There IS such a thing as too early

Dear World (particularly the capitalist one),

I went to the store yesterday, December 30th. As expected, there was the section of the store full of clearance Christmas items (particularly useful discovery - by December 30th, there isn't much  that I can convincingly justify purchasing, so I need to never shop until 5 days after Christmas), and I enjoyed the last remnants of red and green and silver.

But then, to my absolute disgust, I found that the remaining space formerly allotted to Christmas deals was now occupied by Valentine's Day stuff!!! Valentine's! In December! You couldn't even wait to get to the new year? Really?!

The most absurd and ridiculous thing about this is it was all chocolates. Now, who receives chocolates for Valentine's Day? Women. Meaning they are bought by men, in general (although with the current state of things, who knows anymore). And who stereotypically doesn't shop early? Men. So, why do we need valentine's chocolates in December?

Perhaps there are some statistics you could release that show that people are giving up procrastinating and are becoming really on the ball. If so, I'd like to know why and how I can get on that bandwagon.

But if you just need some ideas about what to do with all that now empty space, I'm sure we can put our heads together and figure it out. You could spread out your current display stands, give some extra maneuvering room. Or highlight a random new special of the month, just like you do with summer stuff. There are many possibilities, I'm sure.

So please, please, can we put the Valentine's Day stuff back in storage, at least for a couple more weeks?

Sincerely,
Me

Suckered again

Movie trailers are proving to be a major downfall for me. They are so misleading that I keep getting fooled into thinking that the movie itself must be as great as the trailer. The latest movie trailer I fell victim too was for the final Hobbit movie.

After the first two movies, I swore I wasn't going to see the third in the theater. I wasn't going to spend my money for more cockamamie substories that don't exist in the book and don't seem to have any purpose in the movie. I wasn't going to put up with any more physics-defying CGI action scenes that left me feeling like I was transitioning between movie and video game, forcing me to suspend my belief to the breaking point (in case you wondered, my belief broke).

But then I saw the trailer. And I thought, "Okay, well, maaaaaaybe this one will be different. That trailer looks pretty good," thereby forgetting one of the prime rules of trailer watching: never assume the movie will be anything like the trailer.

Of course the trailer looked good! They left out all the dumb, bad stuff, and only showed the 2 minutes of really cool, good plot. And I fell for it! Again!!!!!

Another 2 hours of movie littered with fragments of subplots that never develop into an actual storyline, all the while not really dealing with the actual storyline to the extent it deserves. More physics defying CGI scenes (spoiler here, but NO, Legolas is not going to be able to use falling rocks as a staircase. You see, he is falling at the same rate as the rocks). Two hours packed with absurdly unbelievable action scenes that jarred the mind so much (even if you don't get physics, etc., your brain realizes something about that just doesn't work) that you couldn't really get sucked into the actual movie, because everything signaled to your conscious self that "This isn't real." (This is really poor movie-making. Absolutely no movie magic happening there).

But, they did do one thing incredibly right: The costumes and sets. Despite how ridiculous the movie was and how non-interested in the plot I felt, there was a certain fascination during the whole movie for me, and I kept trying to figure out what it was, when I realized it was the costumes. They were amazing. Very authentic. (Yes, you can have authentic fictional costumes. So just don't even argue). And of course the scenes were pretty awesome.

And even though the movie itself was pretty absurd, it did have some great moments, some good acting when the script actually let there be acting, rather than just a showcase of athletic prowess, and the visual images (other than the over the top, unreal fight sequences) were fantastic. And I guess I knew that that's what it would be, deep down, so I must have really wanted to see those visuals. In which case, I would say I got my money's worth.

But, if that's not what you're in the market for, don't give in to the lure of the trailer!!!!

Traditions

I read that today is the last sequential date of the century (12/13/14), so I thought, since I wasn't going to write it anywhere else, I'd at least make note of it here.

Well, I can check that off the list and be done. But, while I'm here, I may as well muse on some other topic as well.

For the last few Christmases, I've felt like something is a little lacking. I haven't been able to put my finger on what, or why, but this year, something occurred to me: I have no Christmas traditions.

At least, none of my own. Growing up, my family definitely had traditions (otherwise, why would I even care?!) but as an adult with no immediate family of my own except myself*, I tend to have one tradition, which is crashing at someone else's for the holiday and going along with their traditions. This is not a horrible thing--I have had some very wonderful Christmases, had fun with darling kids, and really enjoyed visiting with family (see *). But the only rituals I have at Christmas are eating more sugar than is good for me, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas music, and decorating. All of which create a great atmosphere, but don't really fill the season with meaning and draw me closer to Christ.

So I am going to try to create some traditions for myself. I've got a plan and while it isn't much, it is a start.

It may seem weird to create traditions for me and me alone, but sometimes, you have to stop waiting around for things to happen. I decided long ago that I wasn't going to wait to get married to buy tools, household appliances, furniture, etc., and it's about time I decide to do the same with traditions. So there, world!

*I'm in this weird place in life, where my immediate family still consists of all my siblings and parents, yet I think my siblings' immediate family may not consist of the same thing. Biologically, it's the same, I think, but in terms of a nuclear unit of people, it's different. This is as it should be--their priorities should be their immediate families (i.e. spouse and children). But that means my immediate family is me, which is just boring. 

My Favorite Things to do at Christmas

Enjoy the Christmas lights (we used to go on a car tour around town to look at them after tithing settlement. One of the traditions I really miss!)

Pick out awesome gifts for people

Listening to (and singing, even if not skillfully) Christmas music

Putting lights in my room so I can turn them on at night before bed

Put up decorations (what is it about Christmas decorations? There is nothing like them!)

Watch classic (and new classic) Christmas movies (Love me some Mr. Kreuger's Christmas)

Put up and look at Nativities

Holiday baking

read Christmas stories!!!

And most especially, read the Christmas story