blood-spattered angel

So obviously the Admiral is getting into the holiday spirit.

[She skips out on "Hello" and "Hey guys, I'm awake". The former goes without saying, the latter is obvious.]

Last year we got hit with the Christmas storm too. It was nice, though kind of generic -- good food, mistletoe, lights, presents. It's a big holiday in multiple countries on earth, though it doesn't exist in most other cultures so I think it threw some people off.

I guess what I'm asking is, what do you celebrate if you have a winter holiday? Hell, if you celebrate Christmas, what traditions do you have? My kid always got her presents as part of a scavenger hunt, and I once had a friend whose parents, I shit you not, played "hide the pickle" on Christmas morning. It's not what it sounds like.

Also, last year I attempted to explain the stories behind Christmas and had very little success. Please, someone, do it better than I did.



( Private to the Admiral )

[Art room spam]
[Bea's almost made it to a thousand paper cranes. When worry or anger overtook her in the days since port she parked herself in the art room and began working on the origami; several sessions later, she's hit nine hundred and is still working hard. She's surrounded by her handiwork, cranes of different sizes and colors littering the table around her as she folds another piece of paper sideways.

The look on her face, however, is not one of determination or concentration. She's frowning, eyes downcast, brow furrowed as she works. The task is obviously not what's on her mind.]

[Filtered to friends]
I've got something for you. Can I come see you?

Considering the amount of stress this season normally brings out in people, I'm kind of amazed nobody's stabbed anyone else over the last candy cane yet. Which sets this apart from my last couple of Christmases, honestly.

When I was growing up I liked this holiday. It's hard not to, when you're a kid, with all the music and presents and stories and after-school Christmas specials. That all went out the window when I was a teenager, there was too much other stuff going on in my life. The next time I celebrated I was about 24, and that wasn't you'd call a traditional holiday. My boyfriend got me an Israeli-issue Kalashnikov with a customized scope, I got him a severed head. Then we had pizza and watched It's a Wonderful Life.

But as much of a Grinch as I am, I do have a couple personal traditions and the biggest one is watching my favorite Christmas movie every year. Who hasn't seen Die Hard?

( Dear Santa... )