Friday Five: Bah, humbug!

Well, I haven't played the Friday Five over at RevGals for a while now, but I popped in this week and thought this list was pretty funny.

Parishioners pushing for carols before you digested your turkey? Organist refusing to play Advent hymns because he/she already has them planned for Lessons & Carols? Find yourself reading Luke and thinking of a variety of ways to tell Linus where to stick it? (Lights please.) Then this quick and easy Friday Five is for you! And for those of you with a more positive attitude, have no fear. I am sure more sacred and reverent Friday Fives will follow.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1) dessert/cookie/family food

2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)

3) tradition (church, family, other)

4) decoration

5) gift (received or given)

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.

I know, I know.... pretty grumpy for November but why not get it out of our systems now so we are free to enjoy the rest of the festivities.

So here goes! But I'm going to balance the humbuggery with my most favorites as well. Yeah, I can't ever just be completely humbuggy about anything. Sigh. I guess that's why people insist on calling me perky. :-)

My least favorite / most annoying seasonal...

1. dessert / cookie / family food - Well, I'm not terrifically fond of pizzelles, don't like pumpkin pie, and can't stand cranberries. However, my most favorites are a couple of family recipes - cinnamon caramel pecan bubble bread and cookie-cutter cakes.
2. beverage - eggnog, PLEH! :-) My tummy doesn't like dairy, but then to add eggs to it? Pleh! My most favorite beverage (other than a Starbucks cinnamon dolce latte) is my parents' recipe for holiday punch, which includes cranberry juice, orange juice, lime juice, and lots of ginger ale. And in the grown-up punch bowl, rum.
3. tradition - okay, this really makes me a humbug. The tradition of lighting candles, kneeling in the dark, and singing Silent Night after communion at the Christmas Eve service is just too saccharine for me. It strikes me as being all about the sentimentality, rather than the joy and light and wonder and awesomeness of this Feast. Told you - humbug! Of course, one important tradition I treasure is that all of the beasties in the house have stockings that Santa fills. But my most favorite holiday tradition is one that came from my grandparents, through my mom to me, and now is continued with my children. On Thanksgiving Day, if you've been a good boy or girl all year, Santa sneaks into the house and leaves a Santa figurine. This is his promise that he's going to come on Christmas, when he picks the figurine back up after he fills the stockings and leaves the gifts. It's always a surprise when Santa is going to manage to sneak in, and where he's going to leave the figurine. Sometimes you really have to hunt for it! But this year, since I was in a new place and Santa had to bring a different figurine, he placed it in the middle of everything, on top of the piano, so we would know it was from him.
   
4. decoration - I'll admit, I'm not so fond of the inflatable yard decorations. Some of them are better (and worse) than others. I particularly take amusement at the merry-go-round one that spins Santa, a snowman, and a penguin (South Pole, folks? Plskthx) -- backwards. My most favorite holiday decoration would be... hmm... just about anything else? I love fresh greens - the look, the smell, the feel. I love twinkly, sparkly lights to turn everybody's home and yard into a fairyland. I love a real Christmas tree with decorations I've had since I was young, and now some treasured antiques that my grandparents have handed down to me.
5. gift - Hmm. I love giving and receiving gifts! Even little trinkets are fun. Some of the most fun I've ever had was the year I bought a pack of those little school valentines and passed them out in the office. This wound is a little personal, but I think my least favorite gift ever was the flute I unwrapped last year. I'd been saving up from my wedding money to buy this flute, but last September, my ex surprised me with it. He said he was impressed by how hard I'd been working with the weddings and thought I really deserved the new instrument. As the holidays approached and we were buying gifts, I really wasn't paying a whole lot of attention until about the 22nd of December, when he announced that the flute had really been my Christmas gift, so he wasn't getting me anything. This stung a bit, because he hadn't said this up-front. What stung even more was that he then snuck it out of my gig bag and wrapped it up on Christmas Eve. He thought it was cute and funny, but really, it hurt and angered me, and he never did understand why. Now, for most favorite... that's very hard. There have been some wonderful ones, like the rainbow-colored rosary my son made me one year from sculpey, or the mug and selection of gourmet cocoa my mom gave me one year. Best of all would have to be the little girl who was born on the third day of Christmas, who will be thirteen this year during the Christmas season.

Bonus: CD or song that makes me want to tell the elves where to stick it? Okay, the Christmas shoes song - sappy, sickening, sentimental, pleh. Whitney Houston singing just about anything - with Christmas music, I have got to sing along, and she yucks everything up so much that you just can't sing with her. Now for most favorites... Coventry Carol. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming. Sting singing Gabriel's Message. Venite Adoremus. The Cherry Tree Carol. Okay, and there are plenty more, but I'll stop there. :-)

That was a fun play! I'll be looking forward to reading everyone else's. Happy New Year!