Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!

So it's Christmas, almost... ok, so it's Christmas Eve. I'm listening to Charlie Brown tunes and having a good time lounging in my pajamas. Our house smells of baked goods (lemon squares, yummy), porridge and toast. Not the usual smells on any given day, but nonetheless I am getting excited for the upcoming holiday-day.

I say holiday-day since yesterday was Christmas Eve-Eve as some call it. I heard it at work on the day before Christmas Eve-Eve (a.k.a. December 22nd for those you not following this weird linguistic phrase), I heard it on the news, I heard it on the radio. Crazy. I can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy by the whole week, but there are those out there who feel that saying Christmas is offensive. As those of you who know me know that it takes quite a bit to offend me, I just wonder how in the world then has the English language accepted the usage of Christmas Eve-Eve and so forth. Perhaps this is much too much of an intellectual thought for today as I am now realizing that my brain is mush. What a great use my Linguistics degree is, eh?

Tonight we are heading over to Redmond to spend a quality Christmas Eve with my immediate family. On Christmas Day itself we are going to spend time in Renton and Fall City with more of my extended family. Good times. More lemon squares. Hhhhhmmmmm.

And now, the Top Two things so far this holiday season that confuse me....

1) The Coca-Cola TV advertisement with the polar bears and the penguins.
Yes that's right--I don't get this commercial. First of all, everyone knows (as this was also acknolwedged by a recent IM conversation I had with my friend Andrew, hi Andrew!) that polar bears live in the North Pole. Penguins live in the South Pole. What gives, Coca-cola?? Secondly, I think that if a polar bear ever saw a penguin he (or she, forgive me) would more than likely EAT the penguin. Would the thought of sharing a carbonated beverage excite anyone? Hhmmm, likely not. In fact, it doesn't exactly make me want to have a Coke product either. Andrew said the commercial should show the polar bears with suitcases--and the suitcases could have stickers on them saying "Migrating Vegans".

2) The statement of "avoiding butter" or anything else bad for you during the holidays.
Ok I know that there is this epidemic of people all around the globe getting fatter and unhealthier and yadda yadda yadda. I am one of those millions of people alongside like 80% of my co-workers (IT with laptops, go figure). But not have tasty food during the holidays? That's like, like, like... not having milk with cookies, like peanut butter without jelly, like believing that polar bears and penguins actually drink Coke! Ridiculous. I was watching our local ABC affiliate (KOMO-TV in Seattle) for some reason (I prefer NBC) and there was an actual news story about "avoiding butter" and being healthier during the holidays. Cook your vegetables in a marinade of vinegar and lemon juice, no one will notice the difference!! Uh...right. No one will notice that their vegetables have no cream sauce or butter or salt. If you must have that slice of pie, don't eat the fatty crust, only eat the filling--and only if the filling is fruit, avoid the cream pies and no ice cream. Instead, serve angel food cake as it is fat-free.... Uh...again, what? NOT EAT PIE?? That is so unAmerican it makes me want to have a slice of pie out of spite and to prove pie is not a sometimes food.

Merry Christmas and all that to you all. Go have some pie. Two scoops of vanilla? :)