X-mas is ruined. Woohoo!

In Starbucks this morning — the one at King and Weber. I’m drinking a tall Americano. I was going to drink a cup of their dark roast du jour, but I refuse to buy a brand of coffee for which they sued a priest. The infamous “Christmas Blend” coffee was on tap this morning, but it’s not for me. I even did the typical Canadian thing and didn’t make a fuss about it; just ordered the Americano and went on my way.
I’m taking some vacation time this X-mas, something I’ve not been able to do for almost 7 years now. I’ve always been the one to be on-call or in the office during the holiday season — always been the one who had to hang around in case some irate customer decided to bitch about something or other: how the product (whatever the product was) ruined their life; how their spouse was angry at them; how they broke a fingernail opening our packaging; how their archives got corrupted; etc. But this year, I’m taking X-mas off … in more ways than one: I’m not at work this X-mas/Boxing Day. And, of course, I’m not celebrating X-mas — no presents, no caroling, no sugarplums … no nothing.
It’s a nice break. Just relaxing during the holiday season, hanging out away from work. I’ll do some art, get some drinking done, and generally forget about all the stressfull family-related bullshit that everyone else has to deal with. Other people should try it.
My parents, while still celebrating, are doing it from afar this year, in Florida. They are part of the reason I can ditch X-mas without having to feel guilty about it, not that a parent’s guilt would stop me this year. They’ve even invited me to come down and visit if I want. However, that would involve heading down to ‘merica, and I can think of several more inviting, and safer places in this world — places like Colombia, or possibly North Korea.