yo yo yo

christmas has come. i had no idea. it came so fast. i was working and sleeping. now it's here. finally it sinks in a bit as i look across the street at the pretty christmas tree in the window next door.

the photo is of all the gifts in our apartment (almost all - the ones i bought are in the bedroom). that's mostly stacey's gifts, and a bag of bass's.

the beautiful thing about my beautiful gal is that she loves to give. she doesn't do it because she's a materialist or because she needs her family to love her for the things she buys them, she buys them because she loves to give things to people, which is one of the few good reasons to set foot in a consumer centre. sjs is one of those people who puts time into thinking about what a person would love, what would mean something to them, or be incredibly useful.

those who lament the 'consumer culture' and 'shallow shoppers' lump in people like my gal onto the crap pile. the truth is, there must be millions of people who love to buy for people, who put a lot of thought into the gifts they get others, and who do it because they love, not because they need love.

of late, i've been the thoughtful gift giver, giving gifts that make my family members cry. it's a tough act to follow. this year i couldn't wrap my head around anything overly touching, so i just sat around thinking about what my lovely family members would love to have, or need to have.

for my younger sis, i just get her what she wants. whatever i can afford, i will buy her.

there's a method to the madness: when she was 17 and working for peanuts, she wanted to show me how much i meant to her and so she went out and dropped every cent she had on buying me a nintendo 64.

yes, a silly, dated, video game system. but i was so touched. the fact that she was so selfless about it, that she sacrificed all the money she had to try to make me have a great christmas, was so damned touching. my father had only been gone a couple years at this point, so we were trying to do whatever we could to keep christmas special. he was mr. christmas. loved it. and our traditions at christmas are set in stone because of it. my children will also hear their drunken father at 5 in the morning singing pavarotti downstairs. joy.

so this year she gets an ipod. not because material objects are a currency in the business of love (although i'm sure they can and are used that way), but because i can afford it, and i love her, and i want her to have something i know she would really love.

christmas may seem shallow and base and vain and pointless to those who don't enjoy it, but to those who do, it's such an incredible time. i have always loved, and will always love, having everyone in my family, or as many as we can manage, together, drinking and laughing and eating and listening to pavarotti and getting in fights in front of the house, and drinking, and singing, and fighting, and loving, and arguing, and staying up all night, and generally carrying on like a bunch of irish louts. that's christmas. doesn't sound like fun to everyone, but it's heaven to me.

so long, merry christmas everyone!

much love

f