Slippin' into Christmas

What I Should Do Today: Clean off this embarrassing disaster of a desk.
What I Will Do Today: Obsess about Christmas and watch the clock.

I can sympathise with what epanastatis and like-minded individuals who were exasperated with the Christmas build-up before it began must be going through. It must be the most tedious thing on earth to hear everyone going on endlessly about how fun, trivial, exciting, frustrating, and beautiful something is that you have absolutely no interest in.

It's like the relationship between me and Britney Spears.

But I can't help; I'm like a boy in love. Sure, there's a lot of unrealistic idealisation going on, but that's infatuation for you. Fortunately, I've been through this particular wringer enough times to be properly prepared for the inevitable letdown--may it be as gentle as possible! That may be the chief advantage to celebrating the holiday way from my dearest, since it leaves me with something still to look forward to after the presents are all unwrapped and the gingerbread is gone.

The biggest source of stress--and by this, I mean bad stress, since excitement is stressful and exhausting, even while being rejuvenating and blissful--the biggest source of stress, even more so than my family (which I uncharacteristically get along with and even enjoy), is getting the shopping done before deadline. And, this year, I'm substantially finished. The only things I haven't bought are things I need to buy in STL, like an edger for my father (can't imagine they'll let me take that on the plane) and something for my mother's new place, which I've never seen.

As a result, I could really enjoy last night's jaunt to Lincoln Square. I spent three hours bouncing from one store to another, buying very little and only what really caught my eye. I may be in trouble, since I found a gorgeous pendant for my stepmom at her favourite jewellery store in town and nothing equally smashing for my mom. To spare mom's feelings, I think I might arrange to have her not around when I give that gift.

Metaentry

Five LiveJournalers I Wish I Could Write Like

1. mollpeartree, while not the woman who brought me into online journaling, is the one who first showed me why it was worth doing. I always thought, Why would anyone what to read about my daily life?, which is boring, forgetting that I could write about my life of the mind, which isn't. (At least, not as much.) She may worry that the silence greeting her well-informed, handsomely-argued, thought-provoking essays on politics is a sign that people she her as a raving neocon loony, but I think they are really awed hushes as people realise that a suitable counterargument to the parts they disagree with would cost a lot more time, effort, and research than they're willing or able to give.
2. welcomerain is the woman who got me into LJ, the carrot in this trap being continued access to her hilarious work rants. I wish I could recount my mundane experiences with as much humour and verve. Her stream-of-consciousness reviews are so enjoyable, I've considered writing my own, but I think the imitation would end up as failure rather than flattery.
3. I joke about envying rollick's Friend list, but what I really envy is her ability to net so many comments. Must be her background as an interviewer, but she consistently gets more people to reveal more about themselves than anyone else I read here. While it was on hiatus, I actually had the hubris to try to incarnate her Monday Mini-Poll--needless to say, without a shadow of her success. I remember that when I consider posting fill-ins (Friday or not) of my own.
4. It could just be the lack of paragraphs, but every post by 0595 seems like it just poured out of his head that way. You'd think this would yield a disorganised mess of impressions and thoughts, but, somehow, when I try to pick it apart, I find a coherence and completeness I didn't know was there and even the most half-baked ideas come across as sincerely felt and appropriate in context.
5. princeofcairo has resumed his daily "100 words on each interest" project. That takes a kind of persistence, concision, and goal-orientedness I haven't ever had in a writing assignment that wasn't given to me by someone else. But what else would you expect from someone who make his living by writing?

So there's my goal for the New Year: To make my entries as educated as mollpeartree's, as entertaining as welcomerain's, as engaging as rollick's, as spontaneous as 0595, and as disciplined as princeofcairo's. Child's play, right?

Carol of the Day

The holly and the ivy,
Now both are full well grown.
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.

Oh, the rising of the sun,
The running of the deer.
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the quire.
Sweet singing in the quire.

The holly bears a blossom
As white as lily flower;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To be our sweet Savior.

Oh, the rising of the sun,
The running of the deer.
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the quire.
Sweet singing in the quire.

The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good.

Oh, the rising of the sun,
The running of the deer.
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the quire.
Sweet singing in the quire.

The holly bears a prickle
As sharp as any thorn;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas day in the morn.

Oh, the rising of the sun,
The running of the deer.
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the quire.
Sweet singing in the quire.

The holly bears a bark
As bitter as any gall;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all.

Oh, the rising of the sun,
The running of the deer.
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the quire.
Sweet singing in the quire.