Festivus, hmmm? Yes, it's that lovely holiday where you gather your family and tell them all the ways they've disappointed you over the past year. Sounds like fun, right? I can only speculate that while cathartic, Festivus is probably not really a happy celebration. In this lovely holiday, family members air their grievances and the "fun" is not over until the head of household is wrestled to the ground and pinned down. Jen over at Cake Wrecks has a lovely post featuring Festivus cakes today. (It's a Festivus miracle!)
Last year as I agonized over the perfect design and saying for our Christmas card, I toyed with the idea of sending out a Festivus card to some of our more secular friends and family. I wanted to take a picture of the girls with a pole and wish them all the courage to air their grievances and the energy to perform great feats of strength. I thought the idea was pretty funny, but Bryan reminded me that not everyone would get the humorous tone of the card. I knew he was right, so I decided against it. I also refrained from sending out a Happy Christmakwanzakkah card. I would have received a lot of phone calls on that one!
We've never actually celebrated Festivus, but part of me sure would like to do so. I have my mother-in-law and her husband coming over tonight. Wouldn't it be fun if we could all air our grievances? (There are plenty!) I could blast my husband about the little things he forgets or chooses not to do around the house that drive me insane, or I could fully express how devastated I feel about his refusal to practice his faith and be an example to his children. But alas, I know there will be no Festivus celebration. (We don't have an aluminum pole! And everyone knows the pole is a big part of Festivus!) And even if we did celebrate Festivus, I doubt it would be happy. Instead, I think I will have a mental Festivus (to avoid ruining Christmas) and will follow it up by continuing to pray for those things which I simply cannot change on my own.
If you choose to celebrate Festivus today, I wish you courage to air your grievances, strength to defeat your head of household and many Festivus miracles!
I never heard of Festivus until this year but read the name on another blog; thanks for explaining it. could be interesting to air grievances, but sounds to me it would cause more trouble in the long one; think about this, you could have a new career, designing Festivus cards; I don't think I've seen one of them at Hallmark before :)
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