Mmmerry Christmas

Mmm... Christmas

I remember the first days back at school from Winter Break. When the childhood standards of how good that time off was was judged not by how many snow forts were built or how many snow ball fights were won, but by the amount and quality of Christmas gifts that were received.

The pièce de résistance changed every year. A Radio Flyer wagon, a Nintendo Gameboy, Air Jordan sneakers, or even a car. You didn't even bother asking the kid with the macrame monogrammed sweater covered with glittery puff paint and hot glued on puff balls. This person didn't even want you to ask them. They wanted you to push them in the dirt or throw your food at them so the sweater could be "ruined" and their social status could rise back to one that was above absolute zero.

I was never the kid who got the Teddy Ruxbin, Tickle-Me-Elmo, or the '94 Fender Jag-stang. But I would like to think that I held my own in that inevitable wintry back to school conversation. I think back to the years I got my first Ninja Turtle or how much my brother and I played Zelda: Link's Awakening on Gameboy. The year my dad bought me my .22 rifle and my Kabar knife. In my mind I can see the picture of me wearing my stocking on my head like a hat, standing there in footie pajamas, wondering if there was any more treasures to be had in its well knit wonderness.

This year I thought of continuing the childhood conversation. If for nothing else than to indulge being childish.

For Christmas I got Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire, Galway Kinnell's New Selected Poems, Henry Nouwen's The Way of the Heart, a package of smudge sticks and drawing charcoal, a bamboo utensil set, a puzzle, a handmade coffee cup sleeve, a tea thermos, an electric kettle, a microcosm publication, and a shirt that exceeds awesomeness. I also got a vest, some tea and tea bags, and a nice dress shirt.

Truly, I am sided to get to reading, drawing, puzzling, brewing, and sporting all my new gifts. And if you see me anytime soon it would be safe to assume that you will see me with some application of my new found treasures. It might not be tickets to the Nintendo DS with Scribblenauts, a breeding pair of Naked African Mole Rats, a pet Aye-Aye, or the reanimated body Egon Schiele, but I'll take it.