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These are a few of my favorite holiday gripes... |
TikiJosh
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 01, 2005
Posts: 735 |  Posted: 2005-12-04 10:22 pm Permalink
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On 2005-12-03 21:26, cynfulcynner wrote:
And what's the deal with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra? Those guys don't look Russian to me! 
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HA (with a snort thrown in)!
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WenikiTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2005
Posts: 183
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2005-12-10 04:14 am Permalink
My pet peeve with the Christmas Season is distant relatives who sign their Christmas cards with some extra names: Did they adopt Isiah 7:14, Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-20 and forget to tell me?
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TikiTikiTavi
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 12, 2004
Posts: 121
From: Exotica
| Posted: 2005-12-10 06:01 am Permalink
I have one "Holiday Gripe" and that is having to call "Christmas" by some other non-offensive name because people are offended by the word "Christmas."
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cynfulcynner
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 1800
From: Ocean Beach, San Francisco
| Posted: 2005-12-12 05:47 am Permalink
When does Festivus begin?
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WenikiTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2005
Posts: 183
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2005-12-12 07:58 am Permalink
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On 2005-12-10 06:01, TikiTikiTavi wrote:
I have one "Holiday Gripe" and that is having to call "Christmas" by some other non-offensive name because people are offended by the word "Christmas."
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Last week I started a one woman campaign to smile sweetly at each and every sales clerk who greets me with a "Happy Holidays" and reply "Merry Christmas"...
I was pondering maybe having 6 greetings and just rotating them, but figure it would be too confusing!
I also got a huge laugh out of the "Holiday" trees and "Santa" trees being sold on the corners!
HAPPY CHRISMAHANAQUANZAKA TO ALL!
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Erika
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 24, 2003
Posts: 130
From: N.J. (Philadelphia vicinity)
| Posted: 2005-12-12 10:09 am Permalink
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On 2005-12-10 06:01, TikiTikiTavi wrote:
I have one "Holiday Gripe" and that is having to call "Christmas" by some other non-offensive name because people are offended by the word "Christmas."
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The Borough of Stratford, N.J., where I live, had this in the "Mayor's Newsletter" they sent out recently:
"The Borough offices will be closed on
Monday, December 26, 2005 for the Holiday,
and January 02, 2006 for New Year's Day."
Bah ha ha ha! (Usually it's the writing in the local school district's newsletter that makes me laugh, but this year the overall award may have to go to the mayor's office, just for that one spectacular sentence.)
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pappythesailor
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 1563
From: Mass.
| Posted: 2005-12-12 10:53 am Permalink
I spent 20 minutes (don't tell my boss) and made a "Down with 'Holiday'" button to wear when Christmas shopping. I can't wait to try it out.
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WenikiTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2005
Posts: 183
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2005-12-15 11:36 pm Permalink
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On 2005-12-12 10:53, pappythesailor wrote:
I spent 20 minutes (don't tell my boss) and made a "Down with 'Holiday'" button to wear when Christmas shopping. I can't wait to try it out.
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For some odd reason this made me start singing a parody of "Up with People" in my twisted head...
Now on to my almost forgotten but truly biggest holiday gripe: The recycled gift!
Yesterday I hosted the spouses group cookie/ornament exchange. One gal brought me a hostess gift and said to open it later. I did and it was a ceramic candle holder with the original candle burnt out and several others burnt over that.... Not that I care if it is a used gift, but the fact that it was in an all new box with the picture on the outside and the Styrofoam intact made me think she had re-gifted and never opened it....
I make Ikebana vases and usually bring those as hostess gifts, with a flower arrangement in them. I had brought her one when she hosted a tea a few months ago. So maybe she just felt like she should bring a gift? For the record a nice bottle (or box) of pink wine works fine for me.
For your viewing pleasure this is a simple Ikebana vase and arrangement:
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johntiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 31, 2002
Posts: 1525
From: MD
| Posted: 2005-12-16 7:02 pm Permalink
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On 2005-12-02 21:56, stuff-o-rama wrote:
I can't imagine what that place is like during the shopping rush!
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Unfortunately I’ve observed the mayhem that is Walmart at 5:50 on Christmas Eve and it was without a doubt one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever witnessed. This was probably 8 years ago, before my wife and I were even married, and I had just picked her up from work so we could drive directly to the yearly Christmas Eve revelry at my Aunt Carol’s. She used to work in downtown Baltimore, close to the gargantuan Walmart right off Key Highway, and I decided I’d hop in real quick and grab a few last minute treats for my nephews.
As soon as I edged the car into the parking lot I should have just turned around, put my foot to the floor and gotten the hell out of there. But considering I had time to kill and I had always been oddly curious about those “few last minute shoppers picking up a few odds and ends.” Being a guy I’m not a stranger to last minute shopping but I’ve never dangled my toes over the edge of the “belated Christmas present cliff,” I usually wait until the last Saturday before Christmas and get it ALL done in one day. But the instant I stepped through the sliding door I was horrified.
The sound hit you first, the frenzied murmur of 400-500 shoppers frantically filling their carts with every conceivable item that remained on the shelves. The scratchy P.A. mic snapped on and the voice on the other end sounding both exhausted yet extremely agitated, “Walmart is closing in 10 minutes! Please make your way to the cashiers immediately! We will be closing at 6PM!” Carts were crammed shopper to shopper about 100 yards toward the back of the store and the procrastinating lot inched forward slowly with each successful check-out. The last minute, all that remained sad gifts were spilling from the hefty handcarts and shrill laughing children ran through the check-out aisles blissfully unaware that it was Christmas Eve. Obviously the parents weren’t treating these kids to any of the lovely Santa Claus mythology that made being a kid so much fun at Christmas time. When you see Mom paying for the shelf-worn Tonka truck at the neighborhood mega-mart 12 hours before it miraculously appears under the tree, it quickly erases from your little mind any belief in the Jolly Fat Man and his 8 tiny reindeer. But the most disturbing element of the whole chaotic scene was the lack of concern on any of the shopper’s faces… here it was 6 hours from Christmas and no one appeared concerned. They just stood in line selfishly ignoring the increasingly frantic calls from the employees who wanted to get out of the god-forsaken store at a decent hour and get home to their friends and families. I just stood there for a good minute, mouth agape, observing the mayhem. I quickly turned and left when I felt like vomiting. It was a vile scene that I vow to never see again!
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powerofthetiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 11, 2002
Posts: 131
From: Baltimore
| Posted: 2005-12-21 6:13 pm Permalink
This crap has got to be the biggest annoyance. I hate these bags of shit. I feel like shooting the crap out of this shit every time I see them !!!
[ This Message was edited by: powerofthetiki 2005-12-21 18:14 ]
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cynfulcynner
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 1800
From: Ocean Beach, San Francisco
| Posted: 2005-12-22 02:53 am Permalink
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On 2005-12-21 18:13, powerofthetiki wrote:
I hate these bags of shit. I feel like shooting the crap out of this shit every time I see them !!!
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One advantage of living in San Francisco is that few people have front yards, and those who do would never decorate with something so bourgeois. 
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[ This Message was edited by: cynfulcynner 2005-12-22 09:01 ]
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alohabros
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 04, 2004
Posts: 533
From: westernus
| Posted: 2005-12-22 3:17 pm Permalink
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On 2005-12-22 02:53, cynfulcynner wrote:
One advantage of living in San Francisco is that few people have front yards, and those who do would never decorate with something so bourgeois...
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... how is that an advantage, and to whom is it advantageous...
... isn't the cost of living rather high in sf... @45th highest in the world and 2nd highest in the usa... seems a rather bourgeois destination...
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pappythesailor
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 1563
From: Mass.
| Posted: 2005-12-23 8:37 pm Permalink
Yeah. Who wants to live someplace with no front yard? That's where I put my junk cars.
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tikivixen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 28, 2002
Posts: 724
From: Vallejo CA
| Posted: 2005-12-24 12:31 am Permalink
My theory is that alohabros gets a free drink every time he makes a smart remark about someone else's post.
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mbonga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 04, 2005
Posts: 556
From: La Mesa, California
| Posted: 2005-12-24 1:36 pm Permalink
My theory is that the only difference between Christmas time and other times is that because more people are crammed into the same areas, the public's usual inconsiderateness and unawareness are amplified. Whereas ordinarily one person not making a right turn at a light would normally hold up only 1-3 cars, at a shopping mall on Christmas weekend, they hold up about 15 cars. Whereas normally I can't walk down a Wal-Mart aisle without somebody backing up into me while I'm walking, or having the entire aisle blocked by a single cart, now I can barely even move in there at all. Whereas normally a teenaged girl coughing from a cold without covering her mouth would be several feet away from everybody else, now several people are within vapor range of her. Whereas ordinarily if a driver can't see a turnoff sign in time, there is room to change lanes, now they hold up about 20 cars in each of two lanes while they attempt to change lanes. Add to that all the businesses closing a day early so I can't get typical chores done, and the frustrations mount even more.
Today is Christmas Eve and I ain't budging from home today. Last year at this time I lived across from a big shopping mall and I woke up thinking there was a wedding or something because of all the honking going on at the intersection outside my apartment. But it was just Christmas shoppers in a 4-block-long traffic jam, angry at each other. The honking went on all day long. It was unreal. The only reason I would even consider getting out today is to document all the madness and angry faces with my digital camera, for amusement purposes and for posting on the Internet.
[ This Message was edited by: mbonga 2005-12-24 14:10 ]
[ This Message was edited by: mbonga 2005-12-24 14:11 ]
[ This Message was edited by: mbonga 2005-12-24 14:12 ]
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