Will Shetterly points out his strategy for the holidays: don't feel obligated to do anything. That's what we are following. We aren't really asking for or giving many presents, we are spending this weekend at home while my wife's family visits and next weekend we'll visit my family. We did some baking last night to give away treats to some neighbors, tomorrow we'll cook a ham. Beyond that, we aren't really going crazy to do anything special. This does lead to an overall calmer feeling to the whole festivities and cuts way down on the stress.

I could never get into the Connie Willis XMas stories with all their harried suburban protagonists loaded down with obligations. All I could ever think while reading them is "why just not do some of that crap?"

Happy Holidays, y'all. I'd wish the other thing, but when you use the MC phrase, Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson win. The only real gift I want is for them to kiss my ass and actually do their job as journalists rather than trying to misdirect everyone into getting worked up over nothing and thus not pay attention to the fact that our executive administration is a rarified combination of completely corrupt, staggeringly incompetent and destroyers of the American liberty of our forefathers. I won't be going into 2006 holding my breath on that.

Again, Happy Holidays!