Xmas 2014 - The Languish Way.

[Caliga]

I don't get the "well, make amends, after all, they are family" attitude. Spend time with people you like - if they happen to be people whom you are related to by blood, great. If not, find other people.

+1

[Eddie Teach]

Thing is, if they're family they've got to put up with you as well. 

[Caliga]

Not an issue.  I'm an excellent person.

[Caliga]

Cal's Loot Thus Far:

silicone five-fingered BBQ gloves
a marinade injector
three bags of peanut M&Ms
a new Gillette Fusion ProGlide
a pair of Allgauer trachten knee socks

Loot Part Two

wireless BBQ thermometer
wanderhut hat pin
PS4 wireless headset
DNA kit for my dog
cash from dad-in-law

[derspiess]

I got the wife a Chromebook.  She doesn't realize how inexpensive they are; I'll probably wait a week before I tell her how good of a deal I got on it.

I got Tommy his Red Ryder BB gun.  And I believe Lola now has every piece of Frozen merchandise ever made.

I received a modest haul, but I get more enjoyment out of watching the kids open up their stuff anyway.

[mongers]

I got the wife a Chromebook.  She doesn't realize how inexpensive they are; I'll probably wait a week before I tell her how good of a deal I got on it.

So you're planning on taking the shine* off here new present. 




* Tarnished book?

[derspiess]

I got the wife a Chromebook.  She doesn't realize how inexpensive they are; I'll probably wait a week before I tell her how good of a deal I got on it.

So you're planning on taking the shine* off here new present. 


* Tarnished book?

Not necessarily.  She's feeling guilty because she didn't spend as much on me as she thinks I spent on her (and technically she's right, just not by a large margin).  Wouldn't kill her to learn how to deal with a little guilt but I don't want it to go on forever.

[garbon]

Highlights of Christmas

Meeting my very distant Australian cousin.

Playing with my cousin's youngest daughter who is so cute despite the fact that she decided to kill me with her sword when play was over.

My aunt giving me a signed copy of the latest Anne Rice book.

Warm, sunny weather.

[FunkMonk]

Ayn Rand on Christmas:

[In answer to the question of whether it is appropriate for an atheist to celebrate Christmas:]

Yes, of course. A national holiday, in this country, cannot have an exclusively religious meaning. The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men—a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.

The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: "Merry Christmas"—not "Weep and Repent." And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form—by giving presents to one's friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .

The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only "commercial greed" could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.

The Objectivist Calendar, Dec. 1976

[The Brain]

products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure.

[Ideologue]

One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.

[Martinus]

Ayn Rand on Christmas:

[In answer to the question of whether it is appropriate for an atheist to celebrate Christmas:]

Yes, of course. A national holiday, in this country, cannot have an exclusively religious meaning. The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men—a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.

The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: "Merry Christmas"—not "Weep and Repent." And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form—by giving presents to one's friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .

The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only "commercial greed" could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.

The Objectivist Calendar, Dec. 1976

Funny how that reads pretty much like those parodies of her. 

[Ideologue]

I dunno. Other than the specific word choice, it's pretty sensible. Production and happiness. I can get on board with that.

[celedhring]

Highlight of Christmas: my mother reconciling with her sister after their relationship broke down completely early this year.

That, and my Italian uncle's homemade limoncello.

[Ideologue]

Highlight of Christmas: my mother reconciling with her sister after their relationship broke down completely early this year.

I GET IT.  STOP GUILTING ME.

(Just kidding.  That's good to hear. )