**

I mean there is the food, but being a diabetic, I really do try to watch what I eat so most of the deserts are out or at least like I used to eat them. Then there is the family. Now don't get me wrong ... I love my family. I just find that spending all day with them is a bit trying after about eight or ten hours. A man can only be preached at about this and that for so long before he wants to hit the wall or something. Add to that a bunch of surly, bored kids and ... well, you get the point. The only saving grace really? Football! All day long. I love football in case you didn't know but even that has a downside ... Normally it's the Dallas Cowboys playing and if there's anything I hate ... it's the Dallas Cowboys. (But I'm getting off point. Sorry, got lost in a rant there.) After all that comes "Black Friday."
The Friday after Thanksgiving is the start of the most depressing time of the year for me ... the lead up to the Christmas season. Now let me explain something. I'm all about the decorations, the music, the reason for the season ... you know. Peace on Earth, good will toward men and all that? Hell, I've told you before I love shopping so it should actually be my favorite time of year but it's not. I dread it. The crowds, the surly salespeople, the commercialization of it all. Then there are the parties where you hang out with a bunch of people who don't want to be there, that you may not even like or enjoy talking to. But you put on the smiley face knowing that a dip in the pits of hell with Satan poking your feet with a pitchfork would be more enjoyable. The day arrives and again, with the family. Didn't we just do this? Can't we just e-mail each other? You get to watch the false joy when grandpa opens up the "Old Spice" shaving set and Uncle Boudreaux crows over the book that you got him then promptly throws it on the stack of his other stuff waiting for the next turn around the tree. Is it just me that thinks it's all bullshit?
There is a saving grace for Christmas though. It's the little kids. The joy on their faces, their innocent belief that there is a fat man riding a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer delivering presents to all the boys and girls in the world. That joy when they open the presents the fat man left and the "WOW'"s and the "Look at what Santa brought me!"'s make it all worthwhile for me.
This year is going to be particularly hard for me in my situation. I won't be attending my wife's families celebrations and I assume (although I'm not sure) that she wont be attending mine. If it weren't for my kids (who are well beyond the Magic of Christmas phase now) I would drive somewhere and spend a week by myself in a hotel drinking my blues away. But, I'll sally forth, put on the smiley face and exchange my "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holiday" greetings, throw my spare change in the red bucket stationed outside every store in town and try to pretend that I give a shit. It is the holiday season after all. Ho fucking Ho, Ho! Wonder if Ebineezer has plans this year?