I’m writing this past midnight, so it’s technically Christmas Eve right now.  It’s funny that even during a long Christmas season and a heavy winter, Christmas still seems to just roll up on you.

I thought I’d just type out a few of my quick Christmas thoughts this year.

• Do we need Thanksgiving to give thanks?  Experiencing an awesome Christmas in and of itself feels like enough for me to take a look around and say “wow, I have it pretty dang good.”  Thanksgiving is great and all, but Christmas started by celebrating that Jesus was born; I think it trumps every other holiday in the “cause for gratitude” department.
• Speaking of Thanksgiving, it’s kind of interesting to note that Christmas is the only federal holiday that’s also a religious holiday.  Check it out.  I can agree with most of those holidays, and not to be a party pooper, but why is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a federal holiday?  He did some great things and all, but there are plenty of great Americans not honored with a federal holiday.  The other two individuals mentioned in the federal holidays are for George Washington and Christopher Columbus, two pretty important guys to America.
• Do you have any holiday traditions that really make no sense?  We definitely do, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to veer away from them.
• The winter in Wisconsin ain’t no joke this year.  In fact, it’s already more intense and snowy than last year’s, and last year was brutal.  After a run of disappointingly mild winters, we are well into our yearly reminder that no one should inhabit a place like Wisconsin during half the year.
• My brothers and sister-in-law picked names this year to determine who gets gifts for whom.  I asked for silver this year.  Just silver.  You know why?  Because silver and gold are awesome, and actually have intrinsic worth.
• I get more annoyed by the resistance to Christmas commercialism than to the commercialism itself.  Maybe that’s wrong.  But people who think Christmas has become one big business are simply letting too much get to them.  Why let it get to you?  Who says you have to pay any attention to it?  Besides, maybe the people who complain about this are cheapos.

This is the third Christmas for BPN and its readers.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

P.S. Here are some of the Christmas songs I enjoy listening to.

Bells Will Be Ringing – The Eagles

Happy X-Mas (War is Over) – John Lennon

Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys

Wonderful Christmas Time – Paul McCartney

O Holy Night