Watery Fowls

Boy, what a day. If you live in Los Angeles, I hope you got to see the AMAZING sunset we had tonight. Ryan took pictures from the car while we were driving home, and as soon as I fix the gallery, I’ll put them up.
We got our Xmas tree last night. I’m so torn about that…on the one hand, I totally hate the idea of killing a tree and putting it in the house for a few weeks…but on the other hand, it’s such a long-standing family tradition, and, especially after the loss of my Aunt Val, I’ve realized how important traditions are to me.
Example: I listen to this guy, Dennis Prager, on the radio here in LA from time to time. Dennis is very conservative, but he’s not a jackass conservative reactionary like Rush or Sean Hannity, who’s recently been thrust upon us here. Dennis is very honest, and amazingly smart. He’s also not one of these idiots who toes the line no matter what. He talks about issues of morality, without succumbing to demagoguery and hyperbole. (Jesus, I feel like I’m writing an essay here. Score me an extra 3 points for big, important-sounding words). Suffice (there I go again) to say that, even though I’m pretty out there on the Left, I can listen to Dennis, and, although I disagree with him often, I always think a second time.
So, today, on his show, Dennis was talking about the importance of tradition in human existence. He was talking about the difference between having a day off, and having a day where we engage in some sort of tradition. It’s the difference, to me, between not going to work and drinking beer, and finding a Veteran to thank, on Veteran’s Day.
So, tradition is very important to me, and this recently came up, at my mom and dad’s house.
The whole family was there, and we were talking about Xmas dinner. My brother was pulling for this German potato salad that we have eaten since we were kids, but never as a holiday meal…I mean, getting together at mom and dad’s for Melted Salad is just awesome, but I was really not into it for our Xmas dinner meal. I wanted to have the traditional turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes and stuffing, punkin pie, and the whole thing…and I was getting a lot of resistance from the rest of the family about it, until I explained to my mom how important it was to me that we have what we’ve always had, because it wouldn’t feel like Xmas to me otherwise, and, eventually, they all came around.
What I didn’t realize, until I was listening to Dennis this morning (while stuck in traffic on the Four-Oh-Farking-Five-Freeway-Farking-Farking-Farking), was just how important that tradition has become to me.
This is my 5th Xmas with Anne and the kids, and we’ve really established our own traditions, and tonight we’ll have the mashed potatoes and turkey meatloaf, then we’ll build a big old fire in the fireplace, while we drink egg nog and hot apple cider, and decorate our tree, while listening to Dr. Demento’s Greatest Xmas CD.
Bring on the Jingle Dogs, dammit!