"The Happy Jew Christmas"

[ellenkushner]

Tickled pink to be included in Paul Cornell's The 12 Blogs of Christmas (#6: "So What Are You Doing This Christmas?") -
my answer squeezed in between Lois Bujold's & Charles Stross' (dear autopope), a nice place to be!

What we will actually be doing on Dec. 24th is unpacking bags from our current trip: We're on Sanibel Island with my family, unwinding & communing & enjoying the fact that it is not icy and blustery (though I do miss the way the City shuts down under severe weather, and everything gets magical). We barely made it - not because of the snow, but the NYC traffic! We actually did miss our flight out on Thurs. night - first time that's ever happened, though Delia is always convinced it will - imagine, if you will, a white-knuckle taxi ride every time! But when we still hadn't gotten across the TriBoro 40 minutes before takeoff, I phoned NWA & admitted defeat, and they booked us (yes, with appropriate penalties, but not too heartstopping) on a flight the next morning. So we went to this great little place I know ("Hotel Chateau Riverside"), and made popcorn and watched Harry Potter & the Amazingly Dim Adults, and set the alarm.

I hate having to pay the Stupidity Tax (- Who knew we should have left 2 hrs to get to LaGuardia at rush hour before Xmas?), but sometimes you just gotta. At least you get infrastructure & services.

Happy holidays to all, esp those who are enjoying the storm!

Comments

[feorag.livejournal.com]

I would like to point out that autopope does get the Big Tree In The Living Room With A Monorail Running Underneath, thanks to Atheist Pagan Me (with the direct female line to people called Cohen).

But I always made a point of working on Christmas day anyway.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Lucky both of you, then! Enjoy the, ahrm, Holiday Season - lotsa love!

[xanath.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're enjoying Christmas--and hearty giggles for Harry Potter and the Amazingly Dim Adults. :D I almost bought that one, but decided to wait until the brand new TV gets here in February.

[carbonel]

I always go to a friend's "Widows, Orphans, and Jews" Christmas Day party, which is always pleasant and essentially nondemoninational.

If other people have Christmas trees that need trimming, I'm always happy to help.

[feuervogel]

That sounds sort of like what I'm doing this year, except it's the "atheists who have family far enough out of town that we don't have to go anywhere" thing. I'm having some friends over for potluck brunch and hanging out (and possibly watching some movies). Then we're going out for Chinese food for dinner.

[taraoshea.livejournal.com]

Hurrah!

One of these days, I will properly explain to Paul how to paragraph his blog entries in such a way that Blogger doesn't do well... what it did to that post. I will prolly sneak into the blog late tonight and tweak that entry.

(This is what webgoblins do, sometimes, for their Rich Text Editor-loving clients).

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Very glad to hear you made it in one piece, even if things got delayed a bit -- and you did miss the snow quite thoroughly! That being said, there's enough of it that it might still be there when you get back...

[aynatonal.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter & the Amazingly Dim Adults

Oh my gosh, yes! This has *always* been my issue with the HP books (it's a trope that gets right up my nose) and now, at last, I have a pithy way to express it. I will quote you forevermore!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

(blush, grin, shuffling feet!)

[miep.livejournal.com]

oh Ellen, i just love you. hope all is warm and sunny on Sanibel, and that you have a beautiful post-Chanukah.

[negothick.livejournal.com]

Ellen, I guess your parents weren't in retail. I grew up assuming that what everyone's parents did on Christmas was sit at a table, smoke, and occasionally cry. Not an exaggeration. Christmas in the 50s and 60s (and now, I guess)meant life or death to a woman's clothing store--and for my parents' store, it was more often bad than good,

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Wow! There's a vivid image! Have you written up those memories anywhere? And do they affect your Seasonal Observances as an adult?

[negothick.livejournal.com]

You know, I have not written them--it's amazing what memories LJ can draw out.
And truly, I shouldn't be wasting your Internet time on Sanibel: You should be out playing in the sand. . .

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Have a splendid holiday.

[pameladean]

I've missed two planes in my life, which resulted in a semi-hysterical insistence on getting to the airport much too early, so I have annoyed every travelling companion I've ever had since by making them sit around for hours in uncomfortable chairs with something annoying on TV blaring in the background. Possibly the Stupidity Tax is, well, less taxing.

P.