Christmas 2016

Game ON

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Creativity Portal Imagination Prompt: My Favorite Christmas Traditions

 

Over the years, playing games during the holidays have become a big deal in my family.

We put as much thought and have as much fun putting together our prize gift bags as we do with the rest of the festivities.

We make endless calls, send texts and look for the best candy, little presents and yes, lottery tickets – those prizes matter.

Our game of choice is Bingo and losing is as much fun as winning.

You’ve never seen people enjoy losing because we get to make fun of the winner and blame the person calling the numbers for being on the take.

 

One  year my brother in law won more then half the games we played.

We keep threatening to ban him from the game, but that would spoil the fun of picking on him, right?

Right.

 

One year I made a bag with play-doh, popcorn flavored Jelly Bellies and Peppermint flavored chapstick.

I really wanted to win that bag back, but my niece won it.

I know, I could go out and buy myself that stuff, but darn it- I wanted to get those numbers to line up, I wanted to yell BINGO

 

This year I picked out some cool prizes- I may have even out done myself.

 

All I know is, I forgot to buy actual presents- funny right?

That’s the point though- to have fun.

And I am.

All Hail Santa

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Santa lives in the North Pole- which is actually a Polar Desert, a wasteland if you will.

Seems like a miserable existence if you ask me.

If I had told the story, I’d have Santa living in a cave- instead of Reindeer his sled would be pulled by a team of giant Mastiffs and on Christmas Eve they’d explode from the darkness and up into the sky and Santa’s laugh wouldn’t be so jolly as it would sound like someone who had just escaped from, well, Hades.

Santa has a touch of the macabre on him- he knows what is in your heart and he rewards or punishes you for your deeds- with gifts.

He sneaks from roof top to roof top in the middle of the night looking for you so as to know get caught delivering his ‘rewards’ or you know bribes.

Don’t get me wrong, I sort of like that touch of darkness to the Claus- it makes him a little more interesting

I think those kids that scream bloody murder when they see the Mall Santas know the score.

 

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Lucky for us all I didn’t come up with the Santa Story, lucky for some of us I haven’t ruined the Santa legend.

Still.

I’d rather wake up in the middle of the night and hear that thud on my roof, the sound of something quietly making it’s way into my house, and laughing maniacally to himself as he floats towards the tree with his little eyes ablaze because he knows what is in my heart.

Yes. He. Does.

Joy always tastes a little better with a dash of danger.

 

OUR RANDOM VIEW: Santa’s Grotto

 

All That Glitters Is Cold

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I don’t do decorations anymore.

Not for Christmas, not for Halloween I don’t even buy those little noisemakers for New Years Eve.

I do love the music and the clothes and costumes, but the decorations just don’t add anything to the experience.

 

All that glitter trapping light like some king of messed up No Pest Strip hanging from the ceiling.

It’s morbid.

 

I am fascinated by those giant inflatable snowmen and Santas that people put up in their yards. Its cheesy but fun. Plus I like the ones that play music. I’m not sure who the music is for because I live in the suburbs and nobody walks around here. I mean if you count the trip people make from their front door to their cars- and people walking their dogs, the streets are usually empty.

 

So there’s this bouncy Christmas music playing into the dark and empty night of a seemingly abandoned city.

 

All that’s missing is a devilish figure draped in black with a Hell Hound at it’s heel eyes cast down as Santa’s Elves wish us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in their little demonic sing-song voices.

 

A Hell Hound? Could Be.

A Hell Hound? Could Be. He’s Mine.  What do you think?

 

I do miss the days when I decorated and baked and went shopping for those little touches of sparkle and glitter that added something to the Holiday fun. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of that around me now, but for some reason it just doesn’t seem so important anymore.

OUR RANDOM VIEW: Christmas Decorations

 

 

 

Home For Christmas

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If I could be anywhere for Christmas it would be one minute before the big bang and the Universe was born.

I want to know if it was as empty and dark as we think, or was it something else?

Maybe it wasn’t empty.

 

Maybe something else was here and when it died our Universe was born.

Was it quiet and empty?

 

Once I went into a cave system in Oregon and it wasn’t just dark. It was pitch black. I could feel what was around me. The quiet, the  cave walls the feeling that the ceiling was creeping it’s way down to the top of my head. I could have kept walking into that cave but the guide only kept the lights off for a minute and then he brought them back on.

 

I would love to be in that place and know what stillness  and quiet  really feels like- what it feels like to know that in one minute in that one second everything that is possible is about to happen.

 

That’s where I would like to spend Christmas, who wouldn’t?

 

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Our Random View Prompt: Where Would You Spend Christmas