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.