New Year Cards

Well, I'm not working, that's for sure. So...it's project time!

I'm collecting flyers for concerts and parties and shows around NYC so that I can decoupage this table and turn it into patio furniture for all my rooftop parties next summer! If you have flyers, I want them! Especially if they have weird cartoony illustrations on them...but I'll take what I can get!

I'm doing a grand bedroom reorganization project which will separate my 200 sq. foot bedroom into a sleeping area and a separate hanging-out-type area. This project is huge and is taking me a lot longer than I thought.

I'm doing New Year's cards! Why not Christmas cards? I have a few reasons.

A, the French do it, so it must be cool.

2, I really like the idea of wishing someone will have a whole year of awesomeness instead of just a day or two!

3, New Year cards offer the bonus of 50% off holiday card sales! And also, added bonus, you can make sure you don't forget anyone, because nearly everyone who is sending cards will have already sent them!

IV, Most of my card recipients are work-related, and not everyone celebrates Christmas. Some people observe other holidays in lieu of or alongside Christmas. And the old "Happy Holidays" card just seems to me like saying, "I don't give a shit whether or not you celebrate Christmas, but I feel obligated to purchase this greeting card for you and have it delivered to your home by December 20 regardless."

Mostly though, Christmas just isn't my thing. I kind of don't like it. I feel like it's a holiday conceived in and resulting in deception. Christ wasn't born anywhere near December 25th, it was just an arbitrary day chosen to steal the thunder of the Winter Solstice. But beyond all that, there's the whole Santa lie. Convincing little kids that there's some awesome grandfatherly figure who cares about them is great...until they figure out that it's not true. There's something horribly wrong with that. And also everyone expects you to be all 'merry.' What the hell? What if I don't feel 'merry?' What if I feel 'lively,' or 'chipper' instead? What if I feel sardonic and mopey? What if I feel lonely because nobody else will pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster with me?


And, well, okay. I feel like an ass for saying it, but Christmas makes me feel obligated to do extra things to placate my mother. Like not go see my mom's parents because she is dead set on having my stepdad's father over for Christmas dinner. Then suddenly we're ambushed with the announcement that stepdad's derelict brother is coming over too and Salty and I spend the entire day awkwardly avoiding them all while his poor little daughter is stuck amusing herself with pies. Fail. F-A-I-L.

I ducked the hell out of there as soon as dinner was over. I ran for the safe, familiar comfort of my awkward relationship with my dad's parents. I drank ginger ale and ate a biscotti while my grandma told me stories from her childhood. My aunt and uncle teased each other about who got more phone time with their sisters in Connecticut, my aunt's husband passed out on the couch, and Grandpa watched basketball and laughed at us all during the commercials. It was so...not awkward! It was normal and fun, and I really enjoyed myself with them! And when I went to sleep that night I still missed my dad, but I was really glad that this time I didn't let him come between me and his...no, my family.