HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!

For me at least, the end of the year holidays are a very happy and festive time. I do not belong to any particular religious group, but that doesn't stop me from celebrating with everyone. Instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus, the festival of candles, or staying silent to worship my lord, I celebrate 3 separate religious holidays in hope of "Peace on Earth". I don't want to offend anyone, but I believe all religion is just life lessons and moral stories to learn from. Claiming one is holier than the other, and believing your religion is enough to kill another person over, automatically makes you a cynic. I celebrate Ramadan, Honica, and Christmas because... well, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are basically the same thing. I celebrate the holidays my way, you celebrate your holidays our way, we respect each others choices.

Here is a rough idea of what my Holiday schedule is like.

Thanksgiving: The entire White family gathers at the homeland and brings along their own additions to the family tree. Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and all other forms of kin alike. Those who are unable to show up, well snooze you lose. We all gather the prior night and stay either at a hotel, or at a relatives pad. Luckily I am one of the few who still lives close enough, so travel on my part is easy. However, I am expected to share my place with other relatives. I don't mind the extra company, but I mind the sudden lack of room in my already smallish apartment. On Thanksgiving Day we all meet at this old style Ma and Pa restaurant. We are freinds with the family who owns it, and its tradition that both family's celebrate at the place. It's a good thing, because no house or apartment could contain our numbers. From there the females, including myself, cook for hours to prepare for the 3PM dinner. Once that long task is done, we all gather at the tables and go around saying what we are grateful for. This year I was grateful for having an open minded family that supports Becca and I.

Black Friday: Complete and utter chaos. I am one of those people you will find running around like a chicken with its head cut off in the mall or a department store. Months before the holidays are even close I prepare myself with a list, sales adds, store locations, calculator, running shoes, and so on just to get the best deals. I am actually waiting it out right now so when stores open at 4AM I am awake and ready for action. No words can describe the mental high I get from competing with all those unknown shoppers. It's almost like war to me.

December 2nd-11th: these are the days I decorate my apartment with Christmas, Honica, and my own home made Ramadan apparel. A fake 4 foot Christmas tree, multicolored lights, tinsel, ribbons, a giant manora, knitted wall rugs and chair drapes with symbols on them, and of course Santa hats.

Celebrations Days: I follow the Christmas schedule and the 9 days of honica. Christmas Eve and Day are when we celebrate the most. I put all presents under the tree of course, stocking hang in the foyer, and every time another day counts down for Honica another candle is put out. For Ramadan, I prey by my bedside before I go to sleep all December long. I prey the humanity continues to grow, learn, accept each other, I prey for good health and long life, and I prey that Becca and I will remain together forever.

Santa Claus: I'm not afraid to say it. I believe in Santa Claus! Not because of the magic, the presents, or just to satisfy the kid inside me. I believe in Santa Claus like Francis P. Church believed in him back in 1897. I keep a copy of "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" close to my heart. Whenever one of my Nephews or Neices come to me with the question "Is there a Santa Claus" I read this to them.

"Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus. Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?" Virginia O'Hanlon.
"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginia's. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make tolerable this existence. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Thank God he lived, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood." Francis P. Church

This is a video on my favorite carol of all time. It makes me cry....