Growing up, my entire family (even the dog, I think) loved watching Seinfeld, and ever since the Festivus Day episode aired we have made Festivus Day into a sort of a thing.
I say sort of a thing because we didn't make it really a thing - It's not like we used to get the old Festivus pole out of the garage or have the Airing of Grievances or the Feats of Strength or anything like that. But we always did note the day when it arrived, and it's not uncommon for me to call my parents and wish them a happy Festivus Day. It does help that my Grandmother's Birthday happens to fall on the Feast of Festivus, and it is in an interesting coincidence given that my Grandmother, God Bless Her, has the art of airing grievances steeped in her old Serbian bones.
Aside from the fact that Festivus Day remains a quirky inside joke with my family, I like to keep the Festivus for two reasons:
1. It means that Christmas is almost here!
2. It means the Holiday Season is almost over!
That pretty much sums up what I think about the Holidays in general. I enjoy Christmas in and of itself; it's a day of food and family and fun, and those are always great things. I like watching a Christmas Story as much as anybody else (though once a year is plenty). And Eggnog? It takes my little two sizes two small heart through some kind of wormhole where on the other side I am wearing a tacky holiday sweater and singing "Hark the Herald Angles Sing" around a blazing fire with 5 or 6 of my closest friends, similarly adorned in yard upon yard of knitted fibers.
But the month long Holiday Season I'd be more than happy to leave behind. The joy of holiday feels to me kind of manufactured and its unrelenting in its tenacity. But, with advertising so woven into the fabric of our society and with a four year old daughter who is really, really looking forward to Christmas, it has become very difficult to escape. It may be hard to ask why one would want to escape it all, and that is not something I want to speak to today, but believe you me I'll be quite glad when the decorations get put away and the 2012 Holiday Season is over and done with.
Christmas Day is great, the Holidays kind of suck a little bit, but Festivus Day signals all at one time the opening of Christmas and the death knell of Christmas, and I couldn't be happier.
Ah. Grievances aired. Kind of feels good to get that off my chest. Maybe Frank Costanza had the right idea after all. I have just been asked to go and cut some green sprigs for Church Christmas decorations, which I think I can count as my Feats of Strength!
It's a little Festivus Day Miracle, and it looks like it just might be the best Festivus Day ever!
No comments:
Post a Comment