Only One More Sleep Til Christmas!

The Muppet Christmas Carol is the pinnacle of Christmasy goodness. Where else can you get Michael Caine being all Scroogey, Kermit singing about Christmas Eve (only one more sleep!), a miniature Kermit (Tiny Tim) singing "Bless Us All", two miniature Miss Piggies dive-tackling Kermie, and the Great Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) and Rizzo the Rat narrating the whole thing?

Up here in the frozen north, there is a second-run movie theatre with tables in front of the seats and pizza/burritos/etc. served during the movie. Every year, the weekend before Christmas, they show a classic family Christmas movie and this year it was muppety goodness all the way. My whole family went, buying out two booths (thus facilitating a fabulous game of mid-movie peek-a-boo over the side of the booth with my baby niece). My favorite part? When the third ghost disappeared and my oldest nephew asked me, "When does the next ghost arrive?" I told him that was it. Only three. Now Scrooge gets a chance to be a good guy. He made a face. Ghosts are more fun than good guys, apparently. I couldn't help but smile - and agree with him wholeheartedly. I'd be a terrible Scrooge. If anyone ever told me I was going to be visited by three spirits, I'd probably say, "Only three?"

So I wish you all a Merry Christmas filled with spirits and the spirit of the season. After all there's only one more sleep til Chri-istmas.

For the Record...

Day Jobs Suck.

That said, as day jobs go, mine is usually pretty sweet. However, even pretty sweet day jobs consume forty hours of my week, which is less than ideal when I am also decorating, shopping, wrapping, playing in the snow (wrong snow for snowmen, ideal for snow angels), swimming (indoor, we aren't quite that nuts up here in Alaska), and generally spending every waking hour with my family. Anything that can be put on hold gets put on hold, which includes: Blogging (hence my dearth o' blogs, and what you can expect will be a future dearth o' blogs until the 5th of January when I fly south for the winter), communication with the outside world (if I am supposed to be responding to a call or an email you sent me, be patient, be very very patient - I adore you, I do, and I will get back to you...eventually), writing, editing... even reading gets put on hold. This is not a vacation. This is a marathon. I should have been training for this all year.

Is anyone else totally exhausted by the holidays with weeks to go or am I the only one?

A Nasty Case of the Shoulds

"Should" is quite possibly my least favorite word in the English language. My reaction to it is very Yoda. Do or do not, there is no should.

I'm heading home for the holidays in less than two days, and my ability to accomplish anything, writing-wise, evaporates the moment I step foot off that plane. For three-plus weeks, I will be basking in the glow of family & the holidays (while still putting in my usual 40 at the day job). I love this time of year, but my writing always stalls due to a complete lack of free time. In anticipation of this dearth o' writing, I thought I'd work extra hard this week and get ahead. (Guess how that worked out? Ha ha.)

I have been motivationally challenged all week long. I know I should be doing much-needed revisions on The Ghost Exterminator. I should be fixing the crappy ending on my little shifter novella. Barring that, I should be pepping up the dry prose of my Karmic short story, or maybe logging a few thousand words on my new WIP.

I should be doing any one of a dozen productive tasks, but what am I doing? A big fat nothing. My brain seems to have decided that my annual creative vacation has begun early. I sit here, kicking myself for all the things I'm not accomplishing, but I still can't seem to get my brain in gear.

So how do you kick a case of the shoulds?

Have Yourself a Naughty Little Christmas

I love Christmas stories. A Christmas Carol. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And I'm a total sucker for a good Christmas movie. I must watch Scrooged, Holiday Inn, and Miracle on 34th Street at least three times each every year. I am addicted The Santa Clause and Love, Actually. And every year, no matter how bad the previews make them look, I buy my ticket to whatever holiday themed movie is gracing the box office.

I'm afraid I can't recommend Four Christmases, unless you are the kind of movie-goer who will not be bothered by the fact that the protagonists never learn anything. Except how to breed, which is not really something I can support when the characters are childish, selfish, don't communicate, and lie constantly to their families--even in the final scene! Arg. I'm not going to deny that there were funny moments, but Christmas movies need to have heart. Four Christmases was sans heart. So no recommendation.

However, I can recommend that you all click on over to the Samhellion website where the magnificent Samhain authors are providing a series of FREE HOLIDAY-THEMED E-BOOKS!!! How kickass is that? Go on, wallow in the Holiday goodness (or naughtiness). Maybe you'll discover an author or twelve to add to your To-Be-Read pile.

And don't miss Baby It's Cold Outside by Shelli Stevens, my fellow Seattle-ite. It had me daydreaming about snowstorms in Seattle all day. I'm dreaming of a whiiiiiiite Christmas...