Hey all.
Welcome to my latest blog post and the first of what I consider to officially be the official start of the Christmas season and for those of you that don't celebrate Christmas: the holiday season. Either way today begins what I consider to be the most magical time of the year, and also one of my favorites. I don't know what it is I love more: the Christmas music, the tv specials, or the way my town looks when we get hit with a lot of snow. There's something almost magical about going to bed and having the world look totally normal and then waking up to see everything blanketed in several feet of undisturbed fresh fallen snow. I know this may sound nuts but one of my favorite things to do after it snows is to ride into Atlantic City because after the plows run through the city and push all the snow to the side the city really gets a special look to it.
There's other things I love about the holidays too, like the tree in our living room. Every year we set up a fake tree— yes I know that cheating —because my father is paranoid about a really tree being set on fire due to lights. It's not like we use candles to light it, just indoor/outdoor lights. When I finally get my own places I am doing a real tree every year because nothing can beat that kind of smell, in all honesty. So anyway, we set up a fake tree in the living room every year complete with several hundred mini, multi-colored lights, balls, and an angel on top. One of my favorite things to do is to set that tree up while listening to the sounds of the season on my iPad, iPhone, or laptop. This year we set the tree up the day before Thanksgiving because we were going out of town. My dad got homes that night and told us we were nuts putting the tree up that early, but hey, it's the holidays.
That brings me to the ranting portion of this blog though: the holidays start too damn early nowadays. Yes, I am going to be THAT guy. When I was little I remember that Halloween was Halloween, Thanksgiving was acknowledged, and Christmas started around this time of the year. Look in any store now and around Halloween you will find the Christmas trees set up in stores ready for sale and Christmas carols blasting. Forgive me but I like to deal with one holiday at a time, and it's impossible to do that now because you have to keep up with the times. Try and buy a pilgrim for Thanksgiving after July and it isn't gonna happen because we are already set for about Christmas or so it amazes me that we have to rush all of the holidays and we can't stop to enjoy them for five minutes without being on track for the next.
I'm sorry but I had to get that one off of my chest or I was gonna go bonkers. Anyway, now that we are in the holiday season here's what to expect from me:
1. Blog and video on the best Christmas specials and movies.
2. Blog and video on the best Christmas music.
3. Possibly some Christmas cover songs butchered by me, a Capella.
4. iHelp when we get into the new year.
My last little update is that I joined the Cracked writers room over on the Cracked.com forums. They take anyone so please don't be surprised if you see my name wind up on an article on the site at some point in the coming months.
To find all of my online profiles check out http://about.me/hollywoodlights1992 to follow me on twitter see http://twitter.com/danstransky and of course pleased share this blog, comment, tweet, +1 it, and most of all, enjoy.
Happy holidays,
Dan
