Owenskie's Blog

When you hear the songs Jingle Bells Rock and Joy to the World, you know that you’re in for a rough season with the holidays – that is if you have been watching your weight. Halloween and Thanksgiving has barely left enough room for you to burn all the calories you’ve lost count of. Imagine all those sweets, those parties, those dinner with family and friends and it really feels likes you’re losing the battle with the bulge to no avail. And yes, it doesn’t seem quite helpful looking for and munching on carrot sticks and celery sticks while people bite into those scrumptious hors d’oeuvres. And while you hold unto your calorie counter book at night, your family and friends are busy preparing for this holiday season – looking up in cooking books, collecting recipes that come in the mail, tri fold brochures and rack cards and others. The season is indeed ripe with Christmas and soon enough, with 5 days and counting, it will be filled with the most aromatic and appetizing smells there are. Eggnogs alone can make you weak and lose all resistance. Nothing makes you remember good times than your fat little tongue it seems. I know, I’m guilty. One look at that golden brown Christmas ham and I’m ready to walk down the plank. I am not a man of steel, so they say. The key they say, to avoid overeating, is to sample just a bit of everything first. A small bite will do and in the long run of tasting everything, you fill yourself up. Others say that you just have to drink a tall glass of water before you eat or chew your food for a minute. If you ask me, there are certain things that I’d like to point out further: 1. Everything that is set on the table has to be eaten. Mothers have consistently nagged us about this. Everything that you put on your plate should be consumed and I think that most people are very much obliged to obey this kindergarten lesson during the holidays. 2. Waste not, Want not. Yes, there are people who ask you “Are you still interested in your roast beef?” The question is, are you the one doing the asking? 3. You have got to try this. Yes, people will ply you with food made from recipes handed down to them by their great, great grandmothers. They will also insist that you try their famous meatloaf, their cousin’s baklava, and their mother’s famous cookies and so on. Who are you to resist? No guest should be rude enough to say no. 4. Have a little dessert. Desserts are always fattening. Even a little goes a long way, especially if this is the third or fourth house you’ve visited. You might think, what harm will a slice of pie do? Unless you’re in a Weight Watcher’s house, you can eat worry-free. But what if that pie is your third, even fourth for the day? 5. How about coffee? Even though you have visited numbers of houses and already eaten too much, you can at least have coffee. If you’re counting calories, it still has to count for something, especially if you prefer it with cream and sugar.

When you hear the songs Jingle Bells Rock and Joy to the World, you know that you’re in for a rough season with the holidays – that is if you have been watching your weight. Halloween and Thanksgiving has barely left enough room for you to burn all the calories you’ve lost count of. Imagine all those sweets, those parties, those dinner with family and friends and it really feels likes you’re losing the battle with the bulge to no avail. And yes, it doesn’t seem quite helpful looking for and munching on carrot sticks and celery sticks while people bite into those scrumptious hors d’oeuvres. And while you hold unto your calorie counter book at night, your family and friends are busy preparing for this holiday season – looking up in cooking books, collecting recipes that come in the mail, tri fold brochures and rack cards and others. The season is indeed ripe with Christmas and soon enough, with 5 days and counting, it will be filled with the most aromatic and appetizing smells there are. Eggnogs alone can make you weak and lose all resistance. Nothing makes you remember good times than your fat little tongue it seems. I know, I’m guilty. One look at that golden brown Christmas ham and I’m ready to walk down the plank. I am not a man of steel, so they say. The key they say, to avoid overeating, is to sample just a bit of everything first. A small bite will do and in the long run of tasting everything, you fill yourself up. Others say that you just have to drink a tall glass of water before you eat or chew your food for a minute. If you ask me, there are certain things that I’d like to point out further: 1. Everything that is set on the table has to be eaten. Mothers have consistently nagged us about this. Everything that you put on your plate should be consumed and I think that most people are very much obliged to obey this kindergarten lesson during the holidays. 2. Waste not, Want not. Yes, there are people who ask you “Are you still interested in your roast beef?” The question is, are you the one doing the asking? 3. You have got to try this. Yes, people will ply you with food made from recipes handed down to them by their great, great grandmothers. They will also insist that you try their famous meatloaf, their cousin’s baklava, and their mother’s famous cookies and so on. Who are you to resist? No guest should be rude enough to say no. 4. Have a little dessert. Desserts are always fattening. Even a little goes a long way, especially if this is the third or fourth house you’ve visited. You might think, what harm will a slice of pie do? Unless you’re in a Weight Watcher’s house, you can eat worry-free. But what if that pie is your third, even fourth for the day? 5. How about coffee? Even though you have visited numbers of houses and already eaten too much, you can at least have coffee. If you’re counting calories, it still has to count for something, especially if you prefer it with cream and sugar.

Just how does an online digital printing company celebrate the holiday season? Simple - cater to a growing demand among clients for more individualism in greeting this festive season. Year in and year out you get these usual clichés that come with the holidays - snowmen, striped candy canes, not to mention the jolly fat man who rides in a reindeer-driven sleigh and loves going through chimneys to give children gifts. No intention to knock the holiday staples here but just how it could be vastly improved if people injected some originality into their seasonal cheer. No snow? No problem - ditch Frosty! Diabetic recipient - there are a hundred and one substitutes for a sugar-laden candy cane. All that you need to do is inject something that best represents you into your holiday greeting. If you are a doctor, why not have The Fat Guy in olive green scrubs instead of red? Lifeguards can get away with putting Mr. Claus in red Speedos (never mind if he REALLY needs to work the gut spilling over). It would greatly help to fly the ethnic flag - show some pride on your roots. How about an African St. Nick? That cat won't have any problems making his way down soot-filed chimneys. Chinese? No problem – just ditch the sleigh and let him leap from rooftop to rooftop like Jackie Chan's Drunken Master. You are but limited by the stretch of your imagination - a gay Santa, St. Patrick's Day leprechauns moonlighting as North Pole elves, even fresh fruits and unsweetened shakes taking place of eggnog and other fattening traditional season fare. The growing accessibility of graphic software applications to households should bolster the acceptance of truly home-crafted seasonal greetings. No longer do you sometimes dread going to a stationery shop desperate to look for a card matching your desired recipient only to find it out of stock. Be resourceful - draw inspiration from what is around you. Whether you're having a boatload of jolly goodness to share with friends or in such a deep funk as to shame the Grinch himself, there will always be a ready audience willing to share or commiserate with your holiday mood whatever it may be. I guess that is what the true celebration of the holiday season is supposed to be – camaraderie amidst individual differences, a true sense of unity not just among friends and family but even with strangers.

Malls, retailers, wholesalers and catalogs printer are all making a fortune at this time of the year where buying and selling are a must. With all the catalogs and their inviting coupons landing as thick as the snow in every mailbox, it’s no surprise everyone is on a shopping frenzy. It makes me think twice on what really makes the traffic worse, the shoppers or the snow. Christmas is a Christian holiday but it’s a pity that the long sermons and pious teachings on generosity are also being preached by store owners and shopping malls in quite a different tune, “The season of giving is a season for shopping.” The word ‘give’ takes on a new impetuous which is buy, buy and buy! And similar to this notion, I heard on the radio that suicide rates peak during the holidays. Indeed, you can sense it is contrapuntal, a technique used in storytelling where each point are counterpointed. Nothing is quite as tragic and even ironic that people decide to off themselves in the season where Christ offered his life to save mankind. Nothing quite like twisting the meaning of giving into buying. And nothing can quite provide the best backdrop for these situations than the jolly atmosphere of the season Sigh. On the first Christmas, Joseph, Mary, and Joseph barely had anything. The child barely had clothes to put on, and the stench of the manger is hardly anything like the sweet smell of cinnamon or eggnogs or pine trees. It must have smelled like the stench of sweaty, earthy and musty animals. Yet they were happy. Fast forward to present day, what we have instead are scented wreaths and candles and fruitcakes that fill the home. Most of the things that surround us are sparkling and glittering decors like the fake gold of Christmas balls (that are conveniently just as hollow). So while the three wise men were lucky to be able to see through the poverty of the manger to find little Jesus, we continue to find our own treasures in our temples where sales and price discounts lead us to get into the “spirit” of Christmas. Wouldn’t you think that for all that sparkle and hype, the entire glimmer has blinded us to the true light of the shining star? It’s a pity that Christmas is so cliché when the true spirit of Christmas is so meaningful and immaculate. And you can just as easily find the contrasting and startling differences that unveil themselves in today’s reality - the material versus the immaterial, the giving and the receiving versus the buying and the spending. Sigh. So while we are all going crazy about the gifts, the parties, and the cards we have to send out, I just hope that the light of the star of the first Christmas shines more brightly than the glare of Christmas lights that deck our halls.

Yes, it seems the entire world is covered with a veil of snow every time the Christmas season comes. It’s the time or celebration where nothing should go wrong or must go wrong that will try to dampen your spirits. If you think this way, you’re either an 8 year old or a really naïve adult to the point of absurdity. People will tell you that Christmas can be the loneliest and the saddest time of the year. I wouldn’t blame them. Fact is, it can be more than that because Christmas, is a lot of things other being merry. It is about putting all the stress in one, where all people panic to buy at least one gift. Talk about all the busy shoppers about. Indeed! Grabbing items off the shelf and pushing grocery carts and hauling next off to your parked car. And before you get home, you need that Christmas tree. I’m not a pessimist about Christmas. I ain’t no Grinch either. There are just some things that I find unusual or odd about certain things in celebration of Christmas that I just don’t get. It’s like trying to understand a complicated printing service that I will just not get no matter I try. So I give up people. I will not try to understand the silliness, the absurdity of things that occur when the season comes. Instead, I will share with you my own list of things that I just want to know but I’m afraid to ask. 1. Why do people always make their own 12 Days of Christmas Song? What does the song mean anyway? I remember Janice Dickinson’s commercial about it, promoting her fledging modeling agency and all. I have to give it to her, it was gutsy but it was not original. 2. What does a model’s snow angel look like? They’re so thin, it’s like a discrepancy that if they fall on the snow and made snow angels that are similar to yours, it makes you think you are either thin or a miracle just happened. 3. Home Alone 1 and 2 and maybe even 3 are your classic movies this season. No matter the millions of movies made in our entire history, they just have to present these film like you have to watch another film about Christmas. Macaulay Culkin was really adorable here in a Dennis the Menace sort of way, but really, do you want to give your kids any more ideas? 4. Noisiest time of the year. Sometimes, when you think of just easing into a quiet and relaxing Christmas night, you just can’t plain do it. You have to go to a party or entertain guests, watch the children, sneak down their toys and more. 5. The people I take most pity on during Christmas are not only the homeless, but that guy in the red fat suit, talking to children in malls and setting them down on his lap. 6. This is just the best time for people to ask you, “Have you gained weight?” Could the season be more painful? 7. Couldn’t the neighbors put more lights on their house?! I mean really, why must the house look a theme park? Why oh why? I could go on and on about the things that I just find as blah during Christmas. I’m sure it’ll rev up as the days get shorter and shorter to the big night. I’m sure you have your own set of things to pick on during this season, so go ahead. Be merry and them.

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