How are your holidays?

There's a ton of Asian places in my area but a particular Chinese restaurant I like is kind of expensive to get delivered, imo, with $15 min and $2 charge. Christmas Day is a special day because its the one day every year I order takeout from this place.

New Year's I usually blow off an invite for a gathering that includes some old board gamer friends. It would be cool if we were playing board games or they were the only people there. This year I may try to tempt someone away from said gathering to play games without the party.

We had a good one. Kicked it off Friday by taking the kids to see the Atlanta Ballet's Nutcracker, the big one they do at The Fox Theater. It was...OK I guess? I thought the staging wasn't that great, some of the dancers were sort of iffy, and overall the production felt sort of dated. And it was like $300 for us to go, so I expected it to be completely incredible. Then we got out and our car had been booted even though we had paid the $25 to park in the lot. They came out to take it off and the guy tried to hustle me out of $75 to remove them, claiming that he couldn't see our ticket in the window. I asked him to show me a photo as evidence and he wouldn't. I asked for his name and manager and he called me a dick. Then he left, so I called the police. The company sent another guy out who was all like "no, it's only $10 to take the boot off". Which I still shouldn't have had to pay, but I did because this guy was really nice and apologetic.

Saturday I had to run around all day because my wife has been working 16 hours a day for like two weeks and had no shopping done. So I was texting back and forth with her and picking up presents. I like Christmas shopping. I like everything about Christmas, really. I never got into the cynicism and all of that toward it. So I had fun doing that even though it was stressful and busy as fuck out everything. ESPECIALLY Whole Foods. Good god, Whole Foods is a madhouse in the days before Christmas.

Christmas Eve we drove out to the wilds of Kennesaw to do this thing with my sisters. I was SO FREAKING excited because I had found these Swiss Colony Petit Fours at Fresh Market...when I was a kid I always wanted them but my parents never got them. These in particular because I would see them in the Swiss Colony catalogs and in their stores at the mall. So we get to my sisters' (two of them live together very much like Patty and Selma) and god damn it, my sister that works as a baker at Publix had Petit Fours. And here's the thing. They were EXACTLY THE SAME as the Swiss Colony ones. Total disappointment, especially because they were terrible!

Anyway, at my sisters', it was supposed to be dinner. They wanted to do something especially for River and Scarlett...so "dinner" was macaroni and cheese. And....macaroni and cheese. I love macaroni and cheese. But it is not dinner. My sisters gave them stuff that I had preselected via an Amazon gift list, so they didn't get any stupid bullshit. All the Narnia, Pippi Longstocking books...some Choose Your Own Adventures...a Bill Cipher plush (River explained to them "he's a transdimensional demon trying to take over the world"), some science kits, etc.

So we went home and did all of the usual Santa Claus stuff...this year I was smart and didn't have it all in the closet, I had that shit prestaged in my office and ready to just set out. I didn't have much to assemble, mostly just set-outs. No falling down the stairs like I did last year either. As usual, I put on Christmas Vacation while I did Santa, that is one of my personal holiday traditions.

River woke up about 6am of course, but we forbid them to go look until full sunlight. So he sat in his room for like two hours waiting to go down. We are cruel parents. Anyway, they go barreling downstairs and they got everything they asked for from Santa. River asked for Lego Boost, a pogo stick, a laser tag set, and RC car and the Nintendo Switch that I have had and have been playing since it came out (ha ha!). Scarlett wanted American Girl doll clothes for Maryellen (which I spent like $175 on, including her $25 weiner dog, Scooter), some of those Project MC2 science kits, and a perfume making set. They also got Fire 8 tablets, which mom did not know about and was FURIOUS about. But half of the toys they got required a tablet, so *shrug*. I got my son one of those Build+Paint Space Marine Landspeeders since he always wants something of his own to build and paint, I got them both pocket knives (probably a terrible idea), and some miscellaneous stocking stuff. I gave my wife a vegan purse that I'm kind of shocked she liked, an awesome Midcentury Modern book that has a lot of things you don't usually see covered- pottery, textiles, typography and so forth, some stuff for making Tiki drinks (including Velvet Falernum, which I had a devil of a time finding), some vintage 1961 champagne glasses, a shiatsu foot massage thing and a pile of natural health and beauty stuff. She got me an amazing Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired masonry candle base that she got out at Taliesin West when she was there a few months ago, a $100 gift certificate for Vans, and plane tickets to Paris. Which is terrifying, because had I known I would not have blown $xxxxxx on all of the other Christmas stuff. We go in March. Expect sales here at F:AT.

We also did that boring adult Christmas thing where we pre-bought stuff we needed...we got an amazing midcentury bedroom set at an antique shop, it is probably the best condition I've ever seen one from this era. So we bought that and all new bedroom stuff.

The final surprise was the Anki Overdrive track, which I had set up in the den and covered with one of those giant gift bags. HUGE hit. We all love it. I'm glad, because I kind of went all in on it because it was all on sale at the Anki website. I got an extra car, one of the Supertrucks, and several track add-ons. It's REALLY fun. It's not quite perfect, as you might expect, and it is a little glitchy. But when it works and does what it is supposed to, it's so cool. It's a full-on game too, where you play through a campaign against AI cars, unlock new modes and weapons, and all of that. I'm already thinking about buying another truck or car. The favorite mode so far is this king of the hill thing where you have to disable the AI Supertruck, and then you take control of it and score points for KOing other cars until you get disabled and someone else takes control of the truck. So good!

Then Grandparents set #1 came over, and we ate a bunch of food and tricked my children into biting soap that looked like donuts. Terrible, terrible parenting. They went off the Amazon list so everything they got was curated. My son got an awesome yo yo set that I will probably play with more than he does (I really like yo yos, BTW). They just gave us money, which is totally fine by me.

After playing with everything and cleaning up constantly, we went to my parents' as we always do. And I always dread. Because my parents, if I don't issue guidance, give us JUNK. Like, I want to be grateful, but it's just waste-of-money stuff and it just kind of makes me sad. They got our kids all kinds of NONSENSE, half of which we will wind up returning. Some of it I'm just like "really?" What's worse is that they duplicated stuff this year. They got the kids those little handheld Genesis and Atari 2600 things, but then also the TV Atari 2600 console. Which has the same things as the handheld. And neither of which we want or need. I think we got - I'm not kidding - four pasta/sauce gift sets. And then extra jars of sauce and bags of pasta aside from that, all from TJ Maxx or Marshalls or wherever so it's all this off-brand, weird stuff. A GIGANTIC tin of caramel cookies that look terrible. A bunch of new pans, which we don't want because they are nonstick and we don't use nonstick (toxic!). Our car was literally so full I could barely get the kids in it, all of this stuff that was just pointless. They got both kids a laptop, which is kind of cool, I guess...except the kids don't understand that there is nothing they can do on them without software and a specific goal. They don't get that you don't just pop it open and have fun.

So that's pretty much it, we came home and everybody went to bed and I played some DOOM- just like I did last Christmas!

Michael Barnes wrote: After playing with everything and cleaning up constantly, we went to my parents' as we always do. And I always dread. Because my parents, if I don't issue guidance, give us JUNK. Like, I want to be grateful, but it's just waste-of-money stuff and it just kind of makes me sad. They got our kids all kinds of NONSENSE, half of which we will wind up returning. Some of it I'm just like "really?" What's worse is that they duplicated stuff this year. They got the kids those little handheld Genesis and Atari 2600 things, but then also the TV Atari 2600 console. Which has the same things as the handheld. And neither of which we want or need. I think we got - I'm not kidding - four pasta/sauce gift sets. And then extra jars of sauce and bags of pasta aside from that, all from TJ Maxx or Marshalls or wherever so it's all this off-brand, weird stuff. A GIGANTIC tin of caramel cookies that look terrible. A bunch of new pans, which we don't want because they are nonstick and we don't use nonstick (toxic!). Our car was literally so full I could barely get the kids in it, all of this stuff that was just pointless.

MERRY X-MAS!

OMG the implications are too vast...

Mine are going pretty well!

It might make me look like a lazy-ass bastard, but I needed vacations despite being unempoyed. Looking for job offers every day, every week truly takes a toll on you and I didn't notice how stressed I was until I was forced to stop. Still, I'm very worried. I've been employed only one month this year and I finished my studies in February. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, if my CV isn't as good as I believe it is or if it's just that with 40% youth unemployment I'm just another unlucky guy in an unlucky economy.

I finally advanced on my hobbies. I installed some track in my model train layout and I'm going to check a local boardgame club and see if I sign up. I feel liberated, though I haven't written in a very long time and that hurts.

I struggled with my girlfriend's gifts. I wanted to give her a hobby or flute classes or something like that, but she declined and I couldn't find the kind of dress she wanted. In the end I got her a mouse for her computer, which is useful, but not great. I feel terrible because her gifts (Cosmic Encounter expansion, Venux Next and a diary with pictures of us) were great.

Family was great, we had fun with no issues. I'm staying over my girlfriend's parents and I hope it goes well.

Been having a lot of fun lately and I'm in high spirits. Just wish I could do more with my life than staying on front of my PC and playing Factorio.

My holidays have been pretty shit. On the 15th of December my wife was hospitalized with a staph infection roaming through her blood and infecting various random parts of her body. A huge amount of antibiotics and she came home on the 21st, but then got a temperature and was sent back to hospital on the 23rd. She was pretty distressed that she would spend her last Christmas in hospital as she had to have IV antibiotics every 6-8 hours. Luckily the hospital were kind and allowed her pass outs in between doses so she spent Christmas Eve at our house and was there when the kids woke up and opened their presents before heading back to hospital on Christmas Day before another pass out to spend a few hours at my parents house.

Now I spend every day waiting for her doctors to come around some time between 8 and 10 am to find out if she is coming home, if not can she get a pass out and if not working out when I can get the girls in to see her. Hopefully she is coming home today, but she still needs to co-ordinate a few pharmaceuticals and appointments and the day is starting to slip away from us.

She still hasn't seen The Last Jedi so that is the top priority once we get some clear air.

WOW that is scary. I'm so sorry to hear it!

Erik: unemployment is incredibly stressful and traumatic, don't feel bad about needing a break from it.

Damn, dude. That’s some suck. Get better soon, Mrs. Ancient!

My parents are here for a couple nights since we need kid coverage to go to a wedding tonight (Thursday the week between Xmas and NYE....who does that??). After that the whole period will come to a merciful conclusion.

I'm not sure I even enjoy Christmas anymore. The kids have a great time, that part is good--but otherwise my wife always packs way too much in and sets unreachable standards for herself in gifting and generosity, causing insane stress, which then spills over to me. Then we spend January or longer on financial lockdown from all the grievous wounds inflicted on our credit card. Annual exhortations to finally dial everything back for a year go nowhere. Rinse and repeat next year!

I can't figure out if me liking holidays less is more about me getting older and becoming less joyous about random shit in general or something specific about holidays. I think it's more about me because we've made an effort to destress some of our holidays and make them less intense. Obviously, we can afford to do that because we don't have kids or local family---lots of people can't.

I don't normally celebrate New Year's Eve anymore, and this year will be typical. Minnesota weather and road conditions can be downright nasty at this time of year, and the forecast for this Sunday includes a low temperature of -15 Farenheit. (That's -26 Celsius for you worldly types.) I did go all out two years ago for New Year's Eve, and even rented a tuxedo for the dance. It wasn't as cold that year, but I remember a long walk back to the car while wearing a tux that was drenched in sweat. Even so, I had a great time. I did start a new tradition last year and now invite some friends over to play boardgames on New Year's Day. Last year we had seven players.

There's no reason to not see joy in Christmas...just look at the little glow on the kids' faces and that's enough for me.

Neat note: I don't celebrate New Years either, probably because my "first dad" died hosting an event...while counting down. Dropped dead of a massive heart attack. So, I'm always a little bummed, despite that happening 20 years ago.

My holidays have been bloody fantastic.
I've been on sabbatical for the fall term. I've been busy producing in the studio, but I love that kind of work.
Consequently, I rolled into December without the headache of administrations, students, finals, or locking down for winter break.
I have to go back to work next week. The first time in six months. That'll be a mental challenge, but I'll be up for it.
The wife is off to work this week with a slow government week here in DC.
I'm chilling in the studio, balancing the books for 2017. Turns out, I had a banner year in art sales and grants. I'm rewarding myself with a scotch for lunch.
When not crunching numbers, or avoiding the Ivory Tower - the Mrs. and I stayed put for the holidays. No travel. No travel since 2011. It's been bliss.
We drank too much. We played too many abstract games. We watched too many episodes of The Punisher.
We don't have children.

Meanwhile, I'm producing a show that opens next week. The eighth iteration of a pretty low brow fight club. Turns out, we just sold out our Baltimore dates. The venue added a third show. Things are looking good.

Me me me. Sorry to look at my navel so much FAT:ties. I still have some Secret Satan pics to post. He struck back and it was glorious. But not human teeth glorious.

One nice thing about doing some family holidays after the calendar date is that I can buy the nieces/nephews toys on the cheap. I got my wife's niece a Wonder Woman branded sword since her brothers have toy swords and I don't think she should have to borrow one of theirs to play with when the mood strikes.