...and always will be Christmas. If you know me well this might come as a surprise but like the Fourth of July, Christmas no longer serves its original purpose, it isn't all that religious of a holiday anymore. I don't know if it ever was (and I'm certainly not in the mood to look up the history of Christmas and chances are 95% of what I would find would be biased and have a subliminal (or not very subliminal) message or goal). So for all intensive purposes, I call it X-Mas.
X-Mas to me is cold air filling up my nostrils. It is a warm house, possibly a fire going. X-Mas is pancakes for breakfast, Bisquick only, no other brand will do. It's being excited to share with other people the things that I either bought them or as time passes more, made for them. X-Mas is people smiling, even people who don't normally have the ability to smile for too long a period of time. X-Mas is straight up joy in day form. Even the worst X-Mas' I have ever had were still some of the best days of my life.
There really aren't even any substantial competitors in my mind. Thanksgiving has its moments (and I love the food) but I get little joy out of two feasts, one after the other. New Year's and the Fourth of July are really holidays celebrating alcohol, not other events, so I'm all set with those. Easter? When I was real young it was fun to search for the eggs, not sure what the point of it was though. My birthday? Please, I don't even tell folks when that is anymore because it is absurd to celebrate it and I just don't need the attention (plus it lands on the Fourth of July).
So although I may or may not be celebrating it in the manner originally prescribed (and chances are I'm not), X-Mas still wins, hands down.
