christmas....er... "holiday" rant

i'm SOOOOOOOOO over it! this will be brief, because i'm so ticked off, and am going to spin class to burn off all of this negative energy.

now let me just say that i'm not one of those "christians" that will complain about seperation of church and state, prayer in schools, etc. it's not that i don't care, i just happen to agree that there shouldn't be prayer in schools, yada yada. however, i AM sick and tired of people feeling like christianity is something that not only can be trashed, but that should be changed.

take for example this christmas....er... "holiday" season. apparently, it is a new trend for major stores (and now cities... i.e. orlando) to take Christ out of Christmas. well, i guess that i can't really say that, because it isn't even called "christmas" anymore. no crap. if you go to kmart, or target and ask for a "christmas" tree, they won't know where to tell you to look. however, if you tell them that you want a "holiday" tree, they'll know exactly where to direct you. same as in my fair city of orlando, or my husband's employer. don't dare call the ginormous tree in front of our city hall, or in the middle of the happiest place in central orlando, a "christmas tree". get it right, it's now a "holiday tree", people!

have we become SO friggin' politically correct that we can't even use the word "christmas" to commemorate this holiday? it's been called that since this country was founded! what's the harm? i would venture to say that most americans celebrate christmas, but why can't we call it what it is? does this mean that a menorah should only be refered to as a "candelabra" because it is too religious to call it the former?

however, i do want to make it known, that i understand why schools decide to label their winter holiday parties as that, "winter" or "holiday" party. there are too many religions that people are involved in, to celebrate them each with their own party.... i.e. christmas, hanukkah... and we certainly don't want childrene to feel left out. on the contrary, this is very different from changing the name of our holiday icon, just to appease people who might not celebrate the way that the majority chooses to.

also, while i'm ranting, i'm extremely fed up with stores like Urban Outfitters and the like, in their "Jesus" bashing. wether they perceive it as "bashing" or not, isn't for them to decide. Jesus soap on a rope, Jesus the action figure, Jesus is my homeboy t-shirts, are not meant to show support or appreciation for our Lord and Savior. no, i'm sure that they are mocking. there would be major hell to pay, should we ever mock Allah and the islamic faith, or hinduism in such a blatant way. what gives people the "right" to only focus on christians and our faith alone? "Jesusland" meaning all of the states that our President won in the last election. frankly, it's uncalled for.

as an american, i am using my voice (thank you forefathers) and my freedom, to speak in outrage against this ridiculousness. i am hurt, and furious. shame on us, for allowing "political correctness" to dictate our "holidays".


(listening to "Amanda Cecilia" by Elliott Smith")

october recap (part 1)

what an awesome month.

i don't feel like typing a ton... so this will basically be a pictoral of my monthly activities (with a few comments here and there).

e n j o y

October 11

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

i love me some candy!

kevin doing the "candy dance"

tinkerbell, is that you?

no! it's captain hook!

holy crap. i love halloween!!

tom, steph, and kevin... pre- pop explosion

Magic Kingdom Scary Singers

what a great evening with my friends!

October 12

Friendaversary!

kevin harrington and i met a year ago at epcot center through a mutual friend. we had an instant connection and have been good friends ever since that night. not only was he an awesome friend, but he has become a vital team member in interpreting the shows at disney.

the night that we met, we went to watch Kool & the Gang, who were there for the food & wine festival. when we heard that they were coming back again this year, we knew that we had to go and "celebrate".

here are a few pictures that helped to capture such a great time!

on our way...

"it's a celebration!"

"oh yes it's ladies night"

dancing our pants off!

me and my friend

Boston Terrier Meetup

Fleet Peeple's Park

after watching the other Boston Terriers in the water, polly was enticed to join them.

boston terrier meetup group

pumpkins!

here is the second part of the halloween post. scroll down for a look at pumpkins from halloween's past.

1980

this is the first picture that i have where i actually helped to design the face on the pumpkin. that is probably why it looks retarded.

improvement

as you can see, the pumpkin face has much improved over the previous pumpkin picture. it could be, that this was the year my mom started making us take turns at drawing the facial characteristics.

happy family pumpkin

ahhh... the perfect 1980's family picture. the pumpkin doesn't look that bad either. another year, another big improvement.

p.m.s. pumpkin carving

i don't know what my problem was, but obviously i was pissed off about something! paul looks happy, which means that he probably got to pick which part of the face he wanted to draw first. really, given the shape of the pumpkin, it doesn't look too bad!

the nightmare before christmas

in 1994, not only did tom come into my life, but also the most elaborate pumpkins that i have ever seen. this is the pumpkin which started it all.... "the nightmare before christmas". it makes my pathetic "sun" pumpkin look like the crap that it is. anyway, i remember tom spending hours making this pumpkin. it was truly a sight to be seen.

mortal kombat and the jackson 5

the following year, tom was addicted to playing "mortal kombat", so he decided to put the insignia on his pumpkin. however, i was addicted to the "jackson 5", and decided that "michael" (pre nose job, and child molesting) should go on mine. i cut out a huge afro and carved his face into the melon. i even had carved out the words, "jackson 5" on the top of the pumpking. i was so proud!

on halloween night, we were on my front porch passing out candy, and a woman came up, looked at my pumpkin and said, "oh look! they carved their last name into their pumpkin!" wha? no!!!! we weren't the jacksons!!!! couldn't she see the giant afro glowing in the moonlight? what an idiot.

goofy and cinderella's castle

again, tom's pumpkin is way better than mine....sigh. oh well, atleast i tried.

it

this was the last pumpkin that i made with my family before i got married. my mom was out of town (i think) and my dad and i had an evening at home and decided to carve this pumpkin while watching the movie, "it". what a great memory!

boob pumpkin & frankenstein

as soon as i saw this pumpkin, i knew that i had to buy it. when else would i ever find another pumpkin that looks like it has tiny breasts? my mom wouldn't let me use them for nipples, so i settled and used them for eyeballs.

isn't tom's pumpkin awesome? i swear, mine NEVER turn out this cool!

spider

i love this picture. tom and i carved this pumpkin for a halloween party that we were having with our friends from church. my fall display kicked-ass that year. ahhh yes, 2002, that's when i used to entertain and have people over. (something i haven't really done since moving to florida)

i love you

not my pumpkin, but wanted to put up a picture of it anyway. one of my students in my sign language class carved it for me as a thank you. it was so cool, that i just had to share it with all of you.

hope that you enjoyed my pumpkin post (even if it wasn't finished until the second week of november)!

check back for a recap of october!

(listening to "Thule" by The Album Leaf)