Christmas time!

The wine party was great - but I did not win, which was sad.  I splurged on some Frank Coppola wine.  It was fancy! And just so you know - bacon wine, not that impressive.  It doesn't really taste like bacon.  At all.

Christmas time is always so busy, mostly because it creeps up on you so fast.  They started playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  Everyone was so pissed that they boycotted Christmas music until a week after Thanksgiving.  And guess what, BAM, it's Christmas.  Already.  What?!?!

I love Christmas.  It goes against every hipster bone in my body, but I can't help it, I love it.  Finding the perfect gifts is the best.  I got my parents an iPad.  It's used, and not the newest model, but they are going to love it and I cannot wait to give it to them.  I'm also very much looking forward to hugging my niece and never letting her go for the 24 hours I get to see her.

I wish it was mandatory to have off the day after Christmas as well.  I'm leaving straight from Paoli after the markets close, catching the Amtrak train there and then traveling to Harrisburg on Christmas Eve.  The day after Christmas, I'm waking up before the sun to catch a train back from Harrisburg to Paoli to go straight to work.  It's a lot of work to get home for less than 48 hours - but did I mention Christmas is my favorite holiday?!

This is certainly not a deep post or one with any original thoughts.  I leave you with this article.  Last post, I mentioned a few things I wanted to blog about, one being social media and bullying.  I read this article about a girl who committed suicide because of bullying.  While the article brings up some interesting points, I feel like it only address symptoms, not the cause of the problem.  We all know kids suck.  There's been bullying forever (I just watched Karate Kid, bullying was a thing).  Sure, I'm super happy I didn't grow up with the pressure of social media.  But I also grew up with a bunch of kids whose parents were not divorced, who were super involved in their life, and who taught them if they didn't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.  You had to sit down for dinner and talk about your life, with people that demanded manners and full sentences.  For the most part, if you were caught making fun of someone, you were scolded by your peers, not rewarded.

I just think there's been a deterioration of the American family.  There's an overall lack of community.  Maybe I'm just making this shit up, but don't you think there's a deeper overall problem?  It's like the school shootings and the immediate jump to gun control.  It's not guns people.  Guns have been around since we invaded America.  What's the bigger issue?  Seriously.  There has to be one.  Why can't we find it?