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12-11-03 · 12-16-03 · 12-29-03
Christmas is coming up once again. It is the time of the year that everyone enjoys the most. Some people enjoy Christmas because of the presents that he/she receives, and some people enjoy Christmas because of the religious aspects of it. There are also some people that enjoy Christmas because it is the only time of the year that he/she receives any time off so he/she visits family/friends that he/she normally wouldn't be able to see. No matter the reason, everyone enjoys this time of the year.
Many people will decorate for Christmas. These people are usually the creative type because he/she will have the ability to do the decorating every year. This type of person always seems excited when Christmas is around because he/she has the chance to show the creativity he/she has to the world. There are some people that do a lot for decorating and there are some that do very little decorating. Either way the people are showing his/her creative abilities. Unfortunately there are some people that don't do any decorating at all. These people either are very uncreative, or he/she doesn't have enough time in the week to do too much for decorations. I can honestly say that it is sad to find people that don't decorate for such a festive time of the year.
I find that a place that just "puts up the tree", and nothing else, must have very little to no creative ability. I have found that everyone that puts up decorations on the inside & outside of the house is encouraging people to join him/her. When people do not put the decorations up on the outside of the house, I feel that the people are telling others to not come to that house for any reason. Just doing decorations on the inside of the house shows that the people only want to spend Christmas with family/friends that he/she sees all the time anyhow. These people seem to not want to have family/friends that he/she doesn't see a lot, to come by at all because the house isn't decorated in the way to seem to be inviting. It is sad to see a house not being inviting to the public. It is just like insulting people when there are no decorations up for Christmas on the outside of the house. For Christmas time it is more of a courtesy to put up decorations on the inside & outside of the house because it shows that he/she wants Christmas to be as inviting as it is suppose to be.
I know of a few people that put up more decorations than are necessary for any occasion. Not just Christmas time but other times such as Halloween. There are limits to the need to put up decorations, however some people do go overboard. This can be seen as a positive or a negative. The negative is that he/she has made something simple into something hard. The positive is that he/she has shown how much creativity that he/she has, and is willing to do for that creativity. There are always two different sides to anything that happens.
Everyone has someone in his/her family that he/she doesn't want to visit within the Christmas holidays, however is required to do so anyhow. It doesn't matter how close a family is, there is always someone that no one wants to visit. It could be the reason that the family member seems to be insulted easily, the family member feels that you aren't doing your true potential in life; it can be for any reason at all. In my family, this type of person is for both of those reasons. I still go to visit this part of the family, however I don't enjoy going there as much as I once did. It just seems to be a nuisance now rather than seeing family. There is a catch to the problem that I have with this part of the family. I will not be insulting to any member of the family, knowingly anyhow, but this part of the family will not bring up anything insulting to me when I am around. This part of the family has told others how he/she feels about what I do for a job and how he/she doesn't approve of it because I can do so much better, however will not confront me directly about it. A family member doing something like this can prove to make enemies quickly, especially if the family member is too "chicken" to confront me directly. I only found out about this because other family members told me about it, to warn me to watch for what I say around these family members. I know what I would like to say, however I do not want to insult the family completely. I also do not wish to cause any unnecessary waves within the family, itself. These family members are creating enough waves for the family to deal with as it is.
There are many people that seem happy or happier when Christmas is near. There are also people that seem to be more disturbed when Christmas is near. Those that cannot be happy, for some small reason, during Christmas are those that try to make others feel worse than he/she does. This type of people I cannot stand. You may ask why I cannot stand them, especially where I had been in a depressed state for the last 10 years, because it would seem that I would be just like them in a way. In defense to that, I may have been in a depressed state for the last 10 years, however I never tried to drag others beneath me and I always showed (faked) some happiness for some people. Being courteous enough to not bring others down to my level and showing some emotion (fake or not, does the same affect), made me different from the people I cannot stand. I was able to see that I had the problem not everyone else. I saw no reason to bring others beneath me to make myself feel better, it made no sense to me to cause others pain that way. The people I cannot stand are the ones that do cause pain to others to make himself/herself feel better about himself/herself. It is wrong and no reason for it.
With every family, there are special things that are done around special occasions such as Christmas. In the past I didn't want to do those things because I only wanted to be alone around those times. This year I will do those things with a clearer mind than in the past, so I will be able to see whether it is worthwhile to do some of those "family things". As it stands I have already done a lot for my parents this year. I have done things this year, in the past couple of weeks, which have both helped my parents and surprised them. It is amazing to see what a person can do when he/she can put his/her mind to doing something.
Soon Christmas will be here and we all can celebrate in our different ways for our different reasons. It is one of the best experiences that a person can have when celebrating something special with family/friends. Having a time of the year that brings the good/best out of everyone, such as Christmas, is always necessary with all the bad things that can happen to someone. Hopefully no bad things happen to anyone during the Christmas break, however for those whomever do have bad things happen hopefully you are able to see a positive thing about the situation. Lately I have been seeing the best/worst of people due to the environment that I work in. It is odd to see the worst in people during this time of the year, and I hope for these people that after time he/she gets to be happier for this time of the year.
As Christmas gets closer, people seem to be happier. People are happier because he/she knows that he/she will be receiving gifts from other people due to the gift exchanges that happen during Christmas. These same people are also happier because he/she will be shown the happiness of other people when those people open his/her gifts on Christmas. The emotional take on Christmas effects everyone whether he/she knows it or not.
For some people, Christmas is just another way to get a long weekend for example this year; Christmas falls on a Thursday and Boxing Day falls on a Friday. For anyone that doesn't work on a Saturday or a Sunday, this year is a super long weekend due to only working for three days for the week. It almost seems useless to go to work for those days, and for many people he/she will take them off as vacation days. This will allow the person to stay at home, preferred with family somehow, and use the time that he/she has available for Christmas needs. I am not that lucky, however I would be spending it with family & friends if I had that time off.
There is always the odd person that is selfish throughout the Christmas season. I say selfish because all the person will do is drink as much alcohol as he/she can throughout the Christmas holidays. This time is supposed to be used to be happy and giving to other people, better known as socializing with family & friends. Those that abuse this time of the year should be forced to work while the rest of us that will treat the Christmas holidays properly have the time off. I personally, do not see the reason to drink for the whole Christmas season especially where it is suppose to be a "happy time" not a "stupid time". This statement is not against Christmas parties in general, just the one-person party that lasts for multiple days.
For every year that Christmas Eve and New Years Eve fall on working days, there are some places that try to close early because of the employees would like to get home early. Many businesses lose business when they close early. For the place that I work, it is expected to close early however I have told the employee that works on those days to use his/her best discretion. In other words, it is the employee's hours that would be sacrificed if the business were to close early. Other years the business has closed yearly, however I will not force an employee to lose hours due to the closure. It is rather said that the Head Office will not pay for the 3-4 hours that the station is closed for on the two Eve days, however for the business that it is I can understand why the Head Office doesn't pay for it. Just as I said, the business loses business when it closes early. There is no other store/business that closes as early as we do on a normal day, and we are closing even earlier for those two Eve days. Makes little to no sense to me however I have been told not to question it.
My plans for the Christmas holidays have yet to be finalized. I hope to be with a friend(s) on New Years Eve, however nothing has been mentioned. I know that there will be a lot of the usual stuff going on this year, such as visiting family that is approximately 2 hours from my parents' house, and the usual Christmas dinner (stuffing is more like it - lots of food) that goes with it. I know I will be one of the sober drivers for this trip because I will not drink around these family members. I will allow my parents/sibling (the one that is old enough) to drink and I will drive them home afterwards. If I were to drink with everyone else, there is a high possibility for me to say something to these specific family members what I think about them. These specific family members have annoyed me greatly with what he/she has said about how I have treated my life. Where the Christmas season is about happy things, I would prefer to keep my opinions buried for now. There will be a time that I can say what I really think that will be the right moment, however not during a form of celebration.
Most stores, especially jewelry ones, will target their customers more frequently. Having sale after sale of everything in the store. Sometimes having multiple sales at the same time to cause people to believe that it is a good deal. The reason for this is because the stores want very little stock left at the end of December. Stores will do this because the employees that have to be at the store at the end of the month to count the inventory would rather be with family/friends. The store will sell as much stuff as possible to give the employees less stuff to count. This will also allow the store to have more new stuff when the order in January comes in. This is one of very few times that stores are being sincere. It is also sad to see an item in a jewelry store that was approximately $1200 go down to $600 for the Christmas sales, and it is also sad to say that the store is still making a sizable profit on the item. Really sad when you look at how much stuff will be sold are Valentine's Day, knowing that those sales will be higher than the sales on Christmas. I pity all those people that buy jewelry as presents for Valentine's Day when knowing how the store thinks.
This Christmas seems to be different compared to the rest of them so far, or at least to me. I seem to be seeing this Christmas, as it is suppose to be seen, not as the annoying family dinner that I have never wanted to go through. I am actually seeing this Christmas as something good. It seems that I am starting to understand the happiness around the Christmas season, however I still find a lot of the old Christmas songs (especially those played by the radio) very annoying. I may be changing for the good and seeing the good in others, however that music is just annoying and I will not change my mind about it. I may sing the carols if I am told to (or requested by certain others), but I will still think that they're annoying songs.
Christmas has a lot of religious beliefs that are tied to it. I know of many people that believe in each of the beliefs, and this time of the year he/she is praising his/her religion more than usual. I am not religious, however I will not put down anyone due to his/her religion. I know that there are many others that would take shots at the religion to have the person keep his/her mouth shut about it, however that isn't something I would ever do. I have had only 2 times that I had a religious person try to "drive" his/her religion "down my throat" and required a severe response to have him/her leave me alone. I feel bad about those 2 times because I am not a violent person, however I will defend myself if provoked. Thank goodness neither were around Christmas because that would make it worse. I hope not to experience that again due to the severity that happened for those 2 times. As I look back on those 2 times, with Christmas so near, I feel bad that those had to happen and hope that those people learned a lesson about hassling people after the person has said "no" already.
Depending on what happens for this Christmas, many people may see a bigger change in me than anyone has seen before. I have surprised many people this year, with showing understanding for any emotional situation. In other words, able to talk with someone and help him/her without causing more emotional problems from saying the wrong thing. I have also caught many of my family/friends off-guard for being a more open person than I once was. These traits, I believe, have transformed me into a better person. This all started last Christmas when I decided to come out of the shell I had been in for the last 10 years, and hopefully I can make that big of a change in my life this Christmas too. With help from those that I trust, very few of them, I will be able to become a better person than what many people would think is possible.
Christmas is and always will be the time of the year that everyone waits for. It is the time of the year that everyone will give and receive gifts. Whether the person is happy with the gifts that he/she receives will show up later in the holiday season, however I believe that it is wrong to return a gift. To return a gift is like saying that you don't think that much of the person, however exchanging the gift (clothing) for the right size is okay. To do the exchanging process for any other reason is wrong, it shows that you are a little inconsiderate of the other person. The people that say that he/she likes your gift and then exchanges it for something else are people that are truly inconsiderate of other people.
When shopping for gifts for Christmas, a lot of people will start shopping around at September/October to be on the safe side. Most other people will start around the start of December, which is a lot of people if you actually went to any malls during the month of December. I start my Christmas shopping around the start of the year (January) and just hide the presents from then up. It gives me the ability to be flexible when getting things for other people. I do not need to worry about who is with me when I purchase the stuff. Most people would be worried about what stuff to buy especially when the person is shopping with you, however I know that the person you are with (if early enough in the year) will not remember what you bought. This gives you the ability to shop with them, and have them not know how you did your shopping. It is an advantage if you can work it out, however it can backfire at you if he/she realizes what you are doing.
I am one of the few people in the world today that will not return any gift I receive. No matter the gift, I have enough respect for the person to not return the gift. It may end up in a closet and never be seen again, however it is not returned. I haven't received a gift that I have "lost" in my closet in a long time. I have not had to worry about that because I am usually involved when the gift is being chosen. This year I received less gifts however the gifts I received are more meaningful to me this year than any of the others combined. Everyone that I received a gift from knows me really well. They know what I like and what I don't, and have learned how to read me for my facial expressions. This is the first year that I can remember that I actually like everything that I was given. Where I didn't expect any of these types of gifts from anyone, I believe that this has caused me to appreciate these gifts even more.
One gift I received this year was some after-shave, which everyone knows I would never buy for myself. The positive side is that I like the gift just for that fact. I have always heard the worse about after-shave and didn't feel like having pain go through me with one of my own purchases. With knowing that, I will enough the gift if someone else gets me it because it seems different. In a way if I purchased it I would be hurting myself, however if someone else would buy it he/she is actually hurting me. It makes since to me, which is all what really counts. The funny part is that I didn't feel any pain the first using after-shave, however that could be because I don't use shaving cream that much. I didn't use it this time and had no pain from the after-shave, however it could be because I probably had some razor-burn. I only shave once a month, however I may start making it more frequent because it is more proper for a person my age to do it more. God knows I may actually use both the shaving cream and the after-shave together to see if I can find the pain that everyone tells me exists when using the after-shave.
This is the first Christmas in a long time that I have felt like a child once again. It has shown me that it is possible to be surprised with the gifts and also that you can surprise others with the gifts to them. It is the first Christmas in a long time, even though there was little to no snow, which it felt like Christmas and not just another holiday. The reason that I feel like this could be because the presents I received were just that surprising, or it could be because I have changed the way I look on life. Either way doesn't matter to me, because I just hope for that feeling to return every year. The more that I have these types of feelings, the better type of person I can see becoming.
For Christmas time, it means to many people a time to relax and visit friends/family members that you normally wouldn't get to visit. For other people Christmas time means to go drinking with friends/family that you normally wouldn't go with. I can see drinking with the friends/family without leaving the house, however when you do this in public, you are just asking for something to go wrong. Most people are not use to drinking a lot of liquor all at once unless he/she is still a college/university student, or a drunk. Those three types of people are the only ones that are accustomed to drink a lot at one time. I say this because in my time in college, I could drink a substantial amount of liquor and not feel a "buzz" however now that I don't drink that often I get a "buzz" after the second or third one. When you go drinking in public with your friends/family and drink more than you are use to, you will tend to be the biggest idiot that anyone has ever seen; if not worse. Doing this type of drinking is just like saying that you don't give a damn about your life and you are looking for the biggest thrill you can find at the same time. It is unfortunate that there are people like this especially with these people already knowing that he/she has exceeding his/her limit of alcohol already. It is sad to see a person you know do this especially when the person doesn't want to stop. This is how the fights happen during the holiday season, whether it is family vs. family or if it enemy vs. enemy. Many people won't remember what happened during these fights except the pain that he/she will have the next morning.
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