Words cannot describe how glad I am to be home now! It feels great! Actually more than great! Hadn't seen my Dad since the beginning of October, and Mom since... err... the middle of November, so it was awesome to see both of them again. They haven't changed. They still have heated discussions about the same trivialities, they still mock each other (picture slightly milder versions of Frank and Marie Barone in "Everybody Loves Raymond" - which incidentally is one of their favorite sitcoms!) and I still love those two people so dearly! I had to burst out laughing when I heard one of their infamous discussions over the kitchen table as I was sitting there gorging on one of Dad's "culinary treats" that I so lovingly despise. Man, it's good to be back!
Nope, still no sign of any snow. Rain we've got enough of, but snow? Where art thou?! Frolick over to the gentle coast of Jæren and bestow your wondrously white wisps (note the ever-so-subtle alliteration here...) upon our fields, buildings and what have you! But seriously, it's been ages since we've had a white Christmas over here. We're lucky to even get sleet! If we do ever get snow, though, it usually arrives at around January/February, I reckon (without me being too certain about that). Aaah, the wonders of living on the west coast of Norway... "Mmm... sleet..."? As if!
Meanwhile, gifts are bought, cards are (almost) sent, Christmas decorations are up and I've spent the day baking Christmas cookies etc. with Mom, so now the whole house is filled with the sweet and spicy scents of... all kinds of stuff. Too difficult to explain in English. But it smells good and the house looks good and it's all christmasy... Oh yes. Christmas is definitely my time of year... Everything about it!
Well, except all the rushing about to buy presents and stuff. It's not that I don't like shopping ('cause I do! Man, if shopping was a sport...), but the focus is all wrong in my ears. And eyes. Everybody are just rushing about to get their kids the stuff they want for Christmas, spending heaps of money on things they actually can't afford, and end up with a huge debt. Where's the Christmas spirit in that? What happened to spending time with your family and friends; people that you care about? Where did that concept go? ("Oh, there it is. Found it! It was under my couch all the time!" õ.O) The world is too materialistic sometimes, and I can definitely feel myself getting dragged down in that maelstrom sometimes. Heck, all the time. Take me to any kind of shopping center and I'll get sucked in before you can say "Merry Christmas".
Christmas? Bah. Humbug.
This isn't Christmas anymore. We aren't celebrating Christmas. We're celebrating the act of buying things we cannot afford in the first place. We're celebrating materialism. Oh yeah. That's fun. *sarcasm* What happened to celebrating families? What happened to celebrating friends? Where did we go wrong? (Somewhere in the 20th Century, I reckon...)
Anyway, thoughtful mood today. I blame "sirupsnipper" and "peppernøtter" (with lack of English equivalents). In that case, I'm-a go get even more thoughtful now, i.e. eat more of these scrumptious tidbits.
And she's off.
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