Holidays

I'm basically a bah humbug person. Since I don't really have much of a personal life and am a loner, I don't really enjoy the holiday season. I go to my family's celebration on Xmas eve, but that hasn't been enjoyable since I had more money so I could give presents and also had someone to bring along with me.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't miss the Christmas days at the boyfriend's family. That's just because I felt lost in the crowd. 8 kids, 8 signifigant others, most with 1+ kids, but the couple I was in. So that's about 32 people. Talk about chaos.

But the thing I miss most about Xmas past is my parents. Without them a family doesn't seem like a family anymore. My dad for the last few years of his life became the "Book Santa". He carefully picked a book for each person in the family that matched their interests. My mom and I were close. I feel pretty much like an outsider at my sister's house, even after living there for a year and a half.

So holiday time is kind of my own time. I go to a movie on Christmas day. For a couple of years it seemed to be "go to a Bill Murray movie on Christmas day". I don't think I have too much that I'd want to see this year. I think this year I'll go to the Mariemont and see "The Reader", because nothing like a Nazi war crime story about an older woman with a young man love affair to bring me some holiday cheer.

The Reindog parade is about as exciting as the season gets for me. And what a letdown it was this year. Same dogs from previous year's in the same costumes. I did get some good photos, but am I photographing the same thing as I did last year?

Each year I would like to send out a card. I never get around to it. I have put comments with a photo I've taken on some of my friends myspace pages. This one is a crappy photo, but it's got both of my dogs in it, so I like it. I'll post that one below along with a couple more years of photos.






I guess what I'm looking forward to most this year is the time off of work. 5 days in a row is the longest I've had off since starting this new job. Maybe I'll get some chores done like laundry & cleaning. Or maybe I'll start catching up on editing photos. While going through my photos looking for a good one to print for a present, I realized I have been putting off editing my Oktoberfest photos and I owe those folks photos more than anyone.

And of course I wish I was volunteering this season. I still have some life stuff to work out before I feel I can do that.