This comes to you courtesy of the Revgalblogpal Friday Five.I saw this set of questions over at Snow on Roses (who got them from Will Smama):
Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....
1) dessert/cookie/family food
Lutfisk (Swedish spelling) would be high on my list except I never come anywhere near it. There are many holiday baking traditions to ponder but I am fond of almost anything baked. Genuine minced meat pie is definitely an exception. Had it once. Been there. Done that. Never again. I actually like mock mince (apples, raisins, nuts, spices).
2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)
Hmm. Hot toddies. Why? Actually glögg is worse. I like eggnog in moderation though all the gums in commercial versions are icky. Seasonal ales are produced but I drink nothing in the beer family. Val Rentsch’s recipe for Williamsburg eggnog is killer and if I’m very good and my ex has whipped it up, I get some.
3) tradition (church, family, other)
Exchanging gifts at work. Loathe it! I am generally uncomfortable with anything that smacks of enforced socializing in the work place. Joining in meals or potlucks now and again is fine. Liking the people you work with is important to me. Being a good team and enjoying working together is a real plus. But I choose my friends one by one and I have never felt that my coworkers were all friends (though some have been very good friends). Gift exchanges at work lead to trading stuff none of us needs, most of us don’t want, and you are expected to put effort and some modest amount of money into it. What a flipping waste! I think this is a “chick thing” and I have yet to meet a guy, gay or straight or “other: specify,” who understands or enjoys it—though we do it so as not to appear “anti-social.”
4) decoration
Tandaina mentioned blow-up lawn ornaments. Totally. There oughtta be a law.
Wreathes with anything on them other than pine (or redwood) cones and ONE red or gold ribbon (optional). Evergreen wreathes should be inviting, restful, and natural, not fresh shocks to the senses. Cover them with crap and it’s visual assault. [see above]
5) gift (received or given)
Christmas tree ornaments. I know, having ornaments that represent people you love and events in lives carries a special glow. I’m not knocking that and I’m not immune to it. But most of the ornaments that are produced out there … can we say “cheap tacky crap”? If I wanted ornaments for my tree, I’d buy them. My trees have small white lights, red glass balls, and un-iced Swedish pepper cookies. That’s it. I like the simplicity.
BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.
Anything and everything you hear in a shopping mall. I like country music. I don’t like any Christmas music sung by C&W singers. I don’t like pop versions of Christmas carols. I detest “Jingle bell rock” and “The little drummer boy” makes me want to commit mayhem.
So, call me a grinch. I won’t put up a tree any sooner than my late mother’s birthday (December 19) and I don’t celebrate Christmas until sunset on December 24. Then I enjoy it through Twelfth Night, when the commercial carols fall silent and the Incarnation can be celebrated and savored.
Nobody tagged me and I ain't taggin' nobody else. Play at your own risk.
--the BB
9 comments:
Beyond-the-pale "bad cute," my friend. :-)
I got some Bah Humbug posts too. Come visit!
God, I hates the Jingly Bell Rock and the Lil' Drummer Boy, too. And that darn Madpriest LOVES to put thousands of versions of the-lil'-drummer-who-should-be-drummed-out-of-town, on his site.
As a fellow Swede, I agree on that Lutfisk. I was so glad when Granma decided that it was too much trouble to make, especially since no one would eat it unless forced to do so.
Är du svensk, Mickey? Vell, I never vould haf guessed it. Yumpin' Yiminy, ain't dat sumpin'?
I don't think farmor ever made lutfisk; the aunts bought it. Now I do like potato sausage once a year. And I make Lucia buns for December 13 and some years I make jul limpa (which I love). So for all my protests there ate tiny bits of Swede I indulge in myself.
My least favorite Christmas song: Frosty the Snowman. I HATE that song.
I made confession at Jane R's that I seemed to have turned the corner, tradition-wise; as I explained, I found myself whining at coffee hour or after Lessons and Carols that "the Holiday Season" was annoying me with its distractions from Advent and Christmas.
Tandaina, do you hate that as much as I hate "Away in the Manger"?
It's so sappy-sweet it drves me nuts. And newborns cry; it's how they tell you what they need.
I hate the whole idea that silence, in a child, equals good.
No, Kirstin, in this instance it is pointing up the pluperfectness of Jesus, not of children in general! ;-)
But I guess we will have to sing it on Christmas Eve as it is one of the favorites at St. Mark's.
And I hate the Drummer Boy. I have never heard a version I liked, and besides, Jesus just didn't like drums!
Yes, I know, Susan--he was better than them because he didn't cry ever. I hate that!
[I'm grinning at you, though. Nice to see you.]
We have our space (St. Aidan's) set up like St. Gregory's, for Advent. I like it a lot--but we don't have the hang of Communion at all.
Post a Comment