westward leading, still proceeding

i feel it is inevitable, might as well get it out of the way: this is our all-purpose xmas thread. think of it as my gift to you.

happy sandboxmas everybody

i just heard a man whistling 'we three kings of orient are' while walking down the street.

lingberry will be back this week, i'm kind of fearful of how much xmas music i will have to suffer.

i like it and have already listened to a good deal since nov 1.

super into this one this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybCImnJbiME

once for an experiment in san francisco i softly sang 'just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling, too' near a man's ear who was in front of f. and i on an escalator and it bore fruit because within seconds he started whistling it. my aim was that he would be stuck with it all day like i already was.

i hope f. tsked you for that

it was noisy, there were distractions, he never knew.

clever you

it's a wonder that he didn't also start whistling

forward ever, backward never

space needle is feeling the spirit!

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs005.snc3/11239_185544541588_506836588_3124924_1766543_n.jpg

i love christmas lights.

Westlake center is has every tree done up, red and white alternating between the trees, like a giant 5th Ave candy cane.

xmas is one of my favourite things ever. lights!! pine tree smell!! santa claus!! cheesy feel-good xmas movies!! i love all of it.

we, however, will not be partaking of the xmas tradition this year

more spirit, pls, people!!!!

you aren't serious right

i am so totally serious.
i don't give a crap about religion, but i sure love the coziness of christmas.

here's how i break it down. y/n?

have christmas spirit: tza, estela, jaq, max
i'm not sure: ruby, gershy
don't have christmas spirit: me, lxy, harbs

haters gonna hate

O_o

more complicated than that

gershy used to and ruby sorta does but it's filtered by something, those are my guesses

i mean i definitely got my christianity scars and all but i <3 family time and pretty smells and musics.

i am required by wife/kiddies to have xmas spirit
*takes another long sip from gin & tonic*

I just see xmas as a reason to throw parties and get/give presents. And to bake.

ur right, i don't have it. i try not to think about it so holidays will go by faster. i try to like them but they upset me i dunno.

but I do like the pretty lights on a wet night.

havent been much in the xmas spirit this year tbh

maybe that will change

i'm having xmas today, and then i will be done. thank fuck.

i love the lights.
i love giving things to people.
i don't care so much about getting, but i love when i come across something that i know would be perfect for person x.
i like to be thoughtful.
i like to dress up for parties.
i like to sing carols.
i like to bake with my mom.
and i like the music!!!

eastward leading in 5 days!

ari has two interviews this week if she gets a job, fingers crossed, i will be way more in the xmas way

good luck to ari!

i like the lights & trees
and i like buying stuff for my kids

i don't really enjoy most of the rest of it

enforced happiness stresses me out.
like when i used to not go home for thanksgiving because it was too far away and everyone would go AWWWWWWWWWWWWW THAT'S SO SAAAAAAAAAAAAD and i would get so frustrated at them because it didn't bother me at all not to go home and i wouldn't think twice about it if holiday idiots didn't point it out.

i don't really find family missing me to be frustrating, tbh.
guilt is another thing, though.

oh, not my family. they don't miss me. just people around.

ppl who act like you are also excited about this holiday and don't understand if you are indifferent so i usually just pretend to be happy about it and it makes me die inside a little

haha u are great, and summing it up for me

i think if/when i have kids it will be fun to buy them gifts. i could see getting a little more spirited if little ones Around me were into it

jerginson

i don't know what i would do if i had kids. i am always thinking when i grow up i want nothing to do with xmas, it's like you can't even do that though. there's no way to escape it. a lifetime of answering dumb questions. "what do you mean you don't celebrate it? are you a jehovah's witness?" but i would feel bad subjecting them to that too. and i know it's not a big deal but telling them about santa claus would make me feel really guilty. i couldn't do it convincingly.

i like giving gifts but you can do that whenever. and imo you should only do it because you want to, not out of obligation due to jesus's birthday.

i don't feel like it's enforced happiness, really. i like spending time with the people i love and don't get to see very much. and we fight sometimes, too! a stepford christmas would freak me out.

that's why you like it because you don't feel the enforced happiness bc you are already happy about it! get it?

my parents always just left the jesus bits out of christmas

and they never really did a good job pretending santa wasnt real

so did we (leave jesus out mostly) but my point is if there's no jesus all that's left is presents and togetherness and why can't u do that some other time when it's not so insane. and not all at the same time. just when you want to.
i feel so misunderstood i think i'm gonna go drink a wine and go 2 bed

u can, tho, i mean, if u want

no pressure

i haven't spent xmas with my fam for about 10yrs! dont miss that part of it, tbh

i would just like to say i have been otm in this thread (except about max. good luck ari)

i think you might have overstated my christmas enthusiasm, i am in fact not looking forward to it very much at all.

wait til you get my gift!!

that made me laugh in a fearful fashion.

haha

i would just like to say that i have been occasionally otm in this thread

further predictions
unreg: looooooves christmas
kid cruti: has mixed feelings abt christmas. very deep intense mixed feelings

i think y'all are stressin too much!
also christmas is great bc it is a time of year when employers buy you drinks.

that would be great if i wasn't an unemployed alcoholic!

*sober*

aw, they could buy you coffee!
being unemployed is sad. definitely missing the office holiday parties this year!

i worked at a university and our parties sucked. damp sandwiches and people boasting about their dull pending publications. but i might go back one of these days. i left by choice, so i'm not strictly unemployed, i just wanted to do some other stuff for a while.

even though i haven't drunk for a long time my boss mistakenly (and approvingly) accused me of pouring wine all over this annoying poet at a party a couple of years ago, so i must still emanate a kind of drinky unpredictability.

BIG office holiday party tonight...

and i am working the evening shift :(

in my new position i work pretty much alone, so no office parties for me :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3a4aPvhdCo

carolers in airport making me feel grinchy.
y'all are rubbing off on me!!

srsly tho who sings at 7am!?

sing before breakfast, you'll cry before supper ;_;

i felt grinchy when i arrived at the train station 4 hours late and my brother still didn't pick me up for another 35 minutes and i had to listen to kenny g christmas songs and other atrocities

omfg @ lady next to me singing along to sleigh ride. she better not keep this up!

she's pulling an estela

if that's true she'll stop as soon as she hears you start because her work will be done.

Man Tasered after Christmas carols 'assault'
December 22, 2009 05:41am
A SYDNEY police officer has Tasered a man during a Christmas carols event after being punched in the face and surrounded by an angry crowd.
Patrolling officers were required to assist when a number of altercations broke out at a Carols by Candlelight function at Five Dock, attended by about 4000 people last night.
"About 10pm, further police were called to the venue due to the swelling crowd and reports that a teenage girl had been assaulted," police said.
It is believed the incident led to a number of men attending the venue, two of whom allegedly became aggressive toward others in the crowd and were approached by a sergeant, police say.
"One of them allegedly turned on the officer, punching him in the face," police said.
"The policeman, who at this stage was surrounded by the volatile crowd, Tasered the man, bringing him under control and diffusing the situation."
Police closed the carols event.
The stunned man, an 18-year-old from Five Dock, was arrested and later charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and affray.
The man was granted bail and is due to face Burwood Local Court on January 14. The police officer was treated by paramedics at the scene for a cut above his eye.
Investigations into the matter are continuing.

i always enjoy stories that end with a cut above the eye.

Oh my, she was a nutter! Lady, do headphones say, 'please talk to me!'?! Is nothing sacred?

Vandals smash Myer Christmas window
December 22, 2009 - 10:05AM
Vandals have smashed one of Myer's beloved Christmas windows causing thousands of dollars of damage.
Police attending a nearby job heard the sound of the glass breaking in the Bourke Street mall store about 3am, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
The officers ran to the scene but the vandals had fled, leaving behind the broken glass.
The smashed window is the last in the Christmas display which tells the tale of the popular children's story book character Olivia, a little pig, helping with Christmas preparations.
The window's glass was shattered but the nativity scene display behind the pane was not damaged.
Police estimated the damage was worth thousands of dollars.
Each year more than one million people visit the Myer Christmas windows which have been part of Melbourne's festivities for 54 years.

Dutch police shoot dead four escaped reindeer
December 23, 2009 - 8:02AM
Dutch police have shot dead four reindeer that escaped from a Christmas sleigh display, fearing they might run into traffic and cause accidents.
Police spokesman Dirk Neef in the northern Dutch province of Drenthe says animal experts attempted capturing the fourth reindeer on Tuesday by stunning it with tranquilizer darts but that proved impossible. Three of the animals were shot and killed hours after their escape on Saturday.
Owner Willem Poelman says he purchased the reindeer for a show at his small business, "Poelman Donkey Park" in the city of Marum, 130 kilometres north of Amsterdam.
But the animals broke loose within minutes of their delivery from a supplier in Latvia.

:(

christmas. it always ends with tears.

putting the cry in christ.

I WANTED A BICYCLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPs9NLZoUY

^kind of lol but most stonyfaced

-ly

i love you

<3

happy xm darling shemispheres

almost said "daring"

woulda been ok i think

merry christmas, sandbox!

got this for all of u
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UbkDzp5LuY