Take a letter to God. "Dear Sir: I'm Dissatisfied"

I guess you could compare me to Lieutenant Dan on the shrimp boat around Christmas time, as the existentialist debate rages on in my head. Perhaps not a read for the weak at heart, and family, you may want to turn around at this point, or skip ahead to the Bernie MTV Cribs post.

Preface, I think it's absolutely ridiculous how the masses get so worked up at your local shopping areas to find the 'perfect gift.' In my brief venture out to the land of retail shopping, people are stressed and frantic. Is this what Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar, the three kings meant when they went to see the Baby Jesus with gold, frankincense and mur? Doubt it.

Going to Church, I acknowledge that Christianity is a peaceful loving religion that sets a sort of moral 'bar', and give people a mantra to wrap their spirituality around, its good for kids and it's a good message, and it really is good people. I sit there and church and I get pretty freakin sad to think that ever so slowly but surely, with the influx of information available, security will come in the form of wisdom and less in the form of a deity, therefore making it harder to defend this 'good' thing.

So what Christmas means to me is spending time with my family, who provides me the tangible love that everyone needs, and pretty much nothing more. It reminds me to be good to my family all year around, try not to be a dill-hole, and reward family with not the perfect shirt that doesn't fit, or the gadget that you didn't want, or something that you won't use or need, but rather the gift of practicality in the form of Wal-Mart gift certificates. Hell, go nuts with it, buy toilet paper or tooth paste.

As for the whole spiritual meaning of Christmas, I still pray because I've always believed in 'maybe', and as a just in case mechanism.