Merry Un-Christmas!

December 26th might be my least favorite day of the year. I mean... it's over! Today is the day you find out 3/4 of the stuff you got doesn't fit... as of today you are the farthest away from next Christmas day as you can get... today is the day you realize the "fantasy" is over and it's time to step back into your reality... what's to like about it?

As a Christian, I'm supposed to say that every day is a gift... every day has a purpose... every day is your chance to make it count. I definitely believe all that, but today still sucks. And as I type this it is 41 and raining in Buffalo... SINCE WHEN? I come up here for the snow! Well, and family. I don't mean to be Negative Nathaniel, but I have to be true to my feelings, right? I think it's cathartic for me to get it "on paper." I think it's healthy to know I have a sounding board here with the 3 of you that will read this, right Mom?

So, what are your thoughts? Are you on the negative side of the fence with me on this one? Or are you the eternal optimist? "Hey, you get 365 days to look forward to this again!" Whatever.

Merry Christmas!

Wow, can't believe Christmas Eve is here again! Did 365 days really go by that quickly? Yes, Christmas is all about Jesus. Hello, Jesus' birth is the entire reason the season even exists. On top of that, this holiday is just magical. Some "devout Christians" would say Christmas has been ruined... Jesus has been commercialized... it's been turned into a cash cow. I say... it only makes sense to me that Jesus' birth has become the biggest holiday in the world. Sure, the gifts, shopping, etc. can get out of hand. Sure, the message and the reason can get lost in the "hustle and bustle," but I think it is our job to make sure the message is preserved and passed on through our families.

Christmas through the decades has become a magical time of year. I'm not overly thrilled that it has become more about gifts, decorations, Santa and pine trees. However, I enjoy the fact that it was a time set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus and is now the biggest holiday there is.

Christmas Traditions?

What are your Christmas traditions? Christmas is a MASSIVE event for us every year... and I love it! In fact, it's massive in some ways directly because of me. We always had traditions growing up. Christmas Eve at my Grandmother's house (Mom's side) with all the aunts, uncles and cousins... Christmas morning with my parents and brother... then a Christmas get-together at some point in the next couple days with my Dad's side of the family. However, as cousins started having families and in-laws, some traditions have gone by the wayside. Family still gets together, but in smaller portions and even different locations.

This would NEVER fly with my wife's family. Tradition is kinda like oxygen... it has to exist in order for life to be sustained... and any variance from it just makes life really uncomfortable. Actually, it is an extremely fuzzy line between the Bible and the way Grandma George and Aunt Sally did things. Just tonight a discussion took place referring to the fact that a tradition has been lost because macaroni salad is being made with mayonnaise rather than the Miracle Whip used by Aunt Sally. Can you even imagine?

I brought attention to how hysterical that sounded and there was much laughter. I get the point, though. Tradition is a powerful and comforting thing. I totally get it. I appreciate their persistence in keeping those traditions in place... especially the sisters... and mother! You know exactly what to expect and exactly what to look forward to: fighting over who gets their wish fulfilled this meal to hit their favorite Buffalo heart-stopping dive - Duff's, Swiss Chalet, Mighty Taco, Labella's, Pizza Works, Santora's, Sheridan Family Restaurant, Sorrentino's... playing games and/or just talking until 2:00 in the morning... Christmas Eve service... dinner after with the cousins... Christmas morning with immediate family including the Christmas story read from Luke 2 by Poppy (or Grampie) in his Santa hat and pajama pants whose "closure" displayed a constant tug-of-war between the button and button-hole that were put there to protect us... then Christmas night the Grandparents come over for dinner. Tradition. It really is a beautiful thing... usually.

Blizzard Schmizzard

"Oh, you're headed east? They're supposed to get a huge snowstorm. You might want to delay the trip by a day or two." Blah, blah, blah. Freakin' unadventurous, take-no-risks pansies! Don't they know we were created for adventure? Plus, it's Christmas - adrenaline will be flowing, baby!

Man, were they right! We left Nashville at 7:00 Friday night. The plan was to drive about 6 or 7 hours to a hotel in Roanoke, VA... then 6-7 hours to East Hanover, NJ the next day. No problem. Little did we know the first 6 hours of our trip would only constitute about 1/8 of our trip as it would turn out. I-81 will forever be known to our family as "Interstate Suck from Hell." We drove about 4-5 hours before we hit our first "stoppage" - AND our gas light was on - awesome. We sat for an hour before I decided it was time for drastic measures before we ran out of gas. It was time to chance getting a ticket and drive up the shoulder - which I usually hate people for doing. We drove until we came to the next exit - I think we only hacked off about 12 people - not too bad.

The exit we came upon was one of those exits that make you wonder why anyone decided this would be a good spot for an exit - no gas, no food, no nothing - we're screwed - I guess the exit is there in case anyone had a last-second desire to hit up the "camp site / serial killer symposium" 34 miles down the road. I drove a couple miles down the unplowed road (or as Jineen kept referring to it - unpaved - hey, we were really tired) to be sure there wasn't a little town with a gas station. My extreme sleepiness hindered me from the obvious conclusion that we were in Nowhere, Southwest Virginia. There wasn't going to be a town let alone a gas station - or at least one with pumps manufactured after 1967.

I turned around and headed back to the interstate. All I could think was to hopefully break a few more laws and get to the next exit - no luck. Semi-trucks lined all passable routes - they have a gift for that. I think I said this before, but now we're REALLY screwed. I timidly checked my gas gauge - no lie, there's a marking on our gauge after "E" that says, "Swallow Your Pride and Get Gas." But, it wasn't possible. After another 30 minutes of sitting in "park," I decided it was time to break law #9 of the evening - I turned around and went out the entrance ramp - got back on I-81 South to backtrack to a gas station at an earlier exit. We firmly believe that God gave us the extra gas to make it - lots of joke there that I will respectfully decline.

We filled up and it was decision time. Do we get back on I-81 North and just accept our fate of spending the night on the highway? Or do we backtrack to Knoxville, head north on I-75 and catch I-64 back over to I-81? The answer came pretty quickly - I-64 heads through the mountains of West Virginia - pretty sure that wasn't the right call. My pig impersonations are awful - last thing I need is to get stranded in those parts. So, we head back up 81 and fall into our assigned spot in the left lane of I-81. I put it in park... reclined my seat... went to sleep... and I'm so not kidding!

At about 6:30 AM, Jineen wakes me up... we're moving after a combined total of about 5 hours of just sitting on the interstate. It's slow, but we're moving. We drive about an hour at 35 mph to our next round of stoppage. We drive that day until about 5:00. We drove about 150 miles in 10 hours that day. "Time for a hotel," said everyone within a 200 mile radius of us. We found a hotel with vacancy on the 4th exit we tried. Great news: we have a room. Bad news: parking lot hasn't been plowed except for one path - the entrance AND exit - great plan. Worse news: no restaurants or gas stations on this exit. Even if there were, they'd be closed along with every other establishment in Virginia. Thank God, the front desk helped me find a local pizza company who was delivering - what they didn't tell you was that it would take about 3 hours - but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Wake up the next morning and roads are in great condition. We make it from Staunton, VA to East Hanover, NJ in about 5 1/2 hours. Thank you, Jesus!!! We even made it in time for the Rockettes show at Radio Music Hall which was absolutely incredible.

Wow, sorry for the annoyingly long post. Let me end by saying the goal of my blog will never be just to post happenings in my life. There will always be a musing - a moral - a moment. My musing today is this: If you think you can't drive in winter conditions, it's because you can't. Stay off the road. Granted, Virginia did get hit with a lot of snow, but a vast majority of the "emergencies" could've been avoided with a little common sense on the part of really bad drivers AND the Virginia Department of Transportation. No joke... we drove through a terrible patch of road that looked like it might have had one pass by the plow. Then, about 5 miles later, we hit a nice patch where a plow was plowing the shoulder! Ever heard of prioritizing? And the final moral of the day: the last thing you want to do in winter conditions is slam on your brakes. Am I the only one this is obvious to?

Kids' Concerts

This is one of those times when I'm just going to share my genuine thoughts and let the chips fall where they may. It may sound harsh and/or insensitive, but they're my true feelings... that's all the matters these days, right? So, here it goes... kids' school concerts suck. The kids are great... but their concerts suck.

Okay, now that the over-dramatic statements have sunk in, let me explain. Our oldest daughter's Christmas concert was last night (5th and 6th grade). Of course, my daughter was amazing. Here's my issue: I come from a pretty musical background. I understand that not everyone has the talent or upbringing that I do. So, do I cut people slack just because they don't have perfect pitch? Of course I do! I'm not asking for perfection. I think what we need is an audition and cut process. Once they reach a certain grade level - say 5th or 6th grade - it's time to weed out the tone deaf. By the time they're 10 or so, it should be appropriate for a teacher or guidance counselor to say, "Hey, singing and/or playing your out-of-tune violin is really not going to be part of your life's trajectory. Let's try the stage hand position. You can suck at that and not offend anyone's ears." Or something like that.

When schools put out performances of this quality it has a dual effect on parents, grandparents, cousins, etc. One, we have to sit through an hour-and-a-half of should-be-stagehands struggling through "A Christmas Carol in the Key of Train Wreck." Two, the school has now shoved us into a moral and ethical dilemma. We have to go home and tell our kids how great it was. Or, at the very least, commend them on how great they tried or how they "really looked into it" and hope they don't catch on to our lack of praise for the vocal disaster we just endured.

I guess my point is there comes a time in a child's life when it's appropriate - nay, necessary - to point them in a direction that will lead to their life's purpose. It's called tough love. Like everything else, I don't think we can rely on the school system to correct this. It's up to us, parents, to love our kids enough to put an end to the embarrassment, ridicule and overall terrible singing and/or instrument playing.

Here We Go Again

So, how many blogs have you started? This is number three for me. Surely my passion to be disciplined with my blog entries will stick this time... right? The question always arises for me: Why are you so arrogant to think people want to take their time to read your thoughts on life and stuff when they could be telling the universe through various social media avenues about how they just woke up and are heading to work? Or how they hate Mondays. Or how their cat just made the cutest face. Or... my favorite... name-dropping but disguising it with casual and familiar language. For instance, "I just had lunch with a good friend, Rob Bell. Good guy." Cool.

Then it hit me... people take the time because I'm hilarious, entertaining, provocative, original, fresh. You know, I'm not attempting to be arrogant or cocky, but I'm sure you'd agree with me that there comes a time in life when you begin "calling them as you see them." Anything else is just a waste of time. Plus, we're living in a post-modern culture that is sick of the facades and sick of the disingenuous. So, no fronts: I am funny. I hope you enjoy my blog.