Decommissioning the Tree

We still have out Christmas tree up.  Is that a problem?  Are we clinging on to the holiday that was a little over two weeks ago?  What is the acceptable time frame for leaving it up and taking it down?  There are a couple of things to consider.

The main thing to consider is whether or not the tree is real.  My wife and I both grew up with real trees at Christmas time.  The main issue, of course, are the needles.  You can only deal with falling needles and bare looking branches for so long before you can't stand it.  The nice thing about having a fake tree is only dealing with falling needles when the pets chew or swat at them.  I should say that, they do fall off when we take the tree down as well.  Just not as much.  Having a fake tree, we are not in any kind of rush to take it down because we don't have the needle falling off issue.  Plus, this year we put it up kinda late so we want to get our time's worth out of it.

I'm sure there are people that put their trees up the day after thanksgiving that are eager to take it down the day after Christmas.  And of course, because it's been up for over a goddamn month.  I don't ever remember having our tree up before the month of December as a kid and we flat out refuse to do so as adults now.  Same goes with the music.  If you don't put your tree up in November, you won't be sick of it by the end of December.  Normally, we have our tree up in the middle of December and it's back in the box in the middle of January.  So about a month. 

There is always this big build up to Christmas, I don't understand why people wouldn't want to keep their tree up as long as possible.  It's always a great time of year.  Everyone is happy and nice to each other.  Why wouldn't you want to expand that a little bit longer into January?    

Sentimental Present

It's 2015!  We've made it!  I guess.  Wasn't the world suppose to end a couple of years ago?  Anyway, Christmas came and went.  It didn't feel like Christmas because we didn't have any snow on the ground.  So that sucked.  We got snow a couple of days later, so at least now it feels like winter.  So much so that not only do we have some snow, we also have a wind chill advisory this morning!  It's negative ten out right now, and it feels like negative seventeen.

Other than not having any snow, we had a pretty decent holiday season.  However, it came and went too quickly.  Part of it was because the month of December came so quickly after Thanksgiving.  Usually there's a week in between the two, but with Thanksgiving being so late in the month, there was a holy shit moment a week into December.  My in-laws came into town for Christmas.  It's always nice to spend time with family.  We have spent a couple of Christmas days by ourselves, and it was okay, but it didn't feel like it was anything special.  Christmas time should be spent with family, and when you don't have that, it feels weird.  Like there should be something going on, but there isn't.

I got a wonderful present this year from my parents.  Here's a picture of it.

So, it doesn't look like much.  I got a chuckle out of it because I knew what it was.  It's an ornament that I made when I was a kid.  What was more important was what my mom wrote on the bag. 

 'To Mike,

This ornament has been on our tree every year since you were in preschool.  We think it's time to hang on your own tree!'

Love, Mom & Dad'

As the saying goes:  'Right in the feels!'  It kinda caught me off guard and made me even more sentimental than I was because that's what Christmas does to me.  The rest of the day, I was thinking about Christmastime from my childhood and how great it was.  All about how our extended family spent even more time together, about waking up at two or three in the morning and trying to sneak a peak at what Santa brought us without waking my parents up...and then trying go back to sleep afterwards. 

Christmas Post

*Author's note: I wrote this back in 2008 and I have since made it my Christmas Eve or Christmas day post. It is simple and makes it easy for me to say that I at least wrote something for the holidays. Enjoy the day everyone. Be sure to keep the television off as long as possible and love being with family and friends.* 

We are watching A Christmas Story right now, and there is nothing better in this movie than the nostalgic feel of the Christmas morning scene. More than the kids ripping apart the wrapping, it is the expressions on the faces of the mom and dad. Just the joy that they have watching their kids. 

As much as people think it is all about the Red Rider BB gun, the movie is more than that. It's about family, more than anything.

• Idolizing the father
• Having a life long understanding with your mother
• And the fighting with your brother

And the final scene of the mom and dad relaxing with the Christmas tree alight and the snow falling at night.  Magic.

63/120

Holiday Music

I'm sure I've written about this before, but I am in desperate need of writing inspiration.  Not topic inspiration, but just inspiration in general.  Over the past two months I have not had the need or the urge to write.  For whatever reason.  Anyway, let's talk about holiday music and the fact that it just makes me so happy.

Not all holiday music is great.  There are songs that just don't sit well with people.  Ask anyone and I'm sure they can rattle off two or three holiday songs that they don't like.  Off the top of my head, 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', and 'The Christmas Shoes' are all songs that I would be okay with not hearing again.  I'm sure we can all agree that the Christmas Shoes song is just plain awful.  Right?  RIGHT?  I mean, it's gotta be listed as the worst holiday/Christmas song ever.  With Frosty and Santa Coming to Town, they aren't horrible songs they just aren't my favorites.  And with only a limited amount of time in which I listen to Christmas music, I don't want to spend it on songs I don't want to listen to.

And then there is great holiday music.  I could listen to Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' album over and over again.  Every time one of his songs starts, the world, in my eyes, is draped in sepia.  It gives it a yesteryear feel.  Part of it might be because growing up we had the record and it will always sound old school to me.  Same thing with the 'Charlie Brown Christmas' soundtrack.  I love it.  Again, it's attached to fond memories from childhood and watching the special.  And isn't that part of what Christmas is about?  Great memories and family and childhood happiness.

I have found random songs that are fun too.  Songs like 'Purple Snowflakes' by Marvin Gaye.  'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' by Barenaked Ladies.  And, of course 'Christmas in Hollis' by Run D.M.C.  And everyone has their favorite versions of songs.  I love, love, love 'I'll Be Home for Christmas'.  My favorite Christmas song.  My favorite is Bing Crosby's version, but Frank Sinatra's version is a close second.  'O Holy Night' by Nat King Cole gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.  'Sleigh Ride' by the Ronettes is a fun cover.  

62/120

Sandwich Rankings

On my day off, I ran some errands up in Woodbury.  Not the biggest deal in the world.  While I was up there, I made a stop at a bar/grill for lunch.  I was going to get a burger because this place has a build your own burger option.  You can pick everything from the bun, to the doneness (is that a word?) of the meat, to the toppings.  Customizable burgers.  It's pretty sweet.  When I got there, however, I for some reason was not in the mood for a burger.  So I looked throughout the menu and came across their sandwich section.  Pretty standard stuff.  Then I remembered that they have a Cuban sandwich.  I love Cuban sandwiches.  So let's rank some sandwiches.  Because why not?

5.)  BLT.  While I am including this on the list, I think that this is an overrated sandwich.  Is it tasty?  Yes.  But it's also an underwhelming sandwich.  I always think, BLT!  Then I eat one.  And it's just....meh.  Plus, if you don't have previously cooked bacon, or previously sliced tomatoes, it is a lot of work to make a sandwich.  Plus, I'm not the biggest fan of mayonnaise which apparently makes the sandwich.   

4.)  Peanut butter and jelly.  A classic.  A staple amongst school age kids for generations.  The nice thing about the PB&J is all the variations.  Plenty of peanut butter and jelly options are out there.  I still enjoy the sandwich a couple of times a week for lunch at work.  The major downside is that it is not very filling.  Plus, there is always this.

3.)  Grilled cheese.  I have been to restaurants that have had grilled cheese on their menu and they put different cheeses on it.  Let's be honest, there is only one real way to make a grilled cheese.  Two slices of Kraft American cheese, butter, and white bread.  As a kid, when we had this sandwich for lunch, it was accompanied by vegetable soup.  I know lots of people that prefer tomato soup to go with their grilled cheese, but for me it's got to be vegetable soup.   

2.)  Reuben.  One thing that kept me away from the Reuben sandwich for so long is the dressing.  I have slowly grown to appreciate Thousand Island dressing which has opened me to this sandwich.  And what is not to like about it?  It's got meat, cheese, sauerkraut, and it's traditionally toasted so it's nice and crispy.   

1.)  Cuban.  The Cuban sandwich.  The first time I had one of these, we were in St. Thomas getting married.  I got it because we were as close to Cuba as we were going to get without defecting.  The Caribbean islands know how to cook pig.  It was so savory and succulent.  And the pickle that was on the sandwich was a great compliment to the meat.  One thing that the place where I had lunch the other did that was awesome was put a jalapeno slice on top of the sandwich.     

Honorable mention:  Meatloaf sandwich.  Meatloaf.  On bread.  The end.   

I don't know why I decided to dedicate an entire post to sandwiches.  I haven't been feeling the want or need to write over the past several months, so I guess when I get that spark to, I might as well do so.  At the beginning of November, I had a thought that if I wrote one post each day for the rest of the year, I would be close to my insanely stupid goal of writing one hundred and twenty posts.  And where am I at?  Sixty one.  Yeah....yeah....

61/120