Yule Blog

Thanks to everyone who responded on yesterday’s rather lengthy post (yes, even jacksmith, whose passion on the topic was almost a little scary). I’m just amazed that so many of you actually read through the entire thing because it was long and rather rant-y. But, it’s a hot button issue of mine. I don’t know what the solution is, but I know there needs to be one.

Anyhow, to lift those spirits and remind us that it is indeed Christmas, I need to share with you this video:

Awesome, no? Someone here in the area did this (much reminiscent of a light show using the same song last year, no?) and we’re hoping to maybe go take a look at it this weekend. Thing is, we were in the area last Saturday and if I’d known it was there, we totally would have gone to look because DUDE. That’s freaking awesome. This guy’s neighbors HATE HIM.

And while I’m in a video-sharing sort of mood, you have to look at this if you are even remotely a fan of “Lost”:

EEEEEEHHHHHH!!!! I know, huh? January 31st can’t come soon enough. I saw enough goodies in that clip to make my tongue liquify. And did you notice that at the end there, the logo of the island reflected a city in the water? Dude, what’s THAT about? Much as I’m happy that “Biggest Loser” and “Big Brother” will be back so soon this winter, I’m so excited that there is at least one scripted show to look forward to.

See, don’t you feel better now?

You had to know this was coming.  After all, I did mention yesterday that I had rented “Sicko” over the weekend and you remember how I went off after Linda at All & Sundry posted about it after she saw it.  I didn’t expect that I would get as wound up over it as I did though.  I know that may surprise some of you, seeing as how vocal I was (and am) about the subject of health care in our country.  But I thought it would be interesting.  Michael Moore movies always are, love him or hate him.  And I figured I might learn a thing or two, but vowed to not let myself get too outraged because he doesn’t necessarily always present an objective opinion (okay, maybe never).

But dang.  Just… dang.

I remember when I was a little girl, growing up in the sunny suburbs of San Jose, California, that I was so glad that I was born in the United States.  We were obviously the best country in the world and had so many advantages that people in other countries were denied on a regular basis.  I often would consider the “luck off the draw” that had me born into the time and place that I was.  And, truthfully, we did have it rather good.  We lived in a nice house with a pool in the backyard.  The neighborhood was great, full of kids and the school down the street was one of the best in the city.  My dad had a great job and the insurance my parents had through Kaiser covered just about darn near everything.  My future never seemed to be in question.  I knew I would be able to go to college, just like my four siblings.  And I knew that in another country I might not have had these same advantages.  Go USA!

My patriotism reached it’s pinnacle in high school.   I was excited about our nation’s history, interested in government and politics and the highlight of my four years was a trip I took to Washington D.C. with some classmates during my junior year. I was so into it.  I was excited for our country, for the future and for our history.  Those were good times.

Something has changed along the way.  It’s easy to point fingers at the current administration (and to be brutally honest, they sure haven’t helped matters), but I think the real factor here is becoming a parent.  Between the mid-90’s and now, I’ve expanded my horizons, become an adult and started my own family.  My perspectives have changed and so have my priorities.  I’m a lot more aware of what is lacking in our world right now than I ever was as a child.  I hear the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and tears come to my eyes every time.  There is a world out there that is so much larger than just me.  It’s larger than my family too.  It’s more than just my town or my state or even my country.

And all around me, I see people who are obsessed with themselves.  Especially at this time of year.  And shouldn’t it be this time of year where people go out of their ways for other people?  Instead, I see people cutting off people on the road, stealing parking spaces, pushing past people in stores, and honking at a minivan full of a loving family simply because they didn’t move out of the fast lane on the highway fast enough.  It’s all about buying the biggest, fanciest and most-expensive presents.  Just like the rest of the year it’s all about buying the biggest, fanciest and most-expensive everything else.  “Look at me!  I must be awesome, because look at what a cool car I’m driving?”  “You obviously aren’t as important as I am, so you need to get out of my way so I can get to my much more important life.”  It’s enough to break a heart.

And I see this attitude whenever I leave the house anymore.  Sure, it’s probably worse right now, with all the holiday shoppers.  But like I said, shouldn’t this be the time of year when it should be BETTER?

Anyhow, believe it or not, this IS a health care rant.  Because these same people who are so obsessed with their possessions are the same people who I hear rail against universal health care.  They have insurance, so why should they want to pay higher taxes to cover the people who (in the almighty words of Courtney) “suck at life”?  Plus, they’re hopelessly uninformed and prefer to stay that way.  I hear all the time the same old arguments, “They have to wait months to see a doctor and people DIE in that time!”  “The taxes we pay are high enough and spent on such awful things, why would I want higher taxes when I already have health care?”  “I don’t want the government to control what kind of doctor I have to see.”  It’s the same thing that’s been said about universal health care for YEARS.  This isn’t new.  This goes back years.  Hence the whole “socialized” stigma.  Universal health care was an issue after World War 2, when the Cold War was running rampant.  And people were scared to death of anything that spoke of communism.  And “socialized medicine” sounded like one step away from Joseph Stalin in a lot of people’s eyes.

I just wish these people would make up their own minds, learn the facts and decide for themselves.  Instead of letting the media or politicians tell them what to believe.  Because watching “Sicko” reminded me (since I had already had this knowledge) that something has to change.  Our system of caring for the sick and injured is poor at best.  Catastrophic at worst.  It would appear that most people in other countries (I’m not naive enough to say that EVERYONE believes the same way) enjoy their universal health care.  That they boggle that is the system we have in place here in the USA.   And frankly, I’m starting to agree with them.  How can we be such a wealthy, progressive and powerful nation and still not have a viable means of taking care of ourselves?

Obviously, the health care corporations are running the show.  They send their lobbyists to Washington who in turn work on the politicians and get them to vote against  anything that resembles universal health care.  Of course they do!  If we were to adopt universal health care there would be some multi-billion dollar companies that would be out of work.  And the people who work at these corporations are paid enormous amounts of money in order to make money in the insurance business.  And, honestly, the best way to make money in the insurance business is to deny payment.  It’s obvious to me, how about you?  But I don’t think that the health of human beings should be a business for anyone.  No one should be able to profit off the lack of health of others.  That goes against each and every instinct I have as a human being.

Anyhow, these are just some thoughts I’ve had kicking around since I watched the movie last night.  If you haven’t seen it, especially if you are on the fence about the whole health care issue, you need to watch it.  If it helps, just try to pretend like Michael Moore didn’t make it.

We had a rough time with Christmas budgeting last year and that’s a trend that looks to continue this year. The good news is that next year it should be a lot better. We’ve just had to tighten the belt quite a bit lately and losing my design business revenue since Liam was born made a big difference. December was a pretty good month, interesting enough, for blog design. And it was nice to have that while we did.

We have a plan this year. Harry has asked for some fairly high dollar items (including something that he wouldn’t get even if I were a millionaire, a motorized dirt bike). We have it on good authority that his #1 Santa gift, a telescope, has already been purchased by family so we don’t have that to fret about. But he also wants a Wii. We would LOVE to get a Wii for him too. Because, shoot, we’d like one too. Those things are sick fun. Alas we figure our budget, per boy, is $100. And you cannot get a Wii for $100. We hope to get one soon, maybe after Christmas when we’ll have a great deal more money on hand. The thing is, we are already planning to get an Xbox 360 with Halo 3 after Christmas so the Wii may have to wait. We pretty much know what we’re going to get the boys so that’s a good thing.

We aren’t going to get each other much of anything. Because for the most part, what we want would definitely be out of the price range. Plus, the Xbox is going to be something of a family gift as we’ll all enjoy it. So that’ll be sort of like a post-Christmas Christmas present. But what we are going to do is get each other a bunch of small stocking-stuffer style gifts (think $5 to $10 price range) . This way we have some things to open and it should be funny. We did that years ago, back when we were still in an apartment and low on money and it was a blast. See, it’s not the presents that are important. It’s the fun and togetherness and the magic of the holiday. I hate that our society has made Christmas this giant commercial monster and you feel bad if you don’t spend at least $1000 on each member of your family. I don’t want to feel bad anymore.

Christmas is what we make of it. And I want to make it fun and magical for my kids this year. I’m through with worrying about being able to buy enough presents or the right present. I want to get some fun things to share with my family and sit under the tree, drinking hot chocolate and munching on popcorn and listening to Christmas music. And 20 years from now, my kids won’t remember what they got as a present this year, but hopefully they will remember (or rather, hopefully Harry will remember) all the fun we had together.

Thoughts Aside
Deals like home insurance and car insurance make sure that in hour of need, you don’t have to look up to anyone else. This also means that a business opportunity can be safely pursued. Even better, go for travel insurance as well.

We had great aspirations of waiting until Thanksgiving weekend. But really, that’s like NEXT WEEK so it’s not like we went totally out of control here.

Yes. I’m talking about the Christmas tree.

And yes, we put ours up yesterday.

Don’t hate me. But it was a cold, rainy, gray sort of day and I was seriously in the mood to decorate. Not to mention that we’ve been a little concerned about what Liam will do to a tree this year. He’s into everything as it is, so we can only imagine the tree. Our solution? Get it up and get him used to it early. And only decorate the top 3/4’s of the thing. Oh, and put it up while he’s napping so he’s not into everything while we’re trying to work.

So Liam woke up from his nap and Kile went to retrieve him wearing a Santa hat. We couldn’t wait to see what he thought of the tree, all lit up. I waited by the tree with the camera ready. His reaction?

Okay, so not exactly what we were expecting or hoping for. I guess it was a little overwhelming for the poor kid. A minute later however, he was more interested in checking things out. Albeit from a safe distance and cradled comfortably in someone’s arms.

Eventually, he warmed up to the tree. He even deigned to sit next to it and gaze at it’s awesomeness for a while. I should be glad he’s not knocked it over already. But now he’s feeling peaked again (AGAIN?) and sick babies don’t get into a whole lot so I guess I should just count my blessings, right?

Thoughts Aside
If you are planning to go shopping for earrings, make sure that you know about the latest in the jewelry world. This much background check is more than enough to buy sunglasses as well.