about the year ahead, and then lit the Menorah. It was very nice. It was the first time in memory where friends, Jewish and not, all circled together and sang a Hebrew prayer. It was just a nice moment.

I'm going to spend the day with my sister, her boyfriend, and their dogs and maybe watch a couple of movies.

This holiday season really arrived out of nowhere for me. This year moved very quickly. It was nowhere near satisfying enough but full of more growing pains than any year I can remember. I was pushed outside my comfort zone in many ways at work. I'm hearing from friends near and far about broken relationships, one of which was the first marriage I ever officiated. My family lost the patriarch of our family, my grandfather, at 102, weeks shy of his 103rd birthday which he would have celebrated this week. He was very much ready to go. But it's still very sad. But there are new beginnings in the air. My sister and her boyfriend are trying to conceive. My mother seems to be turning a corner in her life. And I'm looking forward to the new year both personally and professionally as I cruise towards my 42nd birthday. Still a wild thing to ponder.

I wish all of you a restorative holidays and happiness in the year to come.

[Sonic Youth]

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Happy Pajama Day to everyone else!

Now go search for those batteries...

[Reza]

Happy Holidays to all and a very Happy New Year!!

[Big Magilla]

Temperature wise, this is the coldest Christmas I've seen. It was 3 below zero Fahrenheit in upstate New York on Christmas Eve but warm inside where I am visiting family.

I'm staying with my youngest sister (by twenty years) and her husband. My 8-year-old great-nephew calls me "the man who is old but young". His cousin, my 9-year-old great-niece, says that no one under 92 is old so I have a way to go in their eyes. She just played the little old birdwoman in a school version of Mary Poppins, so she should know!

More celebrations and get-togethers today and tomorrow before I head home on Tuesday.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

[mlrg]

Beautiful post Tee.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and all the best to your parents at their beautiful age.

[Mister Tee]

Getting in just before the grand holiday to wish everyone the very happiest for Christmas/Hanukkah/New Years.

I've had a rocky go the past week, but am now at my parents' -- still going in their mid-90s -- celebrating the end of 2022.

A friend once said to me that the genius of the holiday season (at least for Americans) is its location on the calendar. Scholars think if there was an actual birth of Christ worth noting, it probably took place sometime in Spring. But positioning it here -- in the darkest/coldest part of the year in the Northern hemisphere -- makes it feel like a balm for battered souls. It also, by way of leading into the turn of the calendar, helps us mark the passage of one year into the next, in a way we might not perceive otherwise.

My earliest December memory, from school years, is of the Christmas pageant that led us into the holiday break -- the pastor saying, every year, "I won't see you again until NEXT YEAR" (a joke we quickly deemed lame). Following which, we went home; a few days later we were showered with gifts (at least it seemed that way); we saw friends and sometimes distant family; had days and days to play; experienced this strange thing called New Years Eve (something we were sent to bed too early to witness, but took some part in, anyway); and, when we went back to school, we added a number to the dates we put on tests or homework. Something had changed in the interim; the holidays were an integral part of noting the passage of one year to the next.

Obviously it becomes a lot different as time passes and one ages. But I still think ending the year with this thing we call the holidays/Christmas week is a net positive. I wouldn't know how to make sense of life without it.

So, one more time: the happiest of holidays to all.