Last day of November. Blink and you’ll miss the next month entirely, it can zip by that fast.
Advent has so many great possibilities, but this year, more than ever before, I am embracing the adage: I can’t do everything. Maybe you can. Maybe Martha Stewart can (millions of dollars and a household staff would help). But me, not so much.
We’re not skipping Christmas this year, we’re just, downsizing.
Quote
Anyone who believes that men are the equal of women has never seen a man trying to wrap a Christmas present.
~ Unknown (aka Common Sense)
Advent Tradition
It’s that special time of the year. The tradition we hold most dear. That’s right: Daily Chocolate.
BUT, I’ve got a thing about mainstream chocolate (which uses child slave labour to pick cocoa: mmmm… taste the suffering). So I’m not buying the standard ones anymore.
Enter despair and depression. I know you think I’m talking about the kids, but it’s Glen who nearly wept at the thought of doing without. On the other hand, I nearly wept at the prices of the fair trade calendars. So last year (when I was feeling more Griswald than Grinch) I put together our Fair Trade Advent Calender.
Christmas Countdown: Fair Trade Style
Once it’s made, it’s not much work to tweak and reuse each year. This year the kids are helping put it together, including brainstorming simple family activities for each day: things we’re already doing or can do with little to no prep/hassle. I wonder if “Clean your room” counts as festive fun. I know it’d be fun for me.
Christmas Lights
This year we are NOT putting up our Christmas lights. After watching this, we may never again. I mean, how can you follow something like this?
At first I thought this song was saying something about “Gangland Style.” Some kind of hip hop nod to the mean streets. But then they did the dance at the Wiggles concert and it didn’t seem very gangster-ish after all. What language is that? What does it mean? When did I get so old that I am bothered not understanding the lyrics of a song?
Amphibian Video
C watches this and decides that she really MUST have a pet frog for Christmas. I watch and think, “ha ha ha… ew… NO.” Sorry kid.
Meanest. Mom. Ever.
So here’s us, celebrating Advent without a pet frog or Christmas lights or a daily dose of brown wax popped out of an overpackaged “calender”… and all the better for it.
So Here's Us... 
November 30th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Hello left-coasters! Thankfully your Uncle Matt has a deep network to tap for the answer to such critical questions such as “What is Gangnam Style about?”
The song is in Korean (which is where PSY is from, although he did study for a few years in Boston when he was younger). “Gangnam” is one of the 25 districts which make up Seoul and is known for being very posh, trendy, and expensive. The song (gently) pokes fun at the coveted “Gangnam style” as being superficial and phony (if you watch the video it alternates by putting PSY against contrasting high and low-class backgrounds.
“Oppa” is a Korean term for females to refer to a friend, or older brother so when PSY sings “Oppan Gangnam Style” he’s referring to himself (roughly “Big brother has Gangnam Style”.
It’s not a song with a heavy message – but the fact that it has one at all is somewhat unique (Korean pop music is notorious for generally being very, very, banal). The guy in the yellow suit, and the guy in the cowboy hat are famous television comedians – having famous “guest stars” show up briefly in music videos is quite common in Korea.
Hope that quenches anyone’s curiosity about “Gangnam style” – now I’m off to explain how the Mayan long-count calendar works, and how it’s never meant the world is ending in three weeks!
November 30th, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Thank you! That’s awesome. When I am rich and famous I will pay you to be my Pop Culture Expert. “Brad… He Knows Things”
November 30th, 2012 at 8:16 pm
Also, that Mayan calendar thing REALLY bugs me. Every year the calendar on my wall ends… it doesn’t mean apocalypse is nigh, only that it’s time to buy a new calendar. But I’m not Mayan so what do I know.
I’m glad you’re spreading the word.
November 30th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Christy, you never stop making me laugh with your videos 🙂 Brad, thank you for explaining the song. I appreciate it as my 10 year old likes the song but based on our lack of understanding of the lyrics and the dance moves in the song we thought that it would have a rude message or be inappropriate. Glad to know that it isn’t/doesn’t. Though I still don’t like the dancing in the video.
November 30th, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Who needs Wikipedia, now we can just Ask Brad!