Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cards

Another Thanksgiving-ish tradition I have is on Black Friday I stay home and do all my Christmas cards. I usually start a month before and organize all my addresses and bug people to get me their addresses if they moved or if I don't have them. I then get all the addresses on labels, buy a bunch of different cards including non-holiday specific ones for the non-christian friends I have and finally curse how many friends I have.

Normally, I send somewhere between 100 and 150 cards. This year I hit 197. This is with me weeding it down. My list was almost doubled with the addition of all my LA friends and co-workers I no longer see on a daily basis so I needed to add them to the list. So, I spent all day Friday signing my name and making notes as necessary. I'm not insane and make personal notes in all of them. I would not be able to get them done by Christmas if I did. I also don't do the whole Christmas letter thing since I send regular emails out and have this blog.

This year I had to work half a day so I got a late start. It took about 6 and half hours to get them all done. I usually watch holiday movies while I do them. This year I was only in the mood to watch one Thanksgiving movie: Home For the Holidays. Then I watched one of my Netflix (The Savages) and The Devil Wears Prada. It was what I was in the mood for.

Then on Saturday I go to the post office. I mail my International cards with the clerk and buy Christmas (180) and Hanukkah (20) stamps. I then stand there and stamp all my cards. Not that anyone will necessarily notice the stamps, but I think it is a nice touch. Although, 5 people did get Hanukkah stamps on their Christmas cards because it wasn't as proportional as I would have liked.

I stood their stamping them next to a very nice woman who was sending 187 calendars to her real estate clients. We chatted about the holidays and how grateful we are that they are stickers now or else our tongues would have fallen off.

So all my cards are done and sent. Now I kept a few extra cards for those who get me their addresses late and they will also end up with Hanukkah stamps, but that's what happens when you don't get back to me fast enough.

The Nutcracker

Lately here in Seattle they have been running a lot of commercials for the upcoming performances of "The Nutcracker."

Back in grade school (that's middle school for all you weird people who don't call it grade school), we would go see it every holiday season as a field trip. Now, I have memories of the bus rides and of the Drury Lane theater itself, but no memories of the actual production. I thought this was odd. Usually people remember the performance and not the mundane things around it.

Last year in LA, the opportunity to go see it again arose. My friend, Cat, organized a few of us to go check it out. I got settled into my seat and it began. After about ten minutes into it, I realized why I had no memory of it -- because I would always use that time to sleep. Suddenly memories of naps came flooding back and how incredibly boring the ballet is was refreshed into my brain. I thought maybe as an adult I might have a higher tolerance and would be able to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Pretty much out like a light.

I have this great almost narcoleptic superpower to fall asleep anywhere if I am bored. No matter how much sleep I have previously gotten. Places I have fallen asleep despite noise level: pretty much every kind of Chicago mass transit, a Rollins band concert at the Whiskey on Sunset, every dance club someone has dragged me to, every History of Cinema class with the exception of classes where John Ford films were shown (his films are never boring), and apparently, performances of "The Nutcracker." Like with all super powers there is one overriding factor, heat. I cannot sleep when I'm hot. It doesn't matter how tired or bored I am, I just can't do it.

In conclusion, I am not a fan of "The Nutcracker." However, that is the music I select while playing original Tetris.