the rix mix

Never a favorite holiday of mine. Christmas without the presents, the eye candy of decorations & tree, & the "good will." Too much tryptophan. I've always liked turkey sandwiches & turkey soup more than the roast bird itself, & the pies more than the main course. The best table conversation I ever had was at some veggie friends' dinner. The most fun was a girlfriend's extended family gathering packed into a small house without a single green vegetable served, & someone brought great kielbasa & saurkraut from a Perth Amboy Polish deli, beer was considered a perfectly reasonable beverage, & it was difficult to tell when dinner began & ended because the entire event was so loose. The family was so large that the leftovers quickly disappeared into Tupperware & were carried out the door & stashed in cars before anyone else claimed them. I was just the guy an aunt/cousin/niece/sister/daughter had brought, nobody interrogated me.

Christmas season is the retail economic engine in America & there's nothing anyone can do about it. The more one resists, the more unendurable it becomes. But Thanksgiving is just over-rated. I don't understand why half the population is compelled to uproot itself & visit the other half on this day. On more Thanksgivings than I care to recall, I've felt like the odd man out. The men talked about pro football & power tools. The women congregated in the kitchen. The kids wouldn't let me play video games because I was too slow & unskilled. No wonder I'd feel an overwhelming desire to take a nap.

Labels: holidays