Caitlin: Happy Holidays (Happiness Sold Separately)

I'm kind of a cynical person. Not in everything. But the problem is that especially this time of year, I am not the Holly Jolly ball of peace on Earth that society seems to dictate that we should be. I have a strong aversion to Christmas music, mostly because I feel like it is either the same twelve songs redone over and over to the point of madness, or people seem intent on taking songs that should not be holiday themed and redoing them, with a holiday flair. All my favorite bands are guilty of this sin.

One time all my favorite bands were guilty of it on the same album

I have a list of about twenty songs that I have carefully collected to help me slog through this seasonal case of the Grinches, but for me the real problem is everyone else.  The fact is, it is not socially acceptable to succumb to the immense pressure that this time of the year forces into our lives and spend the month of December in a bomb shelter waiting for the safety of January. Emotional and financial and political pressure all come together, bringing out the worst in most people (if you don't believe me just ask someone who works in retail). 

My mother recently complained to me about the lack of holiday theme to the movies that some TV channel was showing. I suggested she rewatch Die Hard and Lion in Winter (the Hepburn version or get the fuck out) as a way to sustain her need for seasonal film fair. It barely occurred to me that neither of these movies is, shall we say, in the same category as Miracle on 34th Street.

Although she does look like she's about to pull a gun from her robe.

But in all seriousness, those are two of my favorite Christmas movies. Not because they are a little depressing. I would argue that Die Hard is by the end a triumphant film. Because they depict the struggle of the holidays. They are, at the end of the day, apt metaphors for how I view the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. As a battle. 

So I wish everyone luck as they deal with out of touch relatives and impossible familial expectations and travel headaches. I feel your stress. And if you need what is, in my humble but ultimately correct opinion, the perfect song for this time of year, I give you Long December by the Counting Crows.

Stay sane out there

Little C