January 26th - Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day, which is traditionally celebrated on the day after Christmas.  Originating in the United Kingdom, the custom was that wealthy land owners would give their servants gifts on December 26th.  because they were expected to work on the 25th to ensure that their lord's festivities went smoothly, the servants were also given the day off on 26th.  While the term "Boxing Day" has an unclear history, many believe it is associated with the practice of putting the servant's gifts and donations in boxes.

Though it is celebrated throughout the world, primarily in former British colonies, it is probably most associated with Canada.  Add to that their love of hockey and french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds, and it's easy to see why Canada kicks ass.

Now, because I don't have servants, I really couldn't celebrate by giving gifts to them.  So, instead, I did the next logical thing.  I had a boxing match.

It ended in a stalemate.  Happy Boxing Day!

January 25th - Christmas

Ho-ho-ho!  Today is the 25^th of January, and that means it’s…CHRISTMAS!!! The most wonderful time of the year!  HOORAY!

Phil Spector produced the best Christmas music ever recorded...I don't care if he's a nutjob

Christmas is celebrated on December 25^th of every year and commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior in Christian faiths.  Religiously, it is a time of remembrance and a time of holy reverence.  According to the story, Jesus was born on December 25^th to a virgin woman, Mary, and her husband, Joseph, in a manger in Bethlehem.  The exact date is historically debatable, but the 25^th was established by the 4^th century and has held on since then (it’s interesting that this date is also shared with Pagan holidays and the Roman winter solstice...but that's as close to that can of worms as I will come).

For me, however, Christmas was never really about Jesus.  Yes, I went to midnight mass a few times growing up, and yes, I understood what we were celebrating when set up the Nativity scene in my parent’s living room.  I knew what the little drummer boy was drumming on and on about, and I knew why the three wise men had made such a long journey.  I understood how special Jesus was, and why celebrating a man who wanted to spread peace and brotherhood to the world was important.

But even as a little kid, the connection between Jesus and Christmas was never of the utmost of importance.  Santa Claus was the real hero of Christmas for me, and I feel this was the same for many children and is still true today.  Jesus stood for humanity and eternal salvation, and while that’s all well and good, these are hard concepts for an 8 year old to grasp.  A guy that flies around the world and gives out presents if you’re good…now that’s a concept that I could get behind.

As my family moved away from church, this line began to blur even farther, until for me, it vanished completely.  Now, as I’ve stated in previous blogs, I’m not a believer.  And maybe that makes me a  God-less heathen and I'm taking advantage of celebrating Christmas without truly understanding it's message.  But I feel like I get the underlying message just fine, and I don’t think that my beliefs lessen the impact that Christmas has had and continues to have on my life.

I feel that the argument that without Christ, there is no “Christmas,” is invalid.  Christmas doesn’t mean anything less to me than what it once did.  In fact, I think it means more to me now than it did when I still believed in Jesus and his dad and all of that.  Because for me, Christmas is about family and it's about friends.  It's about the people you choose to spend your time with, and as I get older I realize that this time is more and more precious.  It's about joy and love and compassion.  It’s the time of the year where it is really okay to smile and be happy, if only for a day.  It’s one of the few times that I get to see my family each year, and that makes the day special for me and it makes me cherish it all the more. 

 As I've gotten older, the giving of gifts has taken the limelight over the receiving of gifts.  I LOVE finding presents for people, and I get the biggest kick out of watching someone enjoy what I've wrapped for them.  So, to commemorate this part of the holiday, I got gifts for each of my co-workers...

 A surprised Ms. Galbraith on Christmas morning...

And who am I kidding...I like getting presents just as much...thanks Lukas!

I have also been been listening to Christmas music all day, which I feel should be allowed at any time of the year.  I wanted to include so many songs in this post, from The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping" to Run-D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis."  I wanted to post The Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody," and Otis Redding's version of "White Christmas."  I wanted to post every Christmas song recorded by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Darlene Love. I could go on and on (as I've said, I fully support a Constitutional amendment that allows year-round Christmas music playing), but I had to pick just one more.  And while this might be a totally obvious thing to do, what the hell, it's my blog, damn it...

All kidding or blasphemy aside, I truly feel that the spirit of Christmas is one that has transcended any sort of religious beliefs for me.  It crosses cultural boundaries, and it hopefully shows us that there is good in all of us, if we're willing to take the time and put in the effort to look.

It's easy to do this through the haze of eggnog and champagne.  It's quite harder to do it during the middle of January.  But maybe if we all try hard enough, it'll be a little easier for all of us.  Because if Scrooge can understand that one should honor Christmas, and try to keep it in their heart all year, then why can't the rest of us?

January 24th - Student Day

 

Ok, so I know that I said that I wouldn’t make fun of religious holidays during this Holiday Month project.  And I feel like I’ve done a pretty job of it so far.  I’ve respected the views of Jewish and Muslim followers alike, and learned more about they’re cultures.  I’ve also tried to get back to my own Catholic roots to understand why those holidays were so important to my upbringing.  While I am still not a religious person, this project has given me a little more understanding behind why religion is such a huge facet of so many people’s lives.

But today has been pretty difficult, because the religion in question is Scientology.  The holiday that I’m celebrating is Student Day, which commemorates a special briefing course that began in 1961 at Saint Hill.  The Saint Hill Special Briefing Course is meant to train Scientologists to become better and more knowledgeable members of the Scientology community.  It is the largest single course in all of Scientology, and is named for the manor in England where Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard came up with the doctrine and belief system that would lead to Scientology.

For a little more understanding about Scientology, please visit www.scientology.org.  The word "understanding" is being used pretty loosely here, because wow, I spent many hours last night going over it and I still don't have a clue as to what it all means.  But in any case, the website has all sorts of links about their mission and merchandise.  That’s right, merchandise.  Scientology is a heavily funded religion, and one that is very costly.  As it is basically a series of courses designed to help you manage different aspects of your life, the bills can really rack up.  

What has been so difficult for me is that it’s hard to separate Scientology, the religion, and Scientology, the national punch line.  Because honestly, who hasn’t seen this and thought “What the HELL is he talking about?”

Um...say what?

For a Cliff’s Notes version of the main tenant of belief, let me bring you through the basic story. 75 million years ago, there was a vast Galactic Confederacy lead by a tyrannical dictator named Xenu (yes, the records are so good in Scientology that they have someone’s name from 75 million years ago), and he had a dilemma.  His confederacy was overpopulated, and it was running out of room.  As a solution, he transported billions of his people, in craft that looked an awful lot like a DC-8 (commercial jetliner), to Earth.  He stacked them around volcanoes, and then blew them up using a barrage of hydrogen bombs.  Their souls, which are called thetans, are still floating around us today.  In fact, each of us has a thetan inside of us, as we are all immortal souls that have forgotten our true natures.

Yup.  That’s what they believe.  We’re all aliens that have forgotten our true selves.  The only way to get back to this level of understanding is Scientology.  That, and a lot of money (to get to the level in Scientology where they tell you about Xenu, one usually has to pay upwards of $100,000).

Knowing this, is it easy to see why this is how I chose to celebrate today?  Amy Galbraith played the part of Oprah...

Also...

A quick shout out to my awesome brother, Lukas.  Today is the 24th, which means it would have been a great time to celebrate Christmas Eve.  I felt like that was giving Christmas two days, and that would have been unfair, so I decided to axe it from the project.  However, Lukas pulled through and refused to let it die.

My family has a tradition of opening up one present on Christmas Eve.  In recent years, that present has been a LEGO set.  My brother and I open our LEGOs, and see who can build their the quickest.  (It took me less than 5 minutes, from the time I unwrapped everything to the time it was built...beat that!)

January 23rd - Chinese New Year

Today is the last of the three holidays that actually take place during the month of January 2012.  The Chinese New Year commemorates the start of the Chinese Calendar Year (as the Chinese calendar is based on the moon, rather than the sun, it does not follow the traditional Gregorian calendar), and is the most important and largest holiday in Chinese culture.  Each year is associated with a different animal that corresponds to a different symbol on the Zodiac.  This year, 2012, is the Year of the Dragon (my year, 1984, was the Year of the Rat…how’s that for being born under a bad sign?)

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, I passed out fortune cookies to all of my co-workers.  The usual “...in bed” comment made most of theirs better (“This weekend will bring you a surprise…in bed,” “A pleasant surprise is in store for you…in bed,”  “You will receive some high prize or award soon…in bed," "You are going to have a pleasant experience...in bed,").

The best fortune, in my opinion, was found by both of the Marys that work in my office.  It said that “Although it feels like a roller coaster now, life will calm down.”   That's comforting, especially as this is a crazy busy time of year for us in the office.  It's nice to know that the fortune telling Gods have a positive outlook on our lives.  The hurleyburleyness of our workaday lives might finally be coming to a smoother time.

However, I really enjoy roller coasters, so I guess that could be seen as a bad thing as well.  Damn you ambiguous fortune writers…

I will also be cooking a Chinese dinner tonight.  I thought about coping out and ordering in from a local place (Chu’s Express would have been my choice…sorry Chu).  But then I realized that I had been cooking everything else for this month, why stop now.

  

Last night's feast included: General Tso's Chicken, brown rice, potstickers (both chicken and pork), pork and shrimp egg rolls, and szechuan asparagus.  Yes, that's sake...I couldn't find any Chinese equivalent, big whoop.  It actually turned out pretty well...but I still should have gone to Chu's...

January 22nd - Earth Day

Today is the hippiest of holidays that I will be celebrating this month.  Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd every year, and is meant to bring awareness to environmental issues. The first observance of the holiday took place in San Francisco (I told you it was a hippie holiday), but it has now gained acceptance from the United Nations as an important cause to be observed.

Now, no matter what side of the climate change issue you find yourself on, whether you agree with it or you don’t (you’re wrong), you have to admit that we are causing major problems for our planet.  We are wasteful, destructive, and poisonous to our world, and we all can do something more to help counteract our impact.

I already recycle, and I try to use environmentally conscious alternatives to the products that I buy whenever I get a chance.  I walk to my destination when I have the opportunity, and I make sure to turn off both lights whenever I’m not using them.  I don’t turn my heat/air conditioning on until I absolutely have to, and I try to carpool as much as possible.  I am in no way the perfect environmentalist, but I am definitely trying my best and I bet that if we all did the same thing, our home would be a much cleaner place.

So, instead of celebrating Earth Day how I normally celebrate the Earth each and every day, I chose to instead honor one of its greatest creatures.  Like Tracy Jordan says on 30 Rock, live every week like it’s shark week.  Amen to that…

Thanks to Lukas, my kickass brother, for ordering this shark blimp for me.  It has already paid for itself by the amount of fun that we’ve had with it.  Hooray Planet Earth!

January 21st - Sweetest Day

 

 Today I’m celebrating a holiday that is probably unknown to most people outside of the Great Lakes Region.  The holiday is Sweetest Day, and it traces its roots back to Cleveland, Ohio, where a group of 12 men lead by candymaker C.C. Hartzell created the holiday in 1922.  Because of it's ties to confectionery companies, it is often seen as a completely commercial holiday with no real value.  I would have to disagree.

 The 12 Men behind "Sweetest Day"...not exactly Willy Wonka

Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of October was originally said to be intended as a day for people to be charitable and kind to others.  This meant donations to shelters, volunteering time at different community organizations, and generally being a more pleasant person to those that you might normally overlook.  Nowadays, it has morphed into a “second Valentine’s Day” for many couples in the Great Lakes region, and is now seen as an opportunity to remember friends and family who have been helpful and kind throughout the year.

Critics may blast today's holiday as another way for people to spend money in lieu of actually caring.  But I chose to go against this cynicism and celebrate Sweetest Day as it was intended to be celebrated.  I gave money to homeless people that I saw on the street, and I made donations to the local Goodwill.  I was more pleasant to the bad drivers that I came into contact with on the roads, waving with all five fingers instead of my usual one.  And I spent most of today unpacking and decorating an apartment that isn’t mine.  Anyone that has been through this experience knows that this right there would be enough to showcase the spirit of Sweetest Day.

All kidding aside, I really liked the idea of this holiday.  Because commercialism has bastardized so many facets of our society, it’s kind of nice to take this one back from the corporations.  Who cares if a bunch of candy giants created the day in order to sling more chocolate to the masses?  I think the idea of remembering those that society has forgotten is a noble one, and a good idea is a good idea no matter who comes up with it. 

So for the rest of the day, let's all be a little nicer to each other.  Let's allow the smiles come easily to our faces, and let's enjoy each others company more.  Let's be kinder to strangers, and more helpful to those that really need it.  Sweetest Day can be more than a greeting card holiday, and I think that's worth celebrating.

January 20th - Ramadan

Today I am celebrating the last day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.  During this month, Mulism men and women do not eat, drink (water is allowed), smoke, or have sex during the daylight hours (it's sad that I didn't have to give up a lot in this department...what am I doing wrong here?).  They refrain from this in an effort to learn more about patience, humility, and submissiveness towards God.  Prayers are increased throughout this month, and Muslims are usually more charitable, as it is seen as more holy during this month to engage in acts of kindness.

When planning this project, I knew that I wanted to try to hit the big three religions.   I also knew that this one in particular would be tricky.  Our country has had a fear and mistrust of the Islamic faith that extends beyond the extremist attacks of September 11^th, 2001.  Watch 1940’s “Ali-Baba Bound” starring Porky Pig to see just how indoctrinated we were to hate and distrust Muslims.  Say the word “Islam” and a very real and very intense silence will come about, as if your audience is waiting to see just how far you’re going to take the discussion or which way you’re going to lean.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that some of these fears are not unfounded.  Obviously our country dealt with a great tragedy in 2001, and people all over the world have suffered similar attacks and injustices at the hands of those that are alleging to spread the word of Islam.  Yes, Islamic extremists are a dangerous threat to the world, and their tactics are abhorrent to say the least.  Yes, Islamic fundamentalists are easy to be afraid of because, well, frankly, they’re scary.  They seem like homicidal madmen bent on world destruction.

And I get that.  But that’s not what Islam is all about.  That’s what extremists are all about.  And I’m not just saying Islamic extremists, I’m saying ALL extremists.  Anyone who takes a religious view, or any view for that matter, to the extreme poses a threat to society.  So I feel like it’s unfair to label the Islamic variety as the worst of the lot.

Because, when you really sit down and think about it, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists.  They’re not brutal people.  They’re not insane jihadists plotting our demise.  Instead, they’re just people like you or me.  They’re people that want peace (Islam actually translates to “peace”), and they want prosperity for themselves and for their families.  They are people who want the freedom to worship their God, without persecution, just like the rest of society.  They are people who do not commit acts of violence, but instead proclaim acts of love and friendship.

 

So to honor that, I went with the Ramadan tradition of fasting all day, and increasing the amount that I prayed.  Since I never pray, bumping it up to five times today seemed fair enough.  I pointed myself East, towards Mecca, and gave thanks for my family, my friends, my job, my environment, and my life.  I didn’t pray to Allah, and I didn’t pray to Jehovah.  I didn’t pray to Xenu (we’ll get to him in a few days), and I didn’t pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  Instead, I just gave thanks for what I have in my life, and I think at it's core, that’s what Islam is truly all about.  Appreciating what you have, because you have so much to be thankful for.  That doesn’t seem so different from how we all should act, does it?