{"id":174,"date":"2020-12-22T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-08T20:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:29:26","slug":"merry-whatever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/2020\/12\/22\/merry-whatever\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Whatever"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Christmas so I guess we should talk about that. <\/span><\/p>\n

*Deep breath* <\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, I have always been that guy. You know the guy: Mr. IHATECHRISTMAS. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I would reach back into the memory bank the last truly great Christmas I could remember was back around 1982 or maybe ’83. I don’t remember exactly which year it was that I got my Atari console. I just remember that it was the last one me and all my siblings had while living under the same roof. <\/span><\/p>\n

I guess there was the one a few years later in Big Bear with Uncle Charlie, but that was bitter sweet because by then we knew Uncle Charlie was dying. <\/span><\/p>\n

And then there were report cards. Jesus H. Roosevelt why was Christmas time always report card time? <\/span><\/p>\n

So when I graduated and moved out I was cool with blowing off Christmas. It was just another day. Actually two. If I was dating someone I did the obligatory crap, but I really just wanted to get it over with and get back to doing nothing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, fucking Grinch this guy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then I married a woman who loves this ungodly holiday. Words like Christmas tradition<\/i> and Aunt Rachel’s manger scene<\/i> and love stories about how Aunt Rachel was given the manger by her husband, and… well, you get the idea. <\/span><\/p>\n

So over the years I’ve tried – sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much – to get into this Christmas thing. I hate the obligatory gift crap. More than that, I hate having to tell people what I want. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fucking surprise me. <\/span><\/p>\n

I love surprises. <\/span><\/p>\n

And Eggnog. <\/span><\/p>\n

And Donna Reed. <\/span><\/p>\n

A week or so ago while my wife slept in I put on some Christmas music. The day before her gift arrived. No, I am not telling you what I got her. And I thought, I think I got her something she isn’t expecting but will really like<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

And then cards started showing up. Then I realized who I didn’t<\/i> get cards from this year and suddenly I wasn’t actively hating getting Christmas cards, I was actively missing seeing them from people. <\/span><\/p>\n

I should really talk to TGB about sending cards next year. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Who the hell is in my head?<\/span><\/p>\n

But between you and me dear reader… I kind of like this feeling. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ugh, gross, I know! But I do. <\/span><\/p>\n

I want to DVR all the gooey holiday commercials. And I am already thinking about what I want to get TGB next year. And whether we’ll be those annoying people who send cards featuring our obnoxiously cute dog. And all the crap I need to get my nieces and nephews. And a new tree topper. <\/span><\/p>\n

And…<\/span><\/p>\n

Who the hell am I becoming?!?!<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe we should invest in a golf cart so we can decorate it for next year’s Christmas parade. <\/span><\/p>\n

Seriously, I need help. <\/span><\/p>\n

Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate. I hope you get that thing that melts your heart this year. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\"Buy<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2022 Rudy Martinez <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Christmas so I guess we should talk about that.  *Deep breath*  Okay, I have always been that guy. You know the guy: Mr. IHATECHRISTMAS.  When I would reach back into the memory bank the last truly great Christmas I could remember was back around 1982 or maybe ’83. I don’t remember exactly which year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oxygen_hide_in_design_set":false,"_oxygen_tags":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[121],"class_list":["post-174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-merry-christmas","tag-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rudymartinez.wtf\/stuff-and-nonsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}