I thought it would be fitting to include a picture of me and my sisters taken during my first holiday season on earth to illustrate a post about Stereohyped's First Christmas. In many ways, that Christmas 20-something years ago and this one are similar — the holiday capped off what would be a sort of landmark year in my life then, as it does now, and I think that the way Santa Claus is looking at the camera in this photo is probably the way that some white people look at the screen when they visit Stereohyped. So many parallels!

Anyway, it's been a fabulous year, and no offense to you guys, but I'm looking forward to a day of family, and food, and presents (the giving of them, mostly! Promise!), and reflection, and no blogging, because it's kind of hard to celebrate the spirit of Christmas from behind a laptop screen. I'm a very family-oriented person, and my family and I are at our closest and hokiest at this time of year, when we huddle together on Christmas Eve opening presents and watching movies, and then pack into the car on Christmas day and head to my aunt's house, where my massive extended family gathers for a decadent feast, during which my lone Republican family member engages the table in a rousing political discussion (sometimes too rousing) and my aunts and uncles pass out presents to nieces and nephews who are way too old to still be getting presents. Myself included.

This is what I'll be doing tonight and tomorrow, and I hope that the Christmas-celebrating readers out there will be enjoying themselves as much as I am. Happy Holidays,* everyone! And if you don't celebrate any holidays, Happy Day Off! And if you don't celebrate holidays and don't have Tuesday off, well, that just sucks. See y'all Wednesday.

_{*For those of you who think "Happy Holidays" is some sort of cowardly, anti-Christian greeting, give me a break. It is a way to be respectful to people who — heaven forbid — might not celebrate Christmas and an efficient alternative to the often cumbersome "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." Step into any store or office building or park in November and December the next time you feel like Christmas is under attack. And then think of how you'd feel if the holiday meant nothing to you, and you had to be inundated with it for two whole months out of the year.}