…mean? Roughy over at Unrealistic Expectations had a Really Nice Idea -- use his website to start a little fundraiser, and collect $500 for people who really need stuff this time of year.
It is a nice idea. It’s a pretty bowl of Holiday Cheerios that a few people seem to have some pressing need to pee in. They’re harping at him, suggesting he should just cough up the $500 himself and quit bugging everyone else for donations.
Eh? In what world does putting a suggestion on a website and inviting people to participate constitute bugging? It’s a simple enough idea: If you want to kick in $5, then kick in $5. If you don’t, that’s fine, too.
I just don’t understand people sometimes.
…stupid? I was at a store (not to be named 'cause some people don’t need to know where I was shopping) yesterday, and overheard a woman talking to her small child. It was late afternoon, and I gathered from what the child was saying that they had not yet had lunch. The kid was hungry, and was letting her know in a typical 4 year old way: he whined a little. Just a little. “Mommmmmmy, can we go eat now? I’m hunnnngry.”
He didn’t cry. He didn’t stomp his feet. He didn’t scream or kick or hit or bite. He just asked, with a tiny little bit of whine in his voice, if they could go eat.
Her answer? “If you don’t shut up I’m telling Santa what an awful little boy you are, and you won’t get anything for Christmas.”
I don’t care if the kid had been a pain in the ass all day. You don’t talk to a kid that way and you don’t threaten them with cruelty. Sure, my kid drove me nuts a few times over the years, but it never would have occurred to me to be so snotty to him. I saved “Santa is watching you” until he was well into his teens.
Just… damn…
…cute. The other day I went to McDonald’s to have a soda, and sit at a table in the corner to work. I take a notebook and make notes about the manuscript I’m working on; changing my environment helps quite a bit, so I tend to go sit in fast food places to work.
While I was sitting there, an older woman and her two granddaughters sat at a nearby table. I was engrossed in my notes until my ear perked up at one of the little girls talking. She asked of the older woman, very sweetly, “do you have someone who loves you?”
“Yes,” she answered, “Grandpa loves me very much.”
The little girl clenched her hands to her chest and squealed “Oh, that is just so wonderful!”
I was not the only one trying not to laugh out loud. Ten tables all around me erupted in hushed snickers.
Yep, kiddo, that is so wonderful.
…funny. We put up 95% of our outside Christmas decorations the other day (and yes, it was cold! We try to do it up right – we have 5 artificial trees that we light and place in the yard, we string lights along the gutters, we have a snowman and penguin and polar bear that light up and are in front of the tree. By the time we’re done, there are enough lights for an airplane to use as a navigational point.
While the Spouse Thingy was staking the last tree into place, a neighbor’s kid opened their door too peek outside; he turned around and yelled into the house “Dad… they’re gonna make us look bad!”
Heh. That wasn’t intentional, but it’s nice to know, anyway.
…kind. Just be kind. Don’t let people piss you off, don’t get mad even if you feel rushed. Just let the season happen. Drop a quarter into the red bucket even if the bell ringer annoys you. Hold doors for people.
And smile. ‘Tis the season, after all.
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