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We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
No, Barack Obama's Economic Plan Is Not Discriminating Against Women
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snappletree
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
I totally hear you on upstate NY. One of my gripes is that when telling out-of-staters where I'm from, the conversation inevitably goes like this:

Them: Where are you from?

Me: New York.

Them: Really?!

Me: Yeah, upstate.

Them: *disappointed* Oh.

Leading to me wanting to secede. Until a fellow upstate nyer pointed out that we would be a really poor, really lame state.

And my dad makes latkes year round for our former-Catholic family. Except he usually serves them as a side dish to pork chops, which I find inappropriate.
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arodriguez.romero
12/22/08

@snappletree: Don't fret it's not inappropriate - that's the basis for German and Polish cuisine.
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arodriguez.romero
12/22/08

@snappletree: invite me over btw
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NefariousNewt
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
Anyone for egg nog?
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WaltzingMatilda
12/22/08

@NefariousNewt: 'Nog me up, man. I was scarred for life at a young age when my cousin played a prank involving egg nog. I haven't touched the stuff since, but am willing to try. Also: apparently soy nog is delicious.
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brendastarlet is on it
12/22/08

@WaltzingMatilda: Bobby Flay made egg nog from scratch on CBS Sunday morning yesterday. His had half milk/cream and half coconut milk, plus sugar, eggs and real booze. I'll bet if you baked that, it would make a hell of a flan.
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arodriguez.romero
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: that sounds like a recipe for coquito. mmmmmm coquito ....
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arodriguez.romero
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
did anybody see the gannet article lately about Dickens' novel "A Christmas Carol"?

The thesis is that Dickens was anti- organized religion and wanted to present a secular alternative, hence the Crachits and Feziwig and the nephew all eating and drinking and being merry. Not too much Jeebus tho.

Isn't it funny how crusty that story is now?
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arodriguez.romero
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
I don't quite agree with the holiday dilution theory.

All holidays, always, have been celebrated how the people involved wanted to, and not necessarily as dictated by some authority, or some long held custom, and not as remembered in some hazy nostalgia.

They all follow the sun, because, like, we can see it.
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Bunnya69
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
I. HATE. SNOW.

It was fine when I was 8 years old and cold enjoy frolicking around in it, but 30 years later, it's not so fun.

Yesterday I was going to go out to get a much-needed prescription, but I turned right back around once I realized I couldn't even see out the door.

This, my friends, is why I want to move to California; I'll take rain and fog over blinding snow storms any day.
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la.donna.pietra
12/22/08

@Bunnya69: The glorious irony there is that I grew up in California (in the mountains) and saw a truckload of snow. Be careful where you move!
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WaltzingMatilda
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
I am staunchly on the Pro-Christmas side - both secular and non-secular aspects. I love Christmas movies - It's a Wonderful Life down through National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I love the smell of evergreens. I love my mom's Christmas cookies. I love freaking hot toddies and mulled cider while playing board games or charades with family and friends. I love that quiet period just before everyone falls asleep - as a time to reflect on my year. I even love attending mass of Christmas Eve. I am very anti-consumerism (but I donated my ass of this year...), but that shit is here to stay, so while I disdain that aspect, I love so much of Christmas, I can't be picky.

LEAVE CHRISTMAS ALONE! heh.
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WaltzingMatilda
12/22/08

@WaltzingMatilda: I really don't know why I put this here. Hm.
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limedcoconut
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
Spencer: Just thanks for keeping Yonkers out of the upstate bracket...I literally have to clinch my teeth and breathe deeply every time a Long Islander tries to assert that Yonkers is, and therefore i am from...upstate.

Additionally, Upstate is kinda upsetting, my aunt lives in Rochester and its simply depressing up there..the shopping malls look like they exist 6 months after the apocalypse.
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happymisanthrope
12/22/08

@limedcoconut: Worse is when you get to the rural areas -- I'm from Western New York, from the second poorest county in the state. The town where I'm from is debating about letting a Walmart move in because it will be good for the community (most of the mom and pop stores have closed), and we live in constant fear of one of the two factories closing.

My dad still foams at the mouth because of Reagan's tax cuts.
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RosePetalPlace
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
Upstate New Yorker here (actually, to be more specific, am from CNY, and, yes, will be flying up to Syracuse tomorrow to be with family). And, yes, it's pretty depressing. My dad was laid off in the fall and just moved to rural northern PA because that's where he could get a good job. Spencer, yes, there is a nuclear power plant up in my neck of the woods and it's one of the major employers in the area. Ummm...remind me why I'm trying to go to Syracuse for grad school...?
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TheFormerJuneBronson
12/22/08

@RosePetalPlace: My husband went to SU Law and I did my degree at Le Moyne while we lived there. I always think of what it was like there when I'm getting a good rage going about job outsourcing.
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brendastarlet is on it
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
I am not a Christmas hater, but I am always hit with a wave of depression at this time of year. My dad died when I was in my early teens, and for whatever reason I miss him terribly at this time of year. I also feel all my failings come upon me at Christmas, as in, "another year gone by, and I didn't" fill in the blank (meet someone, lose weight, straighten out my finances, neaten my desk, etc.)

I know I have a million things to be grateful for, and I am, and I know my career is going well, but I can't get through Christmas without at least one lengthy cry. Does anyone else get the Christmas blues, too?
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emilyanne
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: New Year's Eve is my depressed time. Partially because I think of all I haven't achieved but also because it's' the most unbearable night of the year filled with terrible amateur drinkers annoying me.

I feel for you re your dad though, my father has the same thing about his sister who died young. I think it's because it's time of year when you can't help but remember people. We used to always drink to the dead on Christmas Eve.
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PilgrimSoul
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: I have them right now, they are being channelled into Christmas anger.

I may be the only person in history who ruined her life by going to law school. But oh well! I like my cat.
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brendastarlet is on it
12/22/08

@emilyanne: thank you. @PilgrimSoul: ruined, how? Do you feel it was a waste of time/money?

Maybe we call all be miserable together.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: I'm having a particularly bad year for holiday blues. I feel inadequate next to the Cratchits. Every year, I listen to, or read, A Christmas Carol, and every year, when they get to the Cratchits on Christmas Day, enjoying a very small goose for a family of eight, roasting chestnuts and drinking hot gin punch, with no gifts, just happy to be together and off work, I just sob. I don't need presents; I need inner peace, and you can't buy that at fucking Macy's. The retailer commercials wear me down a little more each year, particularly if we have no money and I can't be as generous as I want to be. That would make me feel good. It really bothers me that all I want is to be happy, and knowing that I can't be makes me terribly miserable.
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WaltzingMatilda
12/22/08

@PilgrimSoul: Oh no! Law school is the Debil. I hope that everything is okay!
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Bunnya69
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it:

I used to love Christmas, but for the past 10 years I get worse at this time of year; the snow only makes it worse.

I hate not liking Christmas and I know part of my issue is BPD/whatever other freaky mental illness crap I have.

But having Christmas "cheer" practically rammed down your throat from October on does not help. I miss the good old days, where crappy homemade gifts and actual Christmas cheer made the holiday.

I'm not even putting a tree up this year.
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brendastarlet is on it
12/22/08

@Bunnya69: I had my "no tree" year a couple of years ago. I think because there are so many images in popular culture related to happy Christmas, that it magnifies the sadness.

@TheFormerJuneBronson: for me, It's A Wonderful Life, I'm just a mess at the end. When George Bailey's brother Harry comes home, and George just stands there saying, "Harry! Harry!" I'm a wreck. (Great NYT story on the movie this weekend, btw.)

@limedcoconut: Until you're married, you have every right to be with your own family on Christmas. Kate Middleton does no less.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: You know when I really start to lose it? At the beginning when Mr. Gower is smacking him around because he didn't deliver the poison to the family with the diptheria and he's drunk because his son died and it's all so terrible and so shockingly brutal and probably the realest moment in that movie. But I do choke up about as soon as the Bedford Falls sign appears, so maybe I'm just a hysteric.
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emilyanne
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
See here's the odd thing i like Christmas because where I grew up it wasn't a big consumer fest, it was a great family holiday where we ate lots, got very drunk and danced. Just because Americans have thanksgiving doesn't mean that the rest of the world shouldn't be allowed to enjoy what is effectively our family holiday time. Plus I could live in the US for the rest of my life and Thanksgiving will still seem an alien and odd holiday. I can't help that.
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quatrevingtquatre
12/22/08

@emilyanne:
If you can understand the concept of being drunk and eating lots with your family, you get Thanksgiving.
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emilyanne
12/22/08

@thatonegirlsays: but I have a holiday to do that - it's called Christmas, I don't need another one particularly one that regularly falls on my birthday. Sorry but I just find Thanksgiving sweet but pointless.
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AnnoyingFemaleLeadVoiceover
12/22/08

@emilyanne: Not to get all "America--Fuck Yeah!" on you, but the rationale for celebrating Thanksgiving in its current conception is traced back to President Lincoln and his cabinet wanting to have some sense of national comradeship after the ravage the Civil War left on families.

Plus having an extensive family, we always did "the rounds" visiting/hosting our extended family and Christmas was about the immediate household.

I don't mind the two holidays, but they are incredibly close in timing.

/guess who just finished Team of Rivals?
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braak
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
As a deeply irreligious man, I hate Christmas, because for some reason this time of year I am seized with an almost irresistable urge to GIVE AWAY ALL MY MONEY. I know, throwing a dollar or two in those Salvation Army Santa kettles doesn't seem like much, and buying food for the food drive, and presents for the Toys for Tots thing, and then just presents for people that I like...but it adds up. I need that money. My natural gas bill is three hundred dollars this month, and my roommate just moved out.

I fucking hate Christmas.
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BearDownCBears
12/22/08

@braak: And the message that's entrenched is not exactly "giving is good" but "buying is good". I agree, scour this vile holiday from our collective counsciousness. Minus religion, it's unnecessary. Thanksgiving is like a secularized, distilled version of all the worthwhile aspects of Christmas. And on New Year's you're supposed to get wasted and laid. Doesn't Christmas seem like a vulgar blemish on our calendar next to those two wonderful events?
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braak
12/22/08

@BearDownCBears: Giving is too good. It's poisonously intoxicating. Ayn Rand preserve me, but I haven't got the will to make it through another Christmas.
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Eeva
12/22/08

@braak: ...poisonously intoxicating.

So true. I posted on this morning's Dirt Bag that if I were as rich as Croesus - or Tom Hanks, who was the topic of conversation - I would be drunk with generosity. Dizzy with it.

Giving a handful of euro coins to someone collecting on the street and finding the perfect political book for my dad is as much as I can afford right now, but even that can be like the warmth from a glass of whisky.
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PilgrimSoul
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
And finally, fuck Christmas.

There, I said it.
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sarah.of.a.lesser.god (aka Mrs. BrutallyHonestHobbit)
12/22/08

@PilgrimSoul: With a chainsaw? Or (better yet!) a rusty, demon-possessed chainsaw?
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la.donna.pietra
12/22/08

@sarah.of.a.lesser.god (and the ovumlord of the rings): Hail to the king, baby!

Which is actually a pretty Christmasy sentiment, when you think about it.
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
12/22/08

@PilgrimSoul: With a sharpened, over-the-limit credit card?
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la.donna.pietra
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
My dear, deluded, perpetually optimistic mother is firmly convinced that even though Obama isn't even in office yet, the eleventy billion jobs that he's promised to create in infrastructure and green energy and rainbow generation are already available. And all I have to do is rush out and get one!

Which is to say: Megan, I laughed even harder (and more bitterly, if possible) at Spencer's question about the economics of upstate NY than you did. Since I will be unemployed as of Xmas day.
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blueVamp
12/22/08

@la.donna.pietra: AS OF XMAS DAY?!?!?!

what kind of employer does that?!
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blueVamp
12/22/08

@blueVamp: PS - I'm a Jew who has been called a Scrooge before for not liking this time of year (I find forced cheer really fake and irritating) BUT I would NEVER fire someone on XMAS DAY! horrrrrible.
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la.donna.pietra
12/22/08

@blueVamp: Well, actually, I did it to myself. Mr. Pietra got a job in Albuquerque (a very nice, super-snazzy job that pays a *lot* more than he was making as a starving grad student). However, it's a 1300-mile-long commute from Moscow, ID to Albuquerque, so I'm moving too. Which means I had to quit my job. I got stuck doing it right before the holidays so that I could actually afford to fly down to my new house.

So no, I didn't get fired; my office actually desperately wants me to stay. But I still appreciate the sympathy and the misplaced rage :)
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PilgrimSoul
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
So also, Rick Warren, I'm kind of surprised to see a consensus starting to emerge that this was a dumbass choice, with only halfhearted "but Obama cares about unity" comments appearing here and elsewhere. It actually... is a little reassuring, I gotta say.
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AnnoyingFemaleLeadVoiceover
12/22/08

@PilgrimSoul: Very much a dumbass choice. I think the initial way it was reported in MSM put people on the defensive, but as more has come to light about Warren there's now space for constructive criticism that can't be equated to pre-maturely "attacking Barack."
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quatrevingtquatre
12/22/08

In reply to We Were Dreaming Of A White ~~Christmas~~ Holiday, And Then It Snowed And Got Very Cold
It is snowing here in Seattle and we have a foot at my house. Which, yeah, I know it's not much for an East Coast person, but I am a born and bred West Coaster and this much snow does not do nice things to me. I haven't been able to leave the house since Wednesday and I think I'm going to go insane.

PS: I live with my family (including small children). Send alcohol.
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BearDownCBears
12/22/08

@thatonegirlsays: All I have is a coffee can full of Oxycontin. But I doubt the small children would enjoy it as much as the booze.
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taranwanderer
12/22/08

@thatonegirlsays: Dude, if my New York to Seattle flight still exists on Tuesday, I will bring you some alcohol. And I've been needing to explain to all my east coast friends just why the weather is so bad (e.g. it never snows, everywhere is a hill, there's 2 snowplows, etc.). I still don't think they get it.
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brendastarlet is on it
12/22/08

@BearDownCBears: a foot? In the Midwest the streets would be clear by evening. What's up with those people, anyway?
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BearDownCBears
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: I tell you what, we got five huge freshwater lakes and about 80% of the snowplows. When the nuclear winter comes, we're totes taking this shit over.
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dianersb was bit by a zombie
12/22/08

@brendastarlet is on it: I believe the entire Seattle metropolitan area has 10 snowplows to share amongst themselves.
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
12/22/08

@BearDownCBears: Those of us who live in the frozen Great Lakes will absolutely rule the world in that case, no doubt! I can imagine the magnificent Black Horse Squadron Snowblower Militia....
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quatrevingtquatre
12/22/08

@dianersb:
Hey now, according to the Seattle Times, the city of Seattle has 27 snowplows. So you know, maybe we'll get to drive around after the New Year!
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dianersb was bit by a zombie
12/22/08

@thatonegirlsays: Yes, but as a former Fremonter I can say that none of those 27 plows will make it up the hill. Or the one on Queen Anne.
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