Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about being a kid and accomplishments.

"Do you think Christmas was more fun as a child or is it more fun as an adult?"

Good evening friends! Nice prompts today, so I won't waste any time ruining them (which happens on days when they randomly pop into my head, allowing me tons of ideas that usually wind up going nowhere).

Straight up, Christmas is better when you're a kid...mainly because you don't know any better. Any kind of chocolate you get is good because yeah candy! You don't have to clean anything up, you don't have to shop in a crowded mall, and you don't have to work long hours to make up for the demands your job puts on you at the end of the year. The worst part about Christmas for a kid? Two things: getting clothes as presents, and waiting 45 minutes to an hour to sit on Santa's lap for 10 seconds (at least that's how it was for me...as an adult I've worked in malls and now it seems like the wait is much shorter).

How is it fun being an adult this time of the year? Unless you're Elle - on hiatus , livin' in the tropical Christmas wonderland of New Zealand, you're dealing with colder-than-you'd-appreciate temperatures if you're lucky and not dealing with seven feet of snow. You've got to put up with not only your own holiday stress, but seemingly everyone else's that you come into contact with. And then there's holiday parties, especially if you're hosting or being relied on for some important function of one. Are the few minutes you're allowed to breathe worth the time and effort to make sure others have the ability to fully unwind and enjoy a few hours of what the holidays were originally intended for? Nope, 'cuz your drunk uncle   is goin' off on your coworker buddy because of his/her ethnicity/sexual orientation/fact that you're both in the wrong profession, so you've got to break that up before World War III happens in your living room between the people you like versus the people you have to like. Sounds like a blasty blast to me.

I suppose the one cool thing about Christmas is if you're a parent and you get to watch your little (stress: "little") ones' eyes light up once they see all the presents. You get to experience their joy as they open their gifts, knowing they think they've worked very hard at being good the last few weeks because otherwise they might get a lump of coal in their stocking (filthy lying adults). But that only lasts for 15 minutes or so and then BOOM! You're back to being mom and dad, doing adult shit while kids get to do basically nothing but play until the middle of the first week in January. And who's gonna clean up the mess? Who's gonna take down the decorations and the tree? Who's gonna do all that and go to work on December 26th like Christmas didn't just happen because hello job?? Dude, being an adult sucks.

Then again, we we all started out as kids at some point, so I guess we had our fair share of the fun, and now it has to even out.

"What are you most proud of accomplishing this year?"

Normally any other year I'd say "Getting outta bed more days than not" but that's not true. This year I attempted going back to school at age 39...and it hasn't been easy nor has it gone quite as I expected, but I finally did something I've been wanting to do for too long. I had an opportunity I never thought I'd get again...and I know for a lot of people who wish they could go back to school but think they can't for whatever reasons, there are options out there if you know where to look.

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Did you know that on this day back in 1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol   made its box office debut? I don't recall it relying as much on the musical numbers as some of their earlier movies, and this certainly isn't The Muppets' most popular or beloved Christmas song, but it's still pretty good. It's called "It Feels Like Christmas"...and how many years do you look around and no matter how much you've decorated and shopped and done this or that to get into the "spirit", you find yourself saying, "It doesn't feel like Christmas yet"? Sometimes it takes something- a certain snowfall, or the jogging of a memory, or baking cookies- that puts you into that high festive gear (I think I wore that gear out a few years ago).

"It's true, where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas."
Lyrics.  

Here's a bit of news from the hometown area...a tanker carrying 7000 gallons of whiskey overturned   on the I-190 in Niagara Falls today (the I-190 cuts through Buffalo and is a quick way to get to The Falls from the city). Talk about someone leaving a giant spiller on your coffee table very late into the party . No one was hurt and, more importantly, not a drop of whiskey was lost...which is good because Western New Yorkers are crazy enough as it is. If you read yesterday's entry and the part about the giant storm that hit Buffalo last month, you'll appreciate that they will raid an abandoned Doritos truck in a blizzard  , so you can only imagine what would happen if there were a free-for-all with whiskey in Niagara Falls.

Don't feel bad if you think you didn't accomplish much or reach your goals in 2014. Just remember...these people at some point were worse off than you  .

And that's where I'm leaving you tonight...I've already blown off the Sabres game, and I've probably already missed the first quarter of the Thursday Night Football game, so I'm gonna edit this and get on my merry way. Peace, the message if we hear it, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!