Today is the day I dread every year. Christmas. Everyone is expected to participate. Whether you fly home to spend time with your family or stay and huddle around all the other people who don't have anywhere to go or can't afford to leave; in the end YOU MUST CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS.
I'm not going to complain about the commercialization or the loss of meaning in the holiday. We've all heard these prospectives and I have nothing new to add. My point is: Why don't all national holidays have the same clout? For instance, have you ever been invited over to a stranger's house because you have nowhere to go on Memorial Day or Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Invitations are made on July 4 and Thanksgiving but those are the only other times and even then the invitations don't have the same gusto as the ones made around Christmas. This is the only national holiday based in religion. Easter doesn't even get this kind of national recognition and I am told it is more important in every sect of Christianity than December 25.
I imagine that celebrating Christmas in Egypt will be very similar to the way Chanukah is celebrated here in The States. Some people will observe it and others won't. Those who don't will respect those who do and may ask a few questions about the family's traditions but a big deal will not be made. I think my trouble with Egypt will be during Ramadan when everyone is expected to observe a month-long slow down of all things for the sake of the fasting Muslim. I should try to see the beauty in these religious holidays and maybe one day I will but right now they just seem alienating.
I would just like to say that I have no plans to do anything of significance today and I am happy about it. I will not attend an orphan's Christmas gathering. I may do some laundry. I may sit in the sun and read. I may have an apple. I will snuggle with Charlie who, incidentally, is still an asshole even if he is spending more time out of the bedroom.
It's looking like it might be a good day after all.
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2 comments:
Hey Mangie,
I'd like to invite you over for some Presidents' Day nog if you are not too busy.
The whole family will be there.
Ok, ok,Presidents' Day is a little too family orientated for nog.
Wanna come over for Derby and a Mint Julep?
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