'Tis The Season

A lot of people don't know this about me, considering my usually dower, sarcastic demeanor and the widely known information that I was raised Jewish, but I am all about Christmas.

Not the Jesus-y stuff, mind you, though my mom was Christian and he was at the bare minimum a wise Jewish scholar with some pretty sweet ideas about Buddhism. No, I tend more to prefer the pretty commercial aspects of Christmas more firmly routed in Danish, Germanic, Roman, commercial and Coca-Cola-ist culture. Trees and presents and big parties and the spirit of giving and whatnot.

How adorable is that?

I enjoy the spirit of the holiday. I'm trying this new thing where I'm nice to everyone and start personal interactions with the premise that people are intelligent, interesting and inherently good natured. I know, I'm surprised too. But the amazing thing is that around Christmas, people just start accepting this kind of behavior as a seasonal blessing, much like a good harvest or the breakup of an icy river which prevents roving packs of wolves from thinning your herds come early Spring.

Or those pesky ewoks eating up your campy berries.

Christmas is the one time of year when random acts of kindness aren't seen as something duplicitous. Sometimes they're even passed on. I like to think every time I flag down a passing car to receive the choice parking spot I am about to vacate, somebody has a pleasant surprise and that makes them happier throughout the next portion of their day. Maybe then they do something nice for someone else, or maybe they just won't be dicks to other people like usual. Even monsters can be nice at Christmas time.

I named him Bruce.

So this is my promise to you, Internet: I will honor Christmas. It's past, present and it's future, both in my heart and all the year long. And should I turn into some kind of deranged, soul-searching Charlie Brown, well I've already got that covered and I'm okay with it: