It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year, indeed.
The holiday season is upon us. That means putting up Christmas decorations, shopping for Christmas gifts, and drinking whiskey-laden eggnog will no longer earn you strange looks. As someone who often puts his tree up before Thanksgiving, I greatly appreciate that. Believe me, I’m tired of people looking at me strangely when I tell them I have my tree up already.
In addition to the usual festivities, this is also that special time of year when Christmas specials of all kind start to air regularly. From classic Christmas episodes to Christmas movies, they’re starting to air more regularly. It’s hard to avoid them. Depending on the strength of your holiday spirit, they can help or hinder the season.
Now, I have a soft spot for holiday media of all kinds. However, I freely admit that not all holiday specials or movies are on the same level. I’ll always love “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” but most are just too forgettable. They’re still fun to watch, but they won’t leave much of an impact.
That’s why “The Christmas Chronicles” on Netflix is such a breath of fresh air. Seriously, if you’re in need of a newer, more modern Christmas movie that gives you all the right holiday feels, this movie is for you.
It stars Kurt Russell as Santa. He’s probably not the first person you’d think of in terms of actors who play the big guy, but after seeing this movie, you’ll be convinced. This man is worthy of that famous outfit.
It came out in 2018, but it’s already a classic in my book. I actually stumbled upon it by accident a couple years ago. I have this yearly ritual where I put on a holiday movie while I wrap Christmas presents for my family. I just happen to see this in my Netflix recommendations and clicked on it without thinking.
I’m glad I did. This movie quickly captured my heart and my holiday spirit. In case you need a sample, check out the trailer.
The premise of the movie is fairly standard for most holiday dramas. It starts with two kids, Kate and Teddy Pierce. They have many fond holiday memories with their parents. We see that early on. It’s very sweet and sentimental.
Then, tragedy strikes. Their father, who was a firefighter, tragically passed away and now they’re celebrating their first Christmas without him. It’s sad, but trust me. It doesn’t stay that way. Kate and Teddy are in a bad place when Christmas begins. However, things get fanciful and adventurous when they encounter Santa himself.
Kurt Russell’s inherent charm and charisma takes it from there.
What follows is a fun and eventful exploration of a world where real magic, real elves, and true holiday spectacles unfold at every turn. It’s a story about two young kids coming to grips with the loss of their father and carrying on his legacy. There’s heart, family, and flying reindeer. If that’s not enough Christmas for you, then you’re just being difficult.
I won’t spoil the rest of the details. I’ll just say that this movie has already become an integral part of my personal Christmas traditions. It’s a movie I cannot recommend it enough for those whose spirit needs a boost. After a year like 2020, we all need that. It can only help us as we celebrate the holidays and gear up for 2021.
The holidays are here and we should not let the general awfulness of 2020 prevent us from celebrating. I just want to put that out there because I feel like it needs to be said. I understand we can’t celebrate the holidays like we have in previous years due to a once-in-a-century pandemic, but we should still celebrate.
If nothing else, we should celebrate having made it through this year. Regardless of your religious affiliation or traditions, that’s an accomplishment in and of itself.
I love Christmas and the holidays. I fully intend to celebrate in my own festive way with friends and family. I already have my Christmas tree up and I’ve had it up since the first week of November. However, this year may require certain adjustments from my usual holiday activities, but I’m willing to do that for the spirit of the season.
As I and many others do so, I think this is a good time to re-evaluate certain holiday taboos. I’m not referring to any of those associated with religion. There’s a time and a place to talk about that exceedingly touchy issue. This is not one of them.
This particular taboo has to do with gift-giving, which happens to be the holiday tradition I take most seriously. Ask any member of my family, from my parents to my siblings to even my former roommates, and they’ll say the same thing. I go the extra mile when it comes to Christmas presents.
I’ll spend more money than I should.
I’ll buy more gifts than I should.
I’ll put in extra time, thought, and effort.
I’ll often pester people in asking them what they want, making a point to tell me before Thanksgiving.
Getting Christmas gifts for my loved ones is a big deal to me. I take pride in my ability to go the extra mile and make my family feel extra loved during the holidays. It brings me a special kind of joy.
As a result of that approach to holiday gift giving, I tend to avoid the kinds of low-effort gifts that send the wrong message. That usually means I try not to get gift cards or cash for someone. To me, that’s just too impersonal. It implies I didn’t make the effort to show how much I love and care for the person I’m giving this gift to.
I’m not alone in that feeling. Gifting gift cards does have a bit of a taboo to it, even as more and more people shop online. If you were to give your lover a gift card for your anniversary, chances are they’ll be somewhat disappointed. It almost seems like a cop-out, as though you don’t trust yourself to get a meaningful gift for someone.
I understand that sentiment to some extent, but I also think that taboo is waning somewhat. After a year like 2020, when millions of people were stuck in lockdowns for weeks on end, I think it’s waning even faster. Honestly, I think that’s a good thing and we should use this holiday season as an opportunity.
For many people, including myself, it’s just not going to be possible to travel for the holiday. The big holiday gatherings that so many of us treasure just can’t be done safely during a global pandemic. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t exchange gifts. We just have to be smart about it and gift cards could help.
These days, gift cards are a lot more useful than the traditional gift certificates of the past. I’m old enough to remember how limited they were. Before the days of Amazon, getting a gift certificate usually meant getting something for a specific store. You could only use it at that store and it usually had an expiration date.
In some instances, it worked out. If you knew someone went to a place like Best Buy or Wal-Mart all the time, a gift certificate could certainly be useful. It was still considered very impersonal. It wasn’t the kind of gift you gave someone for Christmas. It was usually a birthday gift and even then, it was often a gift of last resort.
Now, in an era where you can buy pretty much anything online, the time is right to flip the script. If you know someone has an Amazon account that they frequently use, then why should a $50 Amazon gift card be taboo? Why should it be a gift of last resort that requires an excuse?
Love them or hate them, you can buy a lot from Amazon with a $50 gift card. You could buy a movie you don’t have, both digital or Blu-ray. You could buy a video game, although not the latest releases. You could buy multiple books and be certain they’re books you want to read and haven’t read already.
From a practical standpoint, that gift card is very useful and there’s a near-certain chance it’ll get used. You can’t always say that about a traditional gift. I’ve gotten people gifts that I was certain they’d use frequently, but they never made it out of the box. That’s the chance you take with any gift exchange.
It’s still a great feeling when you get someone that perfect gift. I can attest to the joy that comes with that accomplishment. I also don’t deny that the perfect gift is not always possible. I’ve got plenty of relatives and family members who are hard to shop for and often tell me they really don’t need anything from me.
However, I know that even those hard-to-shop-for relatives would get use out of an Amazon gift card. That may not make it the perfect gift, but it would still be incredibly useful and sometimes that’s the most you can hope for.
In a year like this, when traveling and shopping have been incredibly restricted by the pandemic, I think a simple Amazon gift card should be acceptable. Even if you don’t like giving or receiving gift cards, this is the year when we should all be willing to make an exception.
That doesn’t mean it has to be impersonal. You can still make giving someone a gift card feel festive.
One year, I got an $50 Amazon gift card for a relative. However, I didn’t just stick it in an envelope or bag. I actually put it in a standard 14 by 9.5 box and wrapped it in shiny wrapping paper. To hide the contents, I even put some washers inside to make it heavier. The relative loved it and I know they used that gift card.
You could either do that or find some other festive way to present it. You don’t have to be overly elaborate with wrapping paper or packaging. You just have to show a little extra effort, which will go a long way towards making a gift card feeling less impersonal.
In the future, long after this pandemic has passed, we may get to a point where that kind of gift-giving is no longer taboo. It may even be the norm, if only to ensure that your loved ones get something useful on the holidays.
There will always be a place for more personal gift-giving. I don’t doubt that. However, I think certain practices and taboos need tweaking. We already live in a new era where shopping from home has never been easier. Let’s use that as a way to supplement our holiday spirits moving forward. After a year like 2020, we’ll need it.
That’s probably something you’ve heard more than once in the past few weeks. Chances are, you started hearing it the day after Halloween. If you’ve been to a mall or a major box store recently, you’ve probably seen Christmas decoration and displays popping up. A few even went up alongside displays for Halloween candy.
This raises a question that always seems to come up around this time of year, usually in the weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
How early is too early for Christmas decoration?
Sometimes, it’s asked cynically. Other times, it asked with the same whiny undertone as a kid who complains that he can’t have ice cream for every meal. It still gets asked every year, it seems. Even a global pandemic hasn’t stopped seasonal displays and holiday themed commercials from popping up.
Before I even try to answer this, I need to make one important disclaimer. It’ll likely undermine my credibility in addressing this question, but I don’t care. I’m putting it out there.
I already have my Christmas decorations up.
I actually put them up the day before Halloween.
Yes, I understand that’s much earlier than most.
No, I don’t care if you think that’s too early.
I love Christmas and I love holiday decorations. I make no apologies for that. Talk to anyone in my family. They’ll tell you the same thing. I take Christmas seriously. I’m the guy who has his decorations up before everyone else. I’m also the guy who keeps them up longer than everyone else. I also usually start my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving.
I say all this to make abundantly clear that I am hopelessly bias when it comes to this question. In my defense, I live alone and I own my own place. Legally speaking, I can put up Christmas decorations whenever I want and keep them up for as long as I want. I have the HOA documents to prove it.
I still realize that I’m an anomaly with respect to Christmas decorations. What counts as too early for me is going to be different from most other people, even if they love Christmas as much as I do. It’s still a question worth taking seriously, if only to maintain some consistency in our holiday traditions.
Growing up, we had a simple rule in my family. The earliest we can put up decorations is the week after Thanksgiving. Sometimes, we did it earlier, but only because we had other things going on and had to get it out of the way. I think that’s a fair rule.
I have friends and family members who say any day after Thanksgiving is no longer considered “too early.” The way they see it, Thanksgiving is the last holiday before Christmas. Once it passes, it’s perfectly acceptable to start looking forward to and planning for Christmas. I can’t disagree with that.
A select few take it a step further. They say that, if stores and malls are going to have Christmas displays, then it’s perfectly acceptable for everyone else to do the same. Why should these businesses play by different rules? They are, after all, responding to market forces. We, the consumers, are part of the market. They’re not setting the tone. We are because we respond to it.
That’s an interesting sentiment, albeit one I’m not sure I buy into. I’ve seen some stores put up holiday displays on the first day of October. Even for me, that’s a little too early, if only because the weather is still warm and Christmas is a winter-themed holiday. Putting it up while the weather is still warm is like getting ready for bed at noon.
I’ve never had a particular date or signal that I follow when I put my decorations up. One key indicator that often prompts me is the arrival of a few cold days. That triggers in me an inclination to start thinking about the holidays because they always seem to arrive faster than we expect. I just like to be proactive.
That was the case this year. A few days before Halloween, it got very cold. It didn’t stay cold, but that was enough of a sign for me to dust off my storage bins and break out the decorations. For me, that’s the point when it no longer became “too early” for Christmas decorations.
You may or may not agree with that point, but that was part of my decision-making process with respect to putting up my decorations. I won’t say it was the biggest part. I just love the holidays that much. I’ll look for any excuse to put my decorations up. I may do it even earlier next year, but I still understand that makes me an anomaly.
If you decide through a different process, I respect that. I even offer you to share it in the comments. I gave my justification for putting my decorations up. At this point, it’s no longer “too early” by my standards to put up your decorations. What does your standard say and how do you determine it?
Please let me know. We’re going to be hearing this question a lot between now and Thanksgiving. Let’s not avoid it or the implications.
To anyone and everyone, Happy New Year! We’re finally done with 2019. Now, 2020 is upon us. It’s a new year, as well as a new decade. That makes it the perfect opportunity to take more than a small step forward. Instead, try and take a giant leap. Look at the future that awaits us and find a way to make it more awesome. That’s how you start off any year or decade on a high note.
There will be challenges.
There will be changes.
There will be triumphs.
There will be failures.
That’s part of every year, decade, and century. It’s just a matter of how you learn and build from them. I’m excited to see where this year will take me and those around me. To everyone else, I wish you the utmost best.
It’s almost over. It went by quickly and chaotically, but 2019 is almost complete. I know every year seems to go by fast in hindsight, but I feel like 2019 was unique and I’m not just referring to the steady onslaught of outrageous news stories. We have those every year. For me, personally, this year was quite a ride.
I had quite a few major developments, some I can’t share at the moment because they’re still unfolding. The past few years have brought many such developments for my life, some less pleasant than others. A few were downright painful, but I made it through and came out stronger.
Overall, I feel like 2019 was an improvement. I didn’t meet the love of my life, but I did see a few close relatives find theirs. I’ve had close friends welcome new children into the world. I also made some personal strides that I’m especially proud of. I hope to make plenty more, especially with respect to my writing.
If 2019 had one shortcoming, it was how little my efforts to become a successful writer have progressed. It’s been a long time since I had a novel published and I’ve yet to find another publisher. I’ve tried to raise my profile through my sexy short stories, but I feel like that impact has been limited and I believe I could’ve done more.
In the end, I can still say that 2019 was a success for me. I’m ready for it to be over and I’m ready to make the most of 2020. As such, I’m eager to celebrate New Years alongside everyone else. It’s the last of the holiday festivities and intend to make the most of it. I hope these Sexy Sunday Thoughts get everyone in the New Years spirit as well. Enjoy!
“To some extent, seeking the love of your life requires that you listen to your genitals.”
“You’ll never be as conflicted as a porn addict with a parent who’s also a famous porn star.”
“The invention of the dildo probably took less imagination than any invention in history.”
“To some extent, marriage is a legally binding construct for shame-free orgasms.”
“Chances are you’ve shaken the hand of someone who has used that hand on someone else’s genitals.”
“Pick-up lines basically amount to guessing the combination to unlocking someone’s panties.”
“You know you’re in love when you willingly share your WiFi passwords.”
Regardless of whether you had a good year or not, New Years is worth celebrating. It’s the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Time keeps moving forward. Life goes on. Now is a time to celebrate how far we’ve come and appreciate what lays before us. From me to you, I wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year!
To everyone and anyone, I wish you a very Merry Christmas. I hope Santa was good to you this year. Even if you were a little naughty, I hope you find a way to enjoy this very special holiday.
To my friends, family, and everyone who has supported me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Peace and love to everyone! Merry Christmas.
I know this is a few days early, but for a holiday like Christmas, I think it’s perfectly fine to be somewhat premature. There are some very dirty jokes I could make about that, but in the spirit of the season, I’ll wait until after New Years. In the meantime, let’s all just take a moment to appreciate one simple fact.
Christmas is finally here!
Regardless of whether you’re a kid, an adult, or a grumpy old fart, there’s no denying the impact of this holiday. Christmas, at least in America, is the holiday of holidays. It’s the culmination of another long, arduous year. Whatever challenges and failures you face don’t matter. You made it to Christmas. It’s time to celebrate.
As I write this, the formal celebrations for my family are about to begin. We have our own share of traditions and activities that help make the holidays special. This year has been full of quite a few upheavals. There are many more that await us in 2020, but that’s for then. This is about now. I’ve got my presents wrapped. I’ve stocked up on eggnog and whiskey. I am ready for Christmas.
To everyone out there preparing their own brand of holiday celebrations, I wish you plenty of love, cheer, and desserts. Christmas is a wonderful holiday that’s worth celebrating with friends, family, and loved ones. It may not be the sexiest holiday, but it’s often the most satisfying. I hope these Sexy Sunday Thoughts can help supplement that satisfaction. Enjoy!
“Our opinion of sluts varies significantly, depending on how lonely and horny we are.”
“The fact that we have hundreds of ways to describe love and our genitals can’t be a coincidence.”
“The boldest teacher in history was whoever first tried to teach teenage boys how to use condoms.”
“To some extent, falling in love also implies stumbling onto someone’s genitals.”
“The world’s greatest spy is also the world’s least trustworthy spouse, by default.”
“When weird things make you horny, then weirder things count as porn.”
“No matter how sexually repressed you are, you still owe your life to an orgasm.”
Once again, I wish everyone a safe, happy, and sexy Christmas. In addition, I’d like to thank everyone who has followed my work and this site for another year. It has been quite a journey and next year promises more changes. For now, take some time to appreciate friends, family, and the holidays. From me to you, Merry Christmas!
To everyone out there, their families, and their lovers, I wish you a happy and sexy New Year. I’m looking forward to making 2019 the most awesome year it can be.
To friends, family, and all the wonderful people who help make this website as awesome as it is, I wish you a very Merry Christmas. May your holidays be filled with love, happiness, and all things sexy.
I’d like to do something different today and not just because it’s Christmas Eve. First off, I hope everyone reading this has some festive plans for today and tomorrow. To everyone out there who has been following my work and this website, I sincerely thank you and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
What constitutes a successful Christmas holiday means many things for many people. For some, it means getting together with family, opening presents, and sharing a quiet holiday dinner full of love, cheer, and ugly Christmas sweaters. For some, there are more elaborate traditions, from going to the movies to attending a big party that winds up with some feeling less merry the next day. For some, it’s just another day off work.
Whatever way you or your family celebrate, we all have a different vision for what makes for a perfect Christmas. More often than not, this vision changes considerably as we get older. As kids, a perfect Christmas usually means getting all the toys we asked for. As adults, it’s more about the experience than the gifts. The key is maximizing both.
My idea of a perfect Christmas certainly has changed. When I was in high school, just having a week off made it perfect. When I was in college, being able to spend a few nights in my old room without hearing my roommate snore like a broken chainsaw was good enough. These days, I’ve dared to envision a more ambitious Christmas.
Talk to any of my relatives and they’ll attest to that ambition. I tend to go overboard with the gift-giving. I often buy more than one gift for someone and I go out of my way to make it extra special. I’ve been known to drop a lot more money than most on Christmas presents. It’s almost a running joke among my family. They’ll say I’m thrifty for 11 months out of the year, just so I can splurge on the last.
I take pride in my ability to invest in making Christmas special for those I love and cherish. I’m not married yet, but if I ever do find that special someone, I’ll make it a point to invest even more. Every year, however, I often find myself wondering how great it could be if I had more money and more resources at my disposal.
With that in mind, I’d like to present my vision for the perfect Christmas celebration for me, my family, and those I care about. In this vision, I have an unlimited bank account. Perhaps one of my novels became a best seller or I won the lottery. Whatever the case, money is no object and I can create as festive a spectacle as I please. Given such resources, this is how my perfect Christmas would play out.
On November 1st, I send everyone close to me a request for a list of their most desired presents. Each item can cost no more than $1,000 and must be something that can be wrapped. I tell them they must provide me this list by Thanksgiving or December 1st, at the latest.
With this information, I proceed to buy every gift on this list and even a few extras from me, just to mix things up. Then, I have every one of these gifts professionally gift-wrapped and stored until Christmas Eve.
Then, a week before Christmas Eve, I reserve an entire floor of a fancy hotel. Each room has a fully-lit Christmas tree and whatever comforts my friends and family desire. Along with those rooms, I rent a penthouse suite and have it decorated to the greatest extent possible, complete with lights along every well and a Christmas tree no shorter than nine feet in height.
In addition to the decorations, the penthouse would have a large fireplace and big-screen TVs with everything necessary to watch whatever sports or Christmas specials are on. Everything would be set up with the intent of everyone arriving early on Christmas Eve.
By then, all the presents I had bought and wrapped earlier would be delivered and put under the tree. As soon as friends and family start arriving, I have a team of professional cooks prepare a special lunch buffet. Then, we spend the afternoon together, catching up and enjoying whatever festivities we desire. We cap it all off with a traditional Christmas feast that includes turkey, ham, and cake.
Then, at nine o’clock we all gather around the tree, pick one present, and open it together. After sharing in that moment and enjoying a few late deserts, we all retire to our bedrooms and go to sleep.
The next morning, we sleep in and gather around the tree again to open up the rest of our presents. When all is said and done, we gather around a big dining room table for a Christmas breakfast. From there, we spend the rest of the day enjoying our new presents, watching Christmas specials, and playing games.
It all ends with one last holiday feast, consisting of pasta and meatballs, just like my grandmother used to make. After enjoying this meal, we gather around the tree one last time for desert and just enjoy each other’s company for the rest of the night.
That may seem needlessly elaborate for some, even if they had unlimited money to work with. For me, the key is creating an extra-special experience to share with the people I love. Whether that includes the cost of renting an entire hotel floor or just a few extra bucks on Christmas presents, I believe that investing in that experience helps make the holidays more special.
I may never get rich enough to make this happen. By this time next year, my idea of the perfect Christmas might change considerably, depending on where life takes me. For now, though, this is my little holiday fantasy and I’m happy to share it with those who have helped make this website as successful as it is.
If you have your own idea of a perfect Christmas, please share it in the comments. Once again, I wish everyone reading this a safe and happy holidays.
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