Happy holidays, Metafilter! December 24, 2015 9:58 PM Subscribe
MetaFilter has been an important part of my online life for closing in on two years now, and I'd like to wish everyone happy holidays as well as give other MeFites a forum for general well-wishing and/or holiday kvetching. I wish you all health and happiness!
Well, I've spent more holidays since 1999 with MeFi than with "IRL Loved Ones". And the current MeFi MST3K Marathon is an exceptional distraction while I'm recently returned home, still recovering and by my not-lonesome self... Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and the Star Wars Holiday Special fit my celebrating style just fine.
However you choose to celebrate Christmas/Xmas/Hanukkah/Channuka/Kwansaa/Festivus/Winter Solstice/New Year's/Quonsmas, may it be right for YOU.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:48 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
However you choose to celebrate Christmas/Xmas/Hanukkah/Channuka/Kwansaa/Festivus/Winter Solstice/New Year's/Quonsmas, may it be right for YOU.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:48 PM on December 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Happy and/or tolerably complex holidays, y'all.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:14 PM on December 24, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:14 PM on December 24, 2015 [10 favorites]
Came here looking for just this. As always, Metafilter delivers! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
posted by math at 11:18 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by math at 11:18 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Metafilter delivers!
Yeah, but for orders under $30 there's a hefty surcharge. That's why I only use it on special occasions. Like xmas!
posted by aubilenon at 11:24 PM on December 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Yeah, but for orders under $30 there's a hefty surcharge. That's why I only use it on special occasions. Like xmas!
posted by aubilenon at 11:24 PM on December 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Have some Holidays folks! Remember I still hate every single last one of you!
posted by eyeballkid at 12:55 AM on December 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by eyeballkid at 12:55 AM on December 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
It's day two of enforced holiday togetherness, and already I hate everyone. And I miss my cat.
posted by lollusc at 3:41 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by lollusc at 3:41 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'm having a great time at home, but I couldn't really fall asleep last night, so uh. Hope I'm not too pissy come Presents Time around noon...
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:43 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:43 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Gleðileg jól, kæru MeFítar!
posted by Kattullus at 4:08 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 4:08 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I haven't been as active on MeFi these last few years, but have been lurking avidly. I love seeing all the familiar names, new people and hilarious comments by all. Makes me feel like I'm still a part of this community and am looking forward to participating more when I have more time to do so. So I guess I'm saying that it's really great to always have this place and all the wonderful people in it to turn to. Happy holidays all!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:45 AM on December 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 4:45 AM on December 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
Merry Christmas, and/or happy holiday of choice! May your ad hoc changes of plan go well, may your tolerances hold up as long as they need to, and may at least one of your presents go over real big with the recipient.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:59 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:59 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Merry Christmas and thank you for always being here everyone.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:06 AM on December 25, 2015
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:06 AM on December 25, 2015
Merry bloody Christmas to Mefites everywhere. I have to go to my parents and all my family will be there (well, core family) and am not looking forwards to it. They all seem to spend a fortune on presents, and I am fucking broke as I have had a load of work done on my car (which I need for my Chinese Takeway delivery driver job) so could only get them £10 book tokens each (on my damn credit card as well) so will no doubt be mocked by my nemesis sister and dad for it. Fun fun fun huh. Oh well, at least mum makes a lovely Christmas dinner.
Also they have decided to do the Christmas jumpers thing this year, so I bought the most awesome and hideous Christmas jumper I saw on Christmas eve. whahahhaha.
posted by marienbad at 6:14 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also they have decided to do the Christmas jumpers thing this year, so I bought the most awesome and hideous Christmas jumper I saw on Christmas eve. whahahhaha.
posted by marienbad at 6:14 AM on December 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Merry Christmas, Metafilter. This year I was apparently a good child as I got the twin gifts of an antidepressant that works for me and what looks like it might be a serious boyfriend after many years of feeling sorry for myself and being alone. Also lots of Starbucks cards because I am apparently hard to shop for.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 6:16 AM on December 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 6:16 AM on December 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
Merry Ho-Ho everyone! Whatever holiday you celebrate and whoever you celebrate it with I hope it is enjoyable or at least endurable.
posted by nubs at 8:00 AM on December 25, 2015
posted by nubs at 8:00 AM on December 25, 2015
Kvetching? Did someone say kvetching? Been with relatives for 24 hrs., so now totally believe guns are good, Muslims bad, and Sheldon Cooper's a "sissy." Send help.
And yes, I'm at the relatives cos it's always "my turn" to do the traveling. [/kvetch]
Anyway, because my sister also reposted one of those antagonistic "This is America, we say, "Merry Christmas" memes on Facebook, I want to wish all my Mefite bros and sistahs a big fat HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
posted by NorthernLite at 8:21 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
And yes, I'm at the relatives cos it's always "my turn" to do the traveling. [/kvetch]
Anyway, because my sister also reposted one of those antagonistic "This is America, we say, "Merry Christmas" memes on Facebook, I want to wish all my Mefite bros and sistahs a big fat HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
posted by NorthernLite at 8:21 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Mele Kalikimaka to the people I consider my on-line family. I am about to go back over to my brother's for the second pass at last nights smoked prime rib served cold and for the opening of the Star Wars breakfast cereal. I'm lucky in that none of my relatives is a Trumpian asshole, but we all are pathologically quirky. Glad to be seeing them but I do wish I could be joining in on the MST3K watch.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:29 AM on December 25, 2015
posted by benito.strauss at 8:29 AM on December 25, 2015
I totally won Christmas this year! My family are Notorious Bad Gift Givers and stuck to gift cards, which I don't really need, but given the Unyielding Gift Exchange Mandate that has been handed down the Bartfast family line since antiquity, I am satisfied that I'm not returning a heated toilet seat to Brookstone this year. Plus, my wife got me tickets to the Hateful 8 road show that I asked her for every day for the last month. I am completely outraged that it is being held at the local AMC which doesn't even pop its own corn rather than the glorious Cinerama, which is showing the Force Awakens. Come on, we have all seen episode VII by now (and hey can we talk openly about the *huge* spoiler yet?!). I am organizing a general strike in Seattle over this travesty if anyone cares to join in. I mean, the Cinerama is one of the few theaters in the country that was built for 70 mm. I digress.
More importantly my wife and kids were absolutely overjoyed at the amazing gifts they never asked for but were completely perfect because The Worlds Greatest Husband and Dad knows and cares for his family so well.
Now I'm back to sleep followed by a day of eating bacon and drinking and checking in on my favorite professionally white website all day.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:33 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
More importantly my wife and kids were absolutely overjoyed at the amazing gifts they never asked for but were completely perfect because The Worlds Greatest Husband and Dad knows and cares for his family so well.
Now I'm back to sleep followed by a day of eating bacon and drinking and checking in on my favorite professionally white website all day.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:33 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
We lasted a whole two hours into my family visit before my spouse and my mother wound up in a three-hour knock-down drag-out shouting-at-the-top-of-voices fight with my dad and me variously trying to calm things down and snarling harder, so that's more or less set the tone here. (It was immediately followed by a minor dogfight, which was a bit of a cherry on the cake. Like, a literal dogfight.) On the upside, we did okay at gifts, everyone has been apparently been on best behavior since, and my sisters are both great so... uh... I rate this holiday a B-.
It may yet go downwards. I have to go shopping for bridesmaid dresses tomorrow for my sister's wedding and my tastes and my mothers' tastes aren't remotely the same, plus I goddamn hate dresses. It's going to be an interesting shopping trip.
We leave for home on Sunday! I miss my cat. My dog came with us, but the cat has celebrated his holiday alone, and I'm looking forward to giving him a good scritch.
posted by sciatrix at 10:48 AM on December 25, 2015
It may yet go downwards. I have to go shopping for bridesmaid dresses tomorrow for my sister's wedding and my tastes and my mothers' tastes aren't remotely the same, plus I goddamn hate dresses. It's going to be an interesting shopping trip.
We leave for home on Sunday! I miss my cat. My dog came with us, but the cat has celebrated his holiday alone, and I'm looking forward to giving him a good scritch.
posted by sciatrix at 10:48 AM on December 25, 2015
I got a metal model of a Molinari-class Staten Island ferry from my in-laws. Literally could not have seen that one coming. It is fantastic.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:12 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:12 AM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, but what we didn't know was that the 8 y.-o. had been filling them with household objects. Pocket knives. Pretty polished stones. And a container of Daddy's favorite--whitefish!
By the time we found it this morning, it had been hanging in front of the wood stove for several days.
As a friend noted, "Well, it's the thought that ... OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?"
Merry Christmas, everyone!
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:21 AM on December 25, 2015 [18 favorites]
By the time we found it this morning, it had been hanging in front of the wood stove for several days.
As a friend noted, "Well, it's the thought that ... OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?"
Merry Christmas, everyone!
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:21 AM on December 25, 2015 [18 favorites]
Fröhliche Weihnachten, y'all.
And a special shout-out and best wishes to Eyebrows McGee as she prepares to embark on her new career here.
posted by key_of_z at 11:37 AM on December 25, 2015
And a special shout-out and best wishes to Eyebrows McGee as she prepares to embark on her new career here.
posted by key_of_z at 11:37 AM on December 25, 2015
The upside: I'm in Hawaii. The downside: it's not yet 10:00 AM, so still plenty of time for drama.
Good luck, everyone!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:41 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good luck, everyone!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:41 AM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
some of you are okay i guess
bones festes
posted by poffin boffin at 11:47 AM on December 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
bones festes
posted by poffin boffin at 11:47 AM on December 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Happy Holidays everyone! Just finished prep for the holiday meal and occasionally popping in on the MST3k marathon and about to crack open a delicious Fat Tire. Hope you all have an amazing holiday season.
posted by Benway at 11:57 AM on December 25, 2015
posted by Benway at 11:57 AM on December 25, 2015
All I want for Christmas is to never speak of it again.
posted by eamondaly at 1:36 PM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by eamondaly at 1:36 PM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
During The Feats Of Strength, I managed to walk my dog around 2 whole blocks & take out the recycling. It has been a good year! Glad all of you guys here are still part of it.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:51 PM on December 25, 2015
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:51 PM on December 25, 2015
Happy holidays!!! This is the first Christmas I can remember in which none of us cried in frustration. And I hosted so this makes me queen of Christmas!!!!
Merry merry, friends.
posted by Pardon Our Dust at 2:19 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Merry merry, friends.
posted by Pardon Our Dust at 2:19 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh wow at last a place I can share this. Ok here it is. My book The Astronaut Instruction Manual went to #1 New Releases Children's Books (Science > Astronomy & Space) two weeks ago on amazon. AND it has stayed there for two weeks. And it's been sold out since last Saturday. As good as that is (clarification: it's good), I'm getting reports lots of reports that kids are carrying it with them everywhere they go. Which has me over the moon. Quite.
That said, nothing prepared me for the pre-Quonsmas awesomeness that was having The AIM on the front page of the blue. And I just wanted to say thank you. If you don't know how much Mefi means to me, and how much it has affected my interactions with humans elsewhere on the net and IRL, let me tell you: I have an old weird blue Metafilter tee shirt I have never worn because 1) it's rare, and 2) I am so looking forward to wearing it to my first meet-up. (I have washed it on occasion, and hung-dry, because stored old tshirts even clean ones in Key West tend to take on a smell strikingly like a great-grandparents' linen closet.)
In fact, when I learned via twitter that, somehow, something I did–a book I wrote–was posted on the blue this is what I tweeted: "my face".
I just wanted to say how much it meant to me. (And thanks joseph conrad is fully awesome-slash-melindacasino, because: wow!) When I told my publishers that The Astronaut Instruction Manual is on the front page of metafilter!!! and got a collective "um?", I further elaborated, "Today our book in pure liquid form got dropped directly into the eyeball of the internet."
Now two months later, The AIM is #1 new release children's book science astronomy & space on amazon.com. Correlation? Maybe. Who knows?
What I do know is aside from the young readers of the book, no group's validation matters more to me in terms of my respect for and contribution to than the Mefites of planet Metafilter. Just by existing, Metafilter and our vast and resourceful (yet "comfortably complex") hivemind contribute to the overall betterness of my life. Yet making the front-page of mefi?
Metafilter represents everything about the internet I love. Favorites. Banhammers. Support. Flameouts. Popcorn. Hivemind. Meta. Music. Ask. Heck, mefi is the place I learned (as an egg-eating grown-up) how to peel an egg without shell sticking to it!!!
In other words, yes about the front page I'm still struck speechless.
You. All. Are. Awesomeness. I just wanted to share that. Metafilter helps with the hard stuff, the good stuff, the bad stuff, and my stuff. And my best present this year was being bestowed the sweetest internet honorific of all, "Mefi's Own". [As well as triggering a robust, Imposter Syndrome-quality, full-cheeks face blush.] From my perspective, it reminded me of the post about Santa Claus bestowing the blessings of Artemis upon a brand new Wonder Woman. It made me feel like I was inducted into the Green Lantern Corps.
To be fair to 2015, I lost my best-friend cat and my best-friend human this year. The truth is you all could not have picked a better year for this particularly special brand of good cheer. Rather than a stomach punch machine, you helped make 2015 a finely-tuned roller coaster.
Therefore, by the power of timecube and to all mefites everywhen and everywhere, like I say to all my friends, Happy Merry Everything. I mean it this year more than ever, hivemind, this place is the real goods!
And I don't have any kids per se but if I did I would seriously consider the name Jessamyn (or Jessaman) Cortex Mathowie the First. Aka Flapjax. Aka Hippie Bear. Aka The Whelk. Aka Secret Quonsmas. Aka It's Raining Florence Henderson. Aka BitterOldPunk. Aka Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. Aka The Deej. Aka…okay so you get the picture, I loves you all. Smiley face with hearty eyes emoji HERE
posted by Mike Mongo at 2:30 PM on December 25, 2015 [23 favorites]
That said, nothing prepared me for the pre-Quonsmas awesomeness that was having The AIM on the front page of the blue. And I just wanted to say thank you. If you don't know how much Mefi means to me, and how much it has affected my interactions with humans elsewhere on the net and IRL, let me tell you: I have an old weird blue Metafilter tee shirt I have never worn because 1) it's rare, and 2) I am so looking forward to wearing it to my first meet-up. (I have washed it on occasion, and hung-dry, because stored old tshirts even clean ones in Key West tend to take on a smell strikingly like a great-grandparents' linen closet.)
In fact, when I learned via twitter that, somehow, something I did–a book I wrote–was posted on the blue this is what I tweeted: "my face".
I just wanted to say how much it meant to me. (And thanks joseph conrad is fully awesome-slash-melindacasino, because: wow!) When I told my publishers that The Astronaut Instruction Manual is on the front page of metafilter!!! and got a collective "um?", I further elaborated, "Today our book in pure liquid form got dropped directly into the eyeball of the internet."
Now two months later, The AIM is #1 new release children's book science astronomy & space on amazon.com. Correlation? Maybe. Who knows?
What I do know is aside from the young readers of the book, no group's validation matters more to me in terms of my respect for and contribution to than the Mefites of planet Metafilter. Just by existing, Metafilter and our vast and resourceful (yet "comfortably complex") hivemind contribute to the overall betterness of my life. Yet making the front-page of mefi?
Metafilter represents everything about the internet I love. Favorites. Banhammers. Support. Flameouts. Popcorn. Hivemind. Meta. Music. Ask. Heck, mefi is the place I learned (as an egg-eating grown-up) how to peel an egg without shell sticking to it!!!
In other words, yes about the front page I'm still struck speechless.
You. All. Are. Awesomeness. I just wanted to share that. Metafilter helps with the hard stuff, the good stuff, the bad stuff, and my stuff. And my best present this year was being bestowed the sweetest internet honorific of all, "Mefi's Own". [As well as triggering a robust, Imposter Syndrome-quality, full-cheeks face blush.] From my perspective, it reminded me of the post about Santa Claus bestowing the blessings of Artemis upon a brand new Wonder Woman. It made me feel like I was inducted into the Green Lantern Corps.
To be fair to 2015, I lost my best-friend cat and my best-friend human this year. The truth is you all could not have picked a better year for this particularly special brand of good cheer. Rather than a stomach punch machine, you helped make 2015 a finely-tuned roller coaster.
Therefore, by the power of timecube and to all mefites everywhen and everywhere, like I say to all my friends, Happy Merry Everything. I mean it this year more than ever, hivemind, this place is the real goods!
And I don't have any kids per se but if I did I would seriously consider the name Jessamyn (or Jessaman) Cortex Mathowie the First. Aka Flapjax. Aka Hippie Bear. Aka The Whelk. Aka Secret Quonsmas. Aka It's Raining Florence Henderson. Aka BitterOldPunk. Aka Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. Aka The Deej. Aka…okay so you get the picture, I loves you all. Smiley face with hearty eyes emoji HERE
posted by Mike Mongo at 2:30 PM on December 25, 2015 [23 favorites]
Merry Christmas to everyone! I decided to give a present to myself by going on Steam to block my ex, who once used the fact that I had an auto-login on my computer as a reason to abuse the hell out of me when I was trying to avoid him...because I was ignoring him. Fuck that mofo! It was years in the making and I only remembered because of that MeFi FPP about Steam's security screwup. Feels good to get rid of this. I also hit my first 3-day streak in years on my morning pages, yaaas.
Otherwise, it's delicious tea-soy sauce chicken, scallop and egg white fried rice for my Christmas dinner, because Chinese, and cuddles with my family. And many baby sea otters to squee over.
posted by yueliang at 6:49 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Otherwise, it's delicious tea-soy sauce chicken, scallop and egg white fried rice for my Christmas dinner, because Chinese, and cuddles with my family. And many baby sea otters to squee over.
posted by yueliang at 6:49 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Glad to be of service! :)
My Christmas began with my younger daughter destroying a lamp and is ending in a haze of exhaustion and Drambuie. Thank God for little kids who love Christmas, and also love suddenly announcing that we have to leave the house because it's time to head to "Pickle Springs".
(I just googled it and apparently Pickle Springs is a real place. I still have no idea where she got this name)
posted by selfnoise at 7:01 PM on December 25, 2015
My Christmas began with my younger daughter destroying a lamp and is ending in a haze of exhaustion and Drambuie. Thank God for little kids who love Christmas, and also love suddenly announcing that we have to leave the house because it's time to head to "Pickle Springs".
(I just googled it and apparently Pickle Springs is a real place. I still have no idea where she got this name)
posted by selfnoise at 7:01 PM on December 25, 2015
Happy holidays, metafilter. Tomorrow is my fifteen year anniversary as a member. You are a huge part of my life and without you I'd be... I dunno. A lot less than I am with you.
posted by bondcliff at 7:14 PM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 7:14 PM on December 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Merry Krimbo! We did a multi-stage thing which was bagels early, then my sister put on the pekingese costume and we went to the beach, then we cooked a ham and had some friends over and watched a PBS cat show video, then we watched the Minions mini-movies which I had thought would be about 45 minutes of entertainment but were actually eleven, so we watched The Librarians afterwards. Now the house is quiet and people are gone or asleep and I'm catching up on my web. Hope people had the holidays they mostly wanted. I did.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:51 PM on December 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 8:51 PM on December 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
So the only problem with this xmas is my sister-in-law's Havanese, which has taken to growling and barking at me every time I get up off of the couch and has already bitten me twice. She is yelling at me for "walking funny" when I'm around him but I refuse to let the little shit out of my sight because the last time I did that I got bitten. This is the only dog I have ever had this problem with, and I really want to be his buddy, but sadly I am now anxious about doing things as anodyne as going to the bathroom since that will involve him charging after me, barking and growling.
It is awful.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:07 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
It is awful.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:07 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've had the best Christmas of my life this year. Three years ago at Christmas dinner, my father disowned me because we had supported our then-5yo in being a boy. This is the first year I haven't had any feelings about that. It's also the first year we've had our newest family member with us, a trans young adult who came to live with us last year after being disowned by their birth family, and then kicked out of college during a mental health crisis. We didn't know then that C. would come to feel like one of ours, but they do, and in the new year we'll be pursuing legal adoption. It's been a rocky Christmas for them, as you can imagine, but with much goodness in it. Our gift exchange—my partner, our four kids, me, and an old friend who is essentially the third adult member of our family even though he lives 700 miles away now—has never been better. The kids put a lot of thought and effort into gifts for each other, and for us, and took a lot of pleasure in both their own gifts and in seeing each other open theirs. My 8yo was very proud to give me a new iPad cover, which was his own idea and which he paid for with his own money, plus $4 contributed by my partner.
Our 14-year-old, who has his challenging days and weeks to be sure, came to us back in October to ask if we knew yet what the Christmas budget was. He wondered if it might be possible to get his 11-year-old brother a Playstation 4 if we didn't buy him, the 14yo, any gifts. After some budget-wrangling, we figured out that we could do this. The 14yo also gave up about five weeks of allowance to the project.
In the end, our 14yo had two books under the tree—the first two books in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight series—and one of those pillows with arms for reading in bed. The 11yo got a Playstation 4 he had wanted for a long time, but had thought was so impossibly out of reach he hadn't even bothered to mention wanting one.
I am very proud of my 14yo. I give my partner and me credit for not ruining him, but his awesomeness and generosity are all his own.
I've had my share of crappy family-of-origin Christmases, whether I was with them, or whether they were casting their shadow over holidays without them. People whose holidays are complicated or painful have been very much on my mind, especially, but not only, trans folks. May the knowledge of your own goodness and worth carry you through; may you remember always that you deserve to be loved and appreciated for who you are; may you get what you deserve, which is no less than all good things.
—Su
posted by not that girl at 9:44 PM on December 25, 2015 [24 favorites]
Our 14-year-old, who has his challenging days and weeks to be sure, came to us back in October to ask if we knew yet what the Christmas budget was. He wondered if it might be possible to get his 11-year-old brother a Playstation 4 if we didn't buy him, the 14yo, any gifts. After some budget-wrangling, we figured out that we could do this. The 14yo also gave up about five weeks of allowance to the project.
In the end, our 14yo had two books under the tree—the first two books in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight series—and one of those pillows with arms for reading in bed. The 11yo got a Playstation 4 he had wanted for a long time, but had thought was so impossibly out of reach he hadn't even bothered to mention wanting one.
I am very proud of my 14yo. I give my partner and me credit for not ruining him, but his awesomeness and generosity are all his own.
I've had my share of crappy family-of-origin Christmases, whether I was with them, or whether they were casting their shadow over holidays without them. People whose holidays are complicated or painful have been very much on my mind, especially, but not only, trans folks. May the knowledge of your own goodness and worth carry you through; may you remember always that you deserve to be loved and appreciated for who you are; may you get what you deserve, which is no less than all good things.
—Su
posted by not that girl at 9:44 PM on December 25, 2015 [24 favorites]
Wishing health and happiness right back at everyone!
I am with my family of origin, or what remains of it, and I just had a lovely bitch session with my brother about my father, and my father is a wonderful person in a lot of ways but an extremely fucking frustrating person in a lot of ways, and those frustrating ways are difficult to complain about because it's not like he's a reactionary right-winger or hateful in any way, it's just that he is completely oblivious to the concept of emotional labor and therefore does not do any of it. Not even just the above-and-beyond shit. Just... any of it. It is so fucking exhausting to have a conversation with him because he doesn't do any of the niceties of keeping conversation going unless he happens to want to be talking about the thing he's talking about. Which is often the weather. Occasionally politics. And then he gets randomly ornery about shit and we almost got into a serious argument tonight about whether the boat suspended on the restaurant's ceiling was a canoe or not. (It was.) I was trying to drop the subject. He was adamant that canoes had two pointed ends (which this boat did). It was... so fucking ridiculous and pointless as an argument that it was fairly emblematic of the problem.
So... merry Christmas? Whatever. It's been nice to hang out with my brother.
posted by jaguar at 9:49 PM on December 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
I am with my family of origin, or what remains of it, and I just had a lovely bitch session with my brother about my father, and my father is a wonderful person in a lot of ways but an extremely fucking frustrating person in a lot of ways, and those frustrating ways are difficult to complain about because it's not like he's a reactionary right-winger or hateful in any way, it's just that he is completely oblivious to the concept of emotional labor and therefore does not do any of it. Not even just the above-and-beyond shit. Just... any of it. It is so fucking exhausting to have a conversation with him because he doesn't do any of the niceties of keeping conversation going unless he happens to want to be talking about the thing he's talking about. Which is often the weather. Occasionally politics. And then he gets randomly ornery about shit and we almost got into a serious argument tonight about whether the boat suspended on the restaurant's ceiling was a canoe or not. (It was.) I was trying to drop the subject. He was adamant that canoes had two pointed ends (which this boat did). It was... so fucking ridiculous and pointless as an argument that it was fairly emblematic of the problem.
So... merry Christmas? Whatever. It's been nice to hang out with my brother.
posted by jaguar at 9:49 PM on December 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
Mr. taz and I did a very laid-back Christmas which is exactly what I wanted: we slept in, baked cookies, sipped champagne, made turkey with rice dressing, asparagus, and mashed potatoes, and watched videos. Boring and perfect! It's the super, super quiet day-after now and it feels like the whole city is asleep... which it probably is. After a breakfast of lovely leftovers, I'm feeling mighty snoozy myself. Warm wishes and hugs and cookies to all of you.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:03 AM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:03 AM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Australian Christmas: Fresh prawns, oysters (fresh and fried), a segment of what must have been a massive salmon, roast pork, prawn and mango salad, all out in the garden in the sun with sangria and champagne. But, also Indian/Goan Christmas with nunkatis, cul culs and bibinca, and sorpatel.
And my nieces - a shouty baby and an adorable toddler tearing about the place.
And because we are still in Australia, Boxing Day was spent at the beach. And now we are watching Brave for some reason - that part's not traditional.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:49 AM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
And my nieces - a shouty baby and an adorable toddler tearing about the place.
And because we are still in Australia, Boxing Day was spent at the beach. And now we are watching Brave for some reason - that part's not traditional.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:49 AM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
We had my best friend and Mrs. Ghidorah's sister over for smoked chicken and twice baked potatoes, followed by watching Die Hard with an improvised drinking game. As a tip, a lot of the things you think will tide you through the whole movie taper off a bit about halfway through the movie. Consider adding in a drink anytime someone calls someone else "pal" or any time Argyle is on screen. Picks the pace right back up.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:58 AM on December 26, 2015
posted by Ghidorah at 3:58 AM on December 26, 2015
Went for an early morning walk with my dad and our cameras on the dike near the Connecticut River. It was peaceful and the fog was just lifting. He and I get up way too early and this is a nice thing to do while the rest of the house is still sleeping. Got back home to scones and cookies made by my mom and husband. We spent the day being lazy and then returned to homebase in NY where the cats were happy to see us in their own ways (cat number 1's expresses her happiness by waking me up in the middle of the night for pets and when I try to go back to sleep employs the dread claw; cat number two just purrs a lot).
For those of you experiencing stressful or unhappy holidays, I'm sending you hugs and wishing you could have come along for that quiet walk along the river yesterday morning. It was really nice.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:55 AM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
For those of you experiencing stressful or unhappy holidays, I'm sending you hugs and wishing you could have come along for that quiet walk along the river yesterday morning. It was really nice.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:55 AM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
For those who have complicated feelings about Christmas and families, here is an essay of solidarity: "The Gentle Author’s Childhood Christmas." Hugs to you for making it through the difficult negotiations of the season.
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:17 AM on December 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:17 AM on December 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Goddamn I love this place and all of you, complicated opinions and heated conversations notwithstanding. I hope the best of 2015 is the least of 2016, and we all have a better year ahead.
Thanks, MeFites, and Quons bless us everyone!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:53 AM on December 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
Thanks, MeFites, and Quons bless us everyone!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:53 AM on December 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
Holidays are filled with family politics. Everyone gets along with ME but not with EACH OTHER so I will leave it at that.
Except my son, in Texas, who loves me and I have a good relationship with, called me Christmas night and in a roundabout way made his gazillionth attempt to persuade me I need to convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The fact he is a philosophy PhD student focusing on logic makes this even more "interesting." (But he is worried about my Immortal Soul and will not be convinced that Jesus already took care of the issue.) And that's the LEAST fractious relative.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:38 PM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Except my son, in Texas, who loves me and I have a good relationship with, called me Christmas night and in a roundabout way made his gazillionth attempt to persuade me I need to convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The fact he is a philosophy PhD student focusing on logic makes this even more "interesting." (But he is worried about my Immortal Soul and will not be convinced that Jesus already took care of the issue.) And that's the LEAST fractious relative.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:38 PM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
(Ralph just told me the story about a Christmas in New Mexico years ago when everyone thought it would be a grand idea for Santa to parachute into town rather than by sleigh. All the kiddies were gathered around at the shopping center parking lot....and Santa's chute didn't open.)
Good thing that at the last minute they used a dummy for Santa rather than the real thing.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:41 PM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Good thing that at the last minute they used a dummy for Santa rather than the real thing.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:41 PM on December 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
I had a lovely holiday. Here in Iceland Christmas Eve is the big day. At six in the evening people gather with family, sometimes nuclear, sometimes extended. The details vary from family to family, but the two mainstays are a big meal followed by a gift exchange. As the traditional gift is a book many people stay up long into the night reading. Christmas Day is generally a day for resting, though many families have large Christmas parties. The 26th, called "annar í jólum" (the Second of Yule), is pretty much a repeat of Christmas Day.
This was my girlfriend's first holiday season in Iceland. And my son's first holiday season on Earth. My girlfriend was excited about Yuletide here, though we incorporated a few Finnish traditions into our personal celebrations (telling people killing others is especially bad on Christmas, songs about children dying of starvation, and David Bowie in a white sweater). Kasper, meanwhile, was excited about all the colorful paper he got to touch and rip and stick in his mouth.
As parents of a six-month-old, we made the executive decision to outsource this Christmas Eve to my parents, which was nice, though we had to return back home with about half of our gifts unopened because Kasper was much too excited to go to sleep, and much too tired to not have every emotion at once, all the time. His night was rather restless, and therefore ours, and I ended up falling asleep with my head on top of a book after attempting to keep to the spirit of Icelandic Yule.
On Christmas Day I went from a family party at my grandmother's to a group home for disabled people where I work part time. Two inhabitants were there, and me and another worker made a Christmas Day feast (though the other worker, having arrived hours before me, did most of the preparation). It was a lovely way to spend Christmas Day. I got home at half past midnight and fell asleep again with my face on top of a book as I made another attempt to honor the traditions of my people. The book, a new translation of a recent Modiano novel, is looking pretty beat-up by now.
Annar í jólum is my girlfriend's birthday, and we went and got some nice grilled seafood from one of the few restaurants near us that was open for lunch. Also, we finished unwrapping the Christmas presents (there hadn't been time on Christmas Day), and watched football while entertaining our son. Then we had my parents and sister around for tea and cake, and then went to a family gathering at my uncle's, but left early so that Kasper could go to sleep at his usual time. He and his mom are now asleep, and I'm about to take my leave of the internet and squish that Modiano book beneath my face again, after reading about twenty pages. Good book and worth reading, though I wouldn't recommend it as a pillow.
posted by Kattullus at 5:07 PM on December 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
This was my girlfriend's first holiday season in Iceland. And my son's first holiday season on Earth. My girlfriend was excited about Yuletide here, though we incorporated a few Finnish traditions into our personal celebrations (telling people killing others is especially bad on Christmas, songs about children dying of starvation, and David Bowie in a white sweater). Kasper, meanwhile, was excited about all the colorful paper he got to touch and rip and stick in his mouth.
As parents of a six-month-old, we made the executive decision to outsource this Christmas Eve to my parents, which was nice, though we had to return back home with about half of our gifts unopened because Kasper was much too excited to go to sleep, and much too tired to not have every emotion at once, all the time. His night was rather restless, and therefore ours, and I ended up falling asleep with my head on top of a book after attempting to keep to the spirit of Icelandic Yule.
On Christmas Day I went from a family party at my grandmother's to a group home for disabled people where I work part time. Two inhabitants were there, and me and another worker made a Christmas Day feast (though the other worker, having arrived hours before me, did most of the preparation). It was a lovely way to spend Christmas Day. I got home at half past midnight and fell asleep again with my face on top of a book as I made another attempt to honor the traditions of my people. The book, a new translation of a recent Modiano novel, is looking pretty beat-up by now.
Annar í jólum is my girlfriend's birthday, and we went and got some nice grilled seafood from one of the few restaurants near us that was open for lunch. Also, we finished unwrapping the Christmas presents (there hadn't been time on Christmas Day), and watched football while entertaining our son. Then we had my parents and sister around for tea and cake, and then went to a family gathering at my uncle's, but left early so that Kasper could go to sleep at his usual time. He and his mom are now asleep, and I'm about to take my leave of the internet and squish that Modiano book beneath my face again, after reading about twenty pages. Good book and worth reading, though I wouldn't recommend it as a pillow.
posted by Kattullus at 5:07 PM on December 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Sitting here exhausted in SFO waiting to take a red-eye back home after a week of family out here in the Bay Area. I'm not sure if I want to get on the scale when I get home; we've been eating nonstop for a week and I don't really want to know what the damage is.
posted by octothorpe at 6:56 PM on December 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 6:56 PM on December 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Heyho, post-revellers! If anyone needs a good turkey-carcass soup recipe, I've transcribed my favorite recipe, from the Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook, so I can have a digital copy (no ebook available, and though I have the book itself, it's now out of print. Why not make it an ebook, publishers?).
Here's an Evernote link, and here's a Pastebin link.
Instead of using chicken broth, I boil down the turkey carcass and shred/chop whatever meat is left on it to include in the soup. The recipe calls for about a pound of different types of mushrooms; I just use whatever I can manage to get, including only regular button mushrooms if that's all I can put my hands on (like this year), and it's still fabulous.
We have this as a main meal with salad, and it's crazy good, and I'm making it right now!
posted by taz (staff) at 9:16 AM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
Here's an Evernote link, and here's a Pastebin link.
Instead of using chicken broth, I boil down the turkey carcass and shred/chop whatever meat is left on it to include in the soup. The recipe calls for about a pound of different types of mushrooms; I just use whatever I can manage to get, including only regular button mushrooms if that's all I can put my hands on (like this year), and it's still fabulous.
We have this as a main meal with salad, and it's crazy good, and I'm making it right now!
posted by taz (staff) at 9:16 AM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
For the first time in over a decade, I had all my kids together on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, I was so content with us all just being together, I completely forgot to take any pictures of the kids all together after so long. Still the best gift I've ever been given and made me hate Christmas just a little less.
posted by dg at 2:03 PM on December 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by dg at 2:03 PM on December 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
Here's a belated youtubular gift: John Williamson's "Christmas Photo" song as enacted by the kids at Wahgunyah Primary School
posted by valetta at 6:06 AM on December 31, 2015
posted by valetta at 6:06 AM on December 31, 2015
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posted by aniola at 10:16 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]