…The search for the perfect present for that “someone special,” only to settle on a dinky, cheesy Christmas ornament or sweater you know the receiver will never enjoy.
…A tree that is awkwardly placed in the middle of a room, posing as a great fire hazard, only to later be burned to a crisp, polluting our already tainted air.
…Forced to fake a “Christmas spirit,” with stretched, aching smiles while visiting relatives that we would normally never volunteer to see, but feel obligated to do so since it’s “that time of year.”
The food is the one thing to look forward to, but slaving in a hot kitchen is not- and don’t even get me started on carolers and fruit cake.
It has yet to even begin and I'm already sick of it.
There is but one holiday to pass before the festivities begin, but that’s a piece of cake… or pumpkin pie, if you will. There’s no need for conversation at a time like this- that’s overridden by the need to stuff our faces while (ugh) football is blaring from the wide-screen television set. No annoying carols, no need to buy gifts, just simply food and television.
My kind of vacation.
I’m excited to return to my natural habitat for the Giving of Thanks. I had a taste of home last Veterans Day weekend. My soft bed (although now in my sisters room, as she has taken up residence in mine), and my friends were all there- and oh, how I love a cupboard full of clean silverware and dishes.
The well-stocked refrigerator is always exciting, and makes me giddy every time I open it. The beams of light shine down on me through the mist of the cool air, like angels that have been awaiting my arrival. I believe the reason that I get such a joy from it is because of the food that is served here at Western, if you want to call it that. As I was choking some down the other day I overheard that the same food we eat at Western is the same that is delivered to many prisons around the state. The idea that they are eating like kings (too good for them), while we are eating like inmates (I can barely chew it) particularly irked me as I chugged a glass of liquid hormones. But then again, I suppose that every kid in a school has felt as though they are in prison, with no exception for us. We live in what could be described as a cell, completely furnished with two uncomfortable bunks and linoleum floors. But prisoners are at least given a sink and toilet bowl in their room, while we must drag our belongings down the hall. Heck, prison is even free of charge, including meals, and they have the opportunity to receive at least a high school degree while there.
You know, this prison thing isn’t sounding too bad.
But back to the matter at hand- the up and coming Holiday Season.
I’m sure you’ve noticed the decorations in our Bellingham mall. They’re not so easy to miss. Do we no longer have the patience to end one holiday before adorning for the next? I suppose not. Those big, heinous lawn snow-globes are in this season, I understand. You know, the ones that whirr around some bits of Styrofoam that is supposed to resemble snow, complete with a fat Santa riding a reindeer or whatever, while it’s raining outside? Not to mention that we live in the North West, so it looks a little out of place while it sits atop some puddled, wet grass and leaves.
People have that much spirit.
Just wait. By the time I go home for Thanks Giving, right smack in the middle of my muddy lawn will be a giant, glowing, whirring plastic snow-globe, complete with my family wearing spirited smiles and Christmas sweaters while watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” all week long.
At least I can expect free food.