"Christmas -All -The -Time -Because -We're -Actually -Ignorant -Fools -Who -Copied -The -Romans"

This post encompasses the ambiguity of the phrase "Winter Break" as you really think about it. If you don't give a shit, buzz off! :)
So, it's nice to have a couple o' weeks off. Most of my time is spent writing a tag-team story with one of my abundant friends (Well I guess they're not really ABUNDANT), playing "Stairway To Heaven" on my acoustic millions of times though I remain a failure at it, and watching Johnny Depp movies. I would have made a trip to the library today to get a few books and bring my mind back to life, but it's pouring outside. So I guess I'm a bit Under the Weather in Under the Rain today.
As soon as my mom gets back, I'll probably learn the REAL meaning of "Winter Break": it means that you spend your winter "breaking" your ass around the house, doing chores for God knows who, or perhaps going to Jackson Park to break your ass sledding. I don't know about you, but the second one appeals to me more.
And I STILL haven't gotten a single trip of X-mas shopping in, and have absolutely no idea what to get my parents. Mothers never seem to want to tell you what they want for X-mas or their birthday or whatever.

And what is with gift-giving anyway? Sorry to be a misanthrope, but for God's sake, we don't even KNOW when Jesus was born. Yes, the Roman records show that he did indeed exist and that he was indeed crucified, but we don't know the date of his birth. We Christians just assigned Biblical meaning to the Roman holidays; thus "Yule" became the supposed date when Jesus Christ was born. Now, I ask you this: if all this gift-giving is supposed to be celebratory of the wise men giving gifts to the baby Jesus, and we have no idea when Jesus was born, then why don't we all just slack off and give gifts when we want during the year? For one thing, it would certainly release unneeded holiday tension. For another, nobody would suddenly be pressed to know exactly what they want. They could just tell a relative any time of the year when an idea pops up, and that relative would give them their "annual Christmas gift". This plan would, theoretically, slim down the dense commercialism of the Yule season, making malls less jammed and wrapping paper more accessible.
So why don't we do this? I mean, SOMEONE has to have had these thoughts before. I mean someone more influential than me, like maybe a dude in Congress. SO why haven't we adopted the system of "Christmas all the time because we're actually ignorant fools who copied the Romans"? Because of this little thing called CHRISTMAS SPIRIT. It's what makes the holidays special for a lot of us. It is, really, the reason for Christmas Break in the first place: I mean, no one can get holiday gift-shopping done with school and work and all that. It's the reason for Santa's image. It's the gleam of snow outside someone's door that says: "Happy Holidays!" Which means that we REALLY give gifts because of the material prompts all around us.
That said, since I come from a family which thinks of Christmas as a religious and not material holiday (except the agnostic me), I don't have to buy gifts this year! Woohoo! Winter Break is suddenly looking a lot better.
Bye now--I'm off to Jackson Park.
-Ahaneen