RANT - Merry $!%^ing Christmas

[Corona688]

Warning - Rant

Well, Christmas Season is upon us, though I'd be hard pressed to call it merry.

Just after the beginning of December, my pet guinea pig passed away, poor thing, at least she went peacefully in her sleep. This was a harbinger of things to come.

Now my sister's come home from the holidays from her home in BC. You may recall my glee when she moved out, for indeed, while capable of being a good person, she is the bossiest person I have ever met, and I find her presence infuriating and tiring. She obviously hasn't changed a bit, ordering me around like a 3-year-old and barging into my personal space without permission to such lengths as to rearrange my room when I'm out shopping for a present for her. The room where I had all my presents hidden that I hadn't wrapped yet. 'what's the matter, don't you trust me?' Not NOW, I don't. Argh.

Next, she decides that we MUST HAVE a Christmas tree just because, and makes everyone help rearrange the furniture to fit one and set it up. It's not THAT big a deal, I guess, just another example of her exerting her domination on this house and it's inhabitants. Then I start getting sick.

Next I find out that my grandmother's started getting chest pains. And briefly went blind in one eye. Not good. :eek: They did that thing where they scan the heart via radioactive dye, then put three stents in. Which is good, because the surgery's a hell of a lot less invasive than I'd thought might happen, and the outlook on that surgery is very very good; but I'm shocked that she needed it in the first place. She's been in unbelivably good health ever since I can remember, and she certainly keeps herself busy enough, travelling more than the rest of the family combined. My sister says she's praying for her, and that makes all the difference. Riiight, the heart surgery's just a show, SHE did the real work with her bronze-age Yahweh invocation! *sigh* As long as she's not preaching to me and handing me mini New Testaments again, I'll put up with it without comment.

This has a couple effects.. one, Christmas Dinner's going to be at our place, not hers, so we better clean the house quick. Two, when she gets released from hospital, she'll be staying here for a bit, so hope I don't mind sleeping on the couch. I don't suppose Grandma's too happy about these things either, and certainly she's welcome here; I suppose it's just the suddenness with which everything's changed that's stressing me out. Even a week's warning would've been plenty. Christmas probably won't be very merry here until it's long over. There. Rant over. x.X

[King Rat]

Y'know, xmas is the time that tries an atheists patience. I consider it an exercise in self-control. I'll add my rant to yours.

I just got an xmas gift in the mail from my Mother who is currently on a mission (again). It's a book with a collection of "inspiring" stories from older missionaries in the field. In it she describes the death of my Father. It's a very intimate recollection of a difficult time, inspiring in a way. The problem is, she has never discussed this with me, or to my knowledge anyone else in the family. It totally pissed me off that she would be willing to share this story in a book to total strangers, but not discuss it with her own children.

Then I reminded myself that my Mother is completely insane and this was typical for her and other xtians. If you are an xtian, xmas is a great way to expose your piety to other xtians. For "inspirational" purposes of course, not to publicly prove your devotion.:rolleyes:

One of the great LDS traditions is Testimony Meeting. During this meeting members get up and bear their testimonies in front of the congregation. My Mother used to (probably still does, I wouldn't know) get up and expose personal family tidbits and then talk about how god helped her through these tough situations. It used to drive me bonkers. Partly because 90% of the personal tibits had to do with me. ;) She has now found a wider audience for her self-revelation/self-flagellation. :mad:

I guess xmas is the one time a year that most xtians get to pretend they are living a christ-like existence. Too bad they had to steal the holiday from pagans.

[Vorkosigan]

AAAarrgrghhhhh. 12,000 miles away, and my parents get my children SOCKS and UNDERWEAR for Xmas, and two movies we already had. Which is nothing, as my sister sent them weird things that you hang on doorknobs, completely nonfunctional.

I am so glad I live in Taiwan, where Christmas comes and goes sensibly in one day, and life goes back to normal.

Michael