It was hard to feel warm Christmas cheer, and terror that I'll never work again at the same time, so I decided to abstain from the family Christmas this year.

But I started to think about Christmases in the past. All that I hate about the holiday season as an adult, is what I loved as a kid. The lights, decorations, sweets, overabundance of food, indulgent over-the-time Christmas decor, and lots of family. I think what made it more fun as a child was the lack of money, as well. I remember twenty some people crammed into my aunt's one bedroom apartment, eating, laughing, and playing charades. My uncle broke down "Feliz Navidad" into "Feel Lizard Naval Dad" and everyone went to midnight mass, came home after 1:00 am, ate tamales, and went to sleep at 2 or 3. And the next morning we opened our stockings first and went one by one around the room, so everyone could open one present at a time and it wasn't over until 1 in the afternoon, so Christmas was sort of a 48 hour period.

Just for today, I can remember Christmas as a child.

"I don't want to send a holiday card," said my friend E. "What am I going to write in it? Parents getting sick, we're getting older, still no kids."

"That's why I don't send cards. Who wants the easy-reading version of my life?"

That, plus the fact that if I'd much rather prefer a phone call or e-mail from a friend to a generic family holiday card that skips all the juicy details. Sure, you got a new puppy, but what about rehab? Sure, the kid is starting a new school, but what about marriage counseling? What do I care about your trip to the San Diego Zoo?

I would keep mine brief.

I left my job in the worst economy of my adult life. Bad idea. Happy Holidays!

Just for today, I can not send a holiday greeting card.

I was feeling bad about not giving my blog a 2010 facelift, with all the eight million ways to follow all my non-existent posts. And then I came across this signature.

http://bit.ly/6i4JPJ
www.insertwebsite.com
c@name.com
310.555.5555
BLOG: http://name.blogspot.com/
IM:
aol / ichat: name
yahoo: name
msn: c@name.com
skype: name / c@name.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/name
http://www.facebook.com/name

The irony is that it was followed by this quote.

"With ease and grace..."

Where's the ease in having four hundred ways of being reached? Can this woman sit in a room alone? At the very least I know not to pretend I'm some spiritual person when the first thing I do in the morning is reach for my crackberry.

After I saw that signature, I think I'm happy to remain vintage 2007.

Just for today, I can limit the number of forms of communication I use.