Speaking of perspective, I put our Christmas lights up today. I do this for Lynette and the kids. Not sure what is missing in my DNA, but Christmas decorations are of no interest to me. It has nothing to do with them having little to do with the birth of Christ, or even that they consume kilowatt hours. I don't hate them, or love them. They exist in an emotional null state for me. Take 'em or leave 'em.

I can't even watch movies about outdoing the neighbors in lights and decorations. The motivation totally escapes me.

There are certain "Christmas" things I can't stand. Oversize plastic Nativity scenes. Eggnog (what the heck is that stuff?). Christmas songs on the radio (except for Manheim Steamroller - those guys ROCK). Fruitcake (but everybody does).

So while the entire neighborhood goes light-crazy, the only thing that moves me about it is confusion. Like I said, there's something missing in my DNA.

There is ONE Christmas decoration I think is amazingly beautiful. Snow. The real thing, not the Miami export. Seattle is packed with it. My family is enjoying (!) an unseasonal couple of feet of the white stuff.

Speaking of my family, we didn't have a lot of Christmas traditions. The most beloved is molasses popcorn balls. I'm afraid to eat them because I'm fond of keeping my teeth, but that says "CHRISTMAS" to me unlike anything that lights up (except my kid's faces Christmas morning. We're foregoing presents this year for SeaWorld annual passes, though, so they'll be beaming at Shamu instead of presents.)