About ten or more years ago, I made a very interesting discovery. I'm not sure I should share it with you, since knowing it has served me very well for the past many years. In fact, I've built an entire holiday tradition around this particular tidbit of information. I'll tell you, but first I'm going to have to make you promise not to spread it around. Go ahead and promise that you won't tell anyone else... Don't forget the secret handshake to make it official. Ok. The big secret is:
Pretty heady stuff, huh? I'll bet you probably never even paid attention to the fact that you could go to the movies on Christmas Day. Well, speaking as a non-celebrant myself, it took me a long time to figure it out. But once I did, woohoo! Look out, baby!
And so, it has become my own personal holiday tradition to turn into a movie theater potato on Christmas and, if I can get away with it, to do so again on New Year's. I'll admit that New Year's is trickier because I also like to watch the PBS presentation of the Vienna Philharmonic doing their New Year's performance, but they replay that in the evenings.
There's some definite twists to going to the movies on December 25th. First off, until about 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, the theaters are usually deserted. So if I want to see any sort of big name or big ticket show, they should come first. Also, those parents that have figured out the secret usually bring their kids for a 3:00 or 4:00 show and so I try to make sure I watch any "kiddie" movie early.
I won't even get into the schedule juggling that I've done to try my best to exit one movie with 15 minutes before the next one starts. That usually gives me enough time to go drain my bladder (a non-trivial exercise if you're going to spend most of the day watching movies), get a refill on soda and popcorn, and find a good seat for the next movie.
The best part is that I've started to get Anna hooked on my 12/25 tradition as well, so she came with me yesterday. While I'll quite happily do 3 movies in a day, that's a bit too much for her, so we actually wound up going to see the third movie on Monday (12/24) since she wanted to see the same 3 that I did. [For posterity, I'll record that we saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Monsters, Inc., and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Grand movies, all.
Ok. I'll admit that I've seen some stinkers on 12/25s of the past, but it's a great pleasure for me to just pack myself into the car (remembering to bring along my Amazing Expand-o-Bladder) and head off to the theater for a day untroubled by crowds or too many screaming kids. As I say, it's become a holiday tradition for me.
Which brings me to next week. Specifically, New Year's Eve. For most of my life, I've spent New Year's Eve quietly at home. Usually squirreled away in front of the computer and/or TV. In any event, not going anywhere or doing anything.
Anna, however, is definitely not a stay-at-home New Year's Eve type. She wants to go out and do stuff. In fact, she has a bit of a superstition about it. She belives, "The way you spend your New Year's Eve is going to predict how your year will be." Heady stuff, right?
So, two years ago (1999-2000), I kinda wanted to stay at home and watch the "millenium" roll in across the planet. [Yes, I know it wasn't really the turn of the millenium. Don't get me started about people who can't tell the difference between 0 and 1.] In deferrence to her, I got us some First Night buttons and we went out. To say it went badly would be an understatement. We enjoyed watching the ice sculptor, but that was about it. We were back home before midnight and watched the ball drop on TV. 2000 was a pretty good year for me (as they tend to be).
Last year (2000-2001), Anna definitely wanted to do something outside, so we made reservations at a Moroccan restaurant in Parsippany. We went there, we ate, we drank, we danced (a bit) and generally had a good time. We didn't get home until about 2:00 in the morning. And then we had 2001. There are not many good things I can say about 2001, with the possible exception that I was only unemployed for about 2 months.
Now, I'm not superstitious. I walk under ladders, I step on the cracks on the sidewalk, I'll spill salt and just clean it up. Heck, one of the cats that we own is almost full black and she crosses my path all the time. However, I will admit to being more than a little gun-shy at the concept of having another year as bad as this past one.
My plan (which I'd thought Anna and I had agreed to) was that we would spend a nice quiet romatic evening at home. I'd get a fire going in the fireplace, we'd have some champagne, maybe even a leisurely soak in our tub, with candles, of course. All that came to a jarring, crashing, halt, when she said that she made plans for us to spend the evening with her mother, her mother's husband and his daughter.
Now, I will not go into length about my mother-in-law or her new husband. Suffice it to say that if I could gnaw off my arm to escape going there, I would have to give that course of action serious thought and I can't tell you, off the top of my head, which way I'd choose. It might very well depend, in fact, on which arm I'd have to gnaw off.
I'm still not quite sure how all this happened, but I do know that the selection of how to spend New Year's Eve definitely went downhill. It went from "going out and having a good time but potentially jinxing next year" to "quiet, romantic time at home together (hubba, hubba)" to "shoot me now... please".
Maybe it won't be as bad as I dread. On the other hand, the last time we were at her apartment, we wound up leaving rather abruptly because my wife was in tears from her heart-to-heart chat with her mother. I think I'll just take a book or three and see how inconspicuous I can make myself. Sigh...
Author: ben@tmk.com