I've had a few different traditions over the years about how I celebrated Christmas.
We used to open the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, when I was a kid. Then there was that one year where the entire family was sicker than dogs with the flu...
When I was married to my first wife, the tradition was spending Christmas Eve with my parents and siblings, then spending Christmas Day with her parents and siblings.
After the separation, I had a really fantastic and generous friend who let me spend Christmas Eves with her family and I'd bring gifts for her two adopted daughters.
These days, I'm fine with a little less tradition and a little more connecting with the people that are important to me. Plus my new wife is a non-practicing Jew, though her child is being raised Christian by her ex-husband - which really means he's not being raised to be much of anything at the moment.
Tonight, Christmas Eve, I'm at work while my wife sleeps at home. The stepson that lives with us is with his dad. The other stepson, who lives on his own - he's probably also with his dad.
When I leave here in the morning, I'm heading to the hospital in Brooklyn, New York Methodist, where I perform once monthly for the kids. I missed performing for them last Thursday so I'm popping in for Christmas Day to cheer them up. I'm told the hospital does try to release as many kids as they can for the holidays, but some kids are not exactly there for elective procedures, so they have to remain.
I'll also be spending some time in the pediatric emergency room there - I've become sort of a fixture there, because I get the impression that I may be the only volunteer that shows up in the peds ER for anything, let alone providing entertainment. I brought with me two bricks of my personal stash of Bicycle Americanas to give away, since I thought it would be nice to give something special instead of the standard packs of Streamlines I have left. I hope that will be enough, but only rarely have I gone through more than two bricks in a day, so I should be fine.
On the topic of those Streamlines, for those of you who've been here long enough to remember the first one, I'm making a second fundraiser for getting cards for the kids again. At this point, I'll probably run out of those Chinese-made Streamlines at some point during the spring of 2014. I'm going to try getting them American-made Streamlines this time, as the quality is much higher. Failing that, I'll get some bulk-discounted Bikes or something. Keep your eyes open in the New Year for my fundraiser topic!
I'm going to try spending some of Boxing Day out with some friends, but we tend to be a disorganized bunch, so anything's possible but most things are unlikely!
For New Year's, well - I'm pretty sure the stepson wants to be at his dad's place, and my wife has off for the 2nd as well as the 1st. I'll be working New Year's Eve, but I'll be with her for the remainder of the day and the next day. She has some champagne to open with her parents, if they can stay awake that long, and if she doesn't drink it that night, I hear mimosas are pretty tasty! None for me, though.
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