The Confabulator Cafe

Tag: holidays

  • An Atypical Year

    In the bumper at the start of the week, the amorphous management asked of us writers, “Do they love this time of year or hate it? Are the holidays a time of coming together or pulling apart?”

    And my heart broke, because this year, it’s all of that.

    I usually love holidays. I love visiting family. I love the frantic planning to make sure everyone is included. I love the food and the crafting and the wine and the sleepless nights. There’s nearly never drama, even though we divide our time between three families. (more…)

  • Winter is Here

    Ned-Stark-Game-of-Thrones
    Fortunately I don’t have to make the same kinds of hard decisions as Ned Stark, but Winter and the holidays don’t have to be grim.

    There are quite a few words that can describe the beginning of Winter and the year-end holidays: dread, lonely, cold, snowy, warm, happy. I’ve run through the gamut in my time on Earth, and in general I find this time of year to be pretty nice.

    That’s the most honest thing I can say about it. I like Thanksgiving and Christmas because there are good meals that go along with seeing family. (I like my family.) It’s not really about presents, or at least it hasn’t been for fifteen or twenty years. I like stuff, don’t get me wrong, stuff is good. It’s just that I’m in a position now where I can get almost any stuff I want when I want it. I don’t have to wait for the holiday or my birthday or Father’s Day.

    I’m fortunate that the business I work in is closed during the holiday season, too. That means I get an extended vacation of a week or sometimes a little more every year beyond any time I take off in spring or summer. Again it’s time to spend with my family and do things like read or go to a movie.

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  • All the Whos in Whoville

    The very first book I learned to read on my own was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I still love that book— I even have “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” on my iPod.

    I have the reputation of being the family Grinch. Not because I’m trying to ruin anybody else’s holiday, but because I can never think of anything to put on my Christmas wish list. The truth of the matter is that I have everything I need and most of what I want, and bringing anything else into the house just adds to the clutter. Or else it would be a purchase so idiosyncratic that I want to pick it out myself.

    Quite frankly, my idea of the perfect holiday is Thanksgiving, or Memorial Day, or maybe even the Fourth of July. You hopefully get to take the day off of work, get together with friends and family, cook an elaborate meal, and eat leftovers for a week. Perhaps there’s a parade, or a concert in the park. (more…)

  • The Musician

    I love the holidays, and I’ve always been moved by the charity of people at this time of the year. Stories of generosity have a way of hitting me on an emotional level, and I always want to share them with others. My hope is that if a tale of giving can bring out the charitable side in even a single person, then it has done its job.

    When I was a kid growing up, I had an uncle who used to read us the same letter every Christmas.  Written by a distant cousin, it told the story of how one late night encounter with a musician changed the way their family celebrated the holidays. Here is his letter:

    Several years ago, my wife and I were traveling across the state with our first child through a snowy Wisconsin night. We had been visiting her parents for the holidays, and we were driving on a lonely stretch of highway. With an hour or more to go, we noticed a young man walking the side of the highway thumbing for a ride. My wife asked me to pull over and we offered him a ride. (more…)

  • A Bright Spot in the Darkness

    Photo belongs to Digital Blasphemy
    Photo belongs to Digital Blasphemy

    I am something of a holiday junky: I enthusiastically celebrate them all.

    But I really love Christmas. I am one of those people that everyone hates who starts listening to Christmas music the second Thanksgiving is over. I fight with myself every year to wait until the first day of December to put up lights and decorations.

    However, Christmas means something a little different to me than a lot of people. I’m not religious. I don’t celebrate Christmas as a Christian celebration. I should probably call it something different, but I feel that the idea of Christmas has evolved to the point where it can mean whatever we want it to mean these days. (more…)

  • My Wife Still Believes (in Humanity)

    In my house, my wife is the Christmas lady. Everything this holiday entails: music, lights, decorations, presents. She’s all in, every year, and she loves it.

    I’m more of a Halloween man, myself. Give me rolling fog on a spooky night while you’re holed up in a creepy old house and I’m a happy camper. That probably makes me the darker half of our marriage, but for whatever reason it seems to work.

    That being said, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that my wife’s enthusiasm always manages to rub off on me. I may start December in full-on Grinch mode, but by the end of the second week, I’m playing Christmas music and asking about this year’s family ornament.

    I think what makes my wife’s holiday spirit so infectious is the sheer joy she gets from shopping for others. She’s one of those weird people who spend more time thinking about the receiver of the gift than the gift itself.

    I don’t possess this trait. Nor do I fully understand it.

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  • Holiday Wishes

    From fatchicksings.com
    From fatchicksings.com

    Holidays are a strange time. For some, they are a joyous occasion involving  a celebration of gifts, family, and friendship. For others, they take a dark turn. Holidays can be a devastating time. You hear joyous music, you see bright lights, and you see the glow on children’s faces that can only be the prelude to material gluttony. Unfortunately, not everyone is in on the game. Some people don’t have families and friends, at least nearby. Some cannot afford to take part in the all-you-care-to-eat buyer’s buffet. For those people, the holidays are less about what they are about to get, and more about what they feel they will never have.

    I’ve been on multiple sides of the holiday season. My family celebrates all holidays pretty much the same way. We plug Crock Pots full of casseroles, baked beans, mashed potatoes, and turkey into overloaded networks of power strips. We praise each other’s culinary achievements and avoid that weird marshmallow salad that is inexplicably topped with cheese. In the glory days, there would be as many as sixty or seventy people at lunch. That number has fallen, via emigration from the rural area in which my parents live, and the inevitable overturn of generations. (more…)

  • Holiday Happenings (Week Ending Dec. 29)

    Christmas backgroundAs you are probably well aware (unless you’re reading this from some cave far removed from civilization), Christmas is celebrated in much of the world this week. Here in America, our holiday season begins with Thanksgiving in November and doesn’t end until the New Year next week.

    The holiday season means different things to different people. Where I work, it can mean a slow-down in business or a last-minute rush to get client work finished by the end of the year. For some it’s a time of excess, as we give in to our fondness for rich foods, candies, pies, and fine wines. I know that I spend the holidays enjoying as much hot chocolate with marshmallows as my body can stand.

    This week, we’ve asked our writers what the holiday season means to them. Do they love this time of year or hate it? Are the holidays a time of coming together or pulling apart?

    As always, remember to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter — and tell your friends!

    Until Next Week,

    The Cafe Management

  • The Do’s and Don’ts of Shopping for Writers

    Doctor Who journal
    Riversong’s Journal, from Doctor Who. The perfect gift for a writer who is also a fan of the television series.

    Despite what you may think, writers are some of the easiest people to shop for. Want to know why? Because we usually want books, whether they are in hard copy or electronic format.

    Last year, my wife purchased me a Kindle Touch from Amazon. I don’t need the latest Kindle Paperwhite. But you can always buy me a few books off my wishlist.

    First, let me say that owning an e-reader does not preclude wanting hardcover books. It just makes me more selective about what books I want in hardcover. Some books — coffee-table books, for example — are always going to be in hardcover. I am also very fond of my Easton Press collection of science fiction novels.

    But what do you get for a writer besides books, most of which are likely to be read and forgotten in a month’s time. How can you make an impact all year long with the proverbial “gift that keeps on giving”?

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  • Presents for Your Writer

    All a writer really needs is paper and some sort of writing instrument. If a story wants to come out, and all a writer has at hand is a stubby red crayon and a napkin, it’s gonna happen.

    So, let’s assume the writer in your life already has the basic tools of choice covered–paper and a pen, a typewriter, or a computer with whatever word processing software is most preferred.

    What can you offer as a gift to make the writing experience better, easier, or more comfortable?

    1. Liquid fuel

    You know your writer best. What do they like to drink? Coffee’s usually a good bet. Running out of caffeine in the middle of an intense scene is catastrophic. You could gift them with a pound of their favorite beans or even sign them up for a monthly coffee delivery. Some prefer tea, so you could gift them with a special blend, a whimsical steeper, or a beautiful new teapot. I know a few writers who prefer something more potent for after-hours writing. I’m sure a really nice bottle of their favorite would be much appreciated.

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