Friday 5: Seasonal Grinching

(From Will Smama and the Rev Gals...)

Parishioners pushing for carols before you digested your turkey?

Organist refusing to play Advent hymns because he/she already has them planned for Lessons & Carols?

Find yourself reading Luke and thinking of a variety of ways to tell Linus where to stick it? (Lights please.)

Then this quick and easy Friday Five is for you! And for those of you with a more positive attitude, have no fear. I am sure more sacred and reverent Friday Fives will follow.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1) dessert/cookie/family food - The only thing that occurs to me is the cranberry sauce in a can. You know-- the kind you slice into little gelatinous rounds. My husband (otherwise a man with estimable tastes and habits, really!) enjoys it, so we have it for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. But for me... not so much.

2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)
Egg nog, period! To be fair, I haven't tried it since I was a young girl-- but that's because it was nasty, nasty, nasty. No, thank you. I'd rather have the cranberry sauce.

3) tradition (church, family, other) - I will admit that I'm not fond of the Yankee Swap-- a tradition developed with my husband's siblings, several years ago. Each person brings a small ($5 or so limit) wrapped gift. Then numbers are drawn, we take turns selecting and unwrapping, and the trading, bartering and (mostly) friendly bickering begins. I play when we're there, because I do want to participate with the family; but it's really not my idea of a good time.

4) decoration - The huge inflatables that are becoming all the rage. Snowmen, Santa, Rudolph... and all Larger Than Life! We have one neighbor who has several of them, including a carousel in a snow globe, taking over her yard. A snow globe. Outside. In Montana. Every time I pass it, my "live and let live" side does battle with the side that wants to find a BB gun...

5) gift (received or given) - Our kids have gotten old enough that the annoying gift era has passed; but my brother used to be the master of the genre. If there was a toy that made raucous noises, played bad music, or emitted noxious smoke, he was on it. One year he managed to find a robot for my nephew that did all three! He has kids of his own now, but my sister and I haven't tried to get even, because a) we do love our sister-in-law, his sweet wife, and b) he wouldn't mind.

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it. Anything performed by barking dogs-- especially that godawful version of "Jingle Bells" that gets waaaay too much airplay. Thanks be to God the radio has multiple settings.