Some years, we don't -- sometimes my mother decides that whatever is on our wishlists is unacceptable for her to purchase and buys me things like a vaccuum cleaner in the futile quest to domesticate me. Sometimes Bishop's mother buys me all clothes and teaching books and odd-smelling things from Bath and Body Works. Once upon a time, Bishop bought me jewelry, and I bought him guitar equipment.
Not this year. This year, we had a nerd-Christmas, and it was glorious.
Christmas is a weird time in our household. I'm not a big fan of the holidays, as in my house growing up, holidays meant stress. They still do, and since Bishop is super nostalgic about all the Hallmark-Christmases he experienced growing up, he is never open to my suggestions that we spend Christmas somewhere with a beach. I decorate anyway, as I know he loves it, and in moments of quiet, when neither of my parents has called in a few hours and I have yet to hear what fresh hell Bishop's cousins have dreamed up for us to attend, I rather enjoy the look of our Big Bang Theory Soft Kitty and pixelated Nintendo stockings hung above the fireplace. But most of Christmas is very much 'meh' to me.
Gift-giving and receiving also take on a very unusual feeling, which contributes. Sometimes I have to restrain from buying really awesome gifts because the receiver would not have a clue what I was giving them, like the time I found Stark Industries t-shirts and had to restrain myself from buying one for my engineer-sister-in-law. She might be an engineer, but she definitely doesn't know who Tony Stark is -- the beauty of the gift would have been lost. Browsing through ThinkGeek's store is always fun, but when my other sister-in-law only ever asks for cookbooks or running gear, the fun trickles away. Instead, it becomes another exercise on Amazon, and the appeal is lost.
Receiving gifts gets even weirder. It takes on a strange cycle of asking for nerd gifts and getting them, which is great, but also getting made fun of for asking for them in the first place. The year I put Mass Effect RISK on my wish list, my brother bought it for me without question. Upon opening this gift, however, I endured piles of teasing that I wanted a video game-themed board game coupled with discussions of just how ridiculous it is that board games are even MADE with video game themes. The irony of him making fun of me wanting a gift he'd just purchased was lost. (Although frankly, this all wasn't that bad because I'd mostly tuned out the teasing, being too excited to read about how I got to play as the Reapers in ME RISK.)
But this year, a lot of that mess was conveniently absent.
I don't mean the stress -- what are the holidays without parents fighting over who we spend time with?? And I don't meant buying gifts for non-nerds, as that is a cross I will bear forever.
Instead, this year a lot of the accompanying judgment of Christmas was what was absent, and I have to say, I rather enjoyed it.
This year, I got artwork and video games and books for Christmas. Bishop got computer equipment and video games and D&D books. I got to give a Han Solo in Carbonite shower curtain to my dad, a Rubik's cube to my brother, and something called a Life Straw to my sister-in-law, who was excited that she could (if she wanted, the why of which fails me) drink from the Potomac safely if she so desires. Bishop took care of all the non-nerd gifts in his family, where I got to buy Dragon Age: Origins for my older brother, movie tickets to The Force Awakens for my other brother and his family, and got Star Wars ugly Christmas sweaters in return. We watched bad sci-fi movies in the evening and made fun of all the cliches a la Mystery Science Theatre, and the next day I got to snuggle up in my Nightmare Before Christmas sweater and play the Firefly Board Game.
The Nerd was strong in my family this year, and though I can't fathom what changed between this year and last, I could not have been happier.
I don't know what was different this year -- maybe our families have finally accepted who we are, or maybe Star Wars back on the big screen has inspired people to be nicer, less judgmental, about nerds. I shouldn't question my good fortune, and even though I know it's selfish to hope the theme holds for 2016, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
A Very Nerdy Christmas, indeed.
Christmas is a weird time in our household. I'm not a big fan of the holidays, as in my house growing up, holidays meant stress. They still do, and since Bishop is super nostalgic about all the Hallmark-Christmases he experienced growing up, he is never open to my suggestions that we spend Christmas somewhere with a beach. I decorate anyway, as I know he loves it, and in moments of quiet, when neither of my parents has called in a few hours and I have yet to hear what fresh hell Bishop's cousins have dreamed up for us to attend, I rather enjoy the look of our Big Bang Theory Soft Kitty and pixelated Nintendo stockings hung above the fireplace. But most of Christmas is very much 'meh' to me.
Gift-giving and receiving also take on a very unusual feeling, which contributes. Sometimes I have to restrain from buying really awesome gifts because the receiver would not have a clue what I was giving them, like the time I found Stark Industries t-shirts and had to restrain myself from buying one for my engineer-sister-in-law. She might be an engineer, but she definitely doesn't know who Tony Stark is -- the beauty of the gift would have been lost. Browsing through ThinkGeek's store is always fun, but when my other sister-in-law only ever asks for cookbooks or running gear, the fun trickles away. Instead, it becomes another exercise on Amazon, and the appeal is lost.
Receiving gifts gets even weirder. It takes on a strange cycle of asking for nerd gifts and getting them, which is great, but also getting made fun of for asking for them in the first place. The year I put Mass Effect RISK on my wish list, my brother bought it for me without question. Upon opening this gift, however, I endured piles of teasing that I wanted a video game-themed board game coupled with discussions of just how ridiculous it is that board games are even MADE with video game themes. The irony of him making fun of me wanting a gift he'd just purchased was lost. (Although frankly, this all wasn't that bad because I'd mostly tuned out the teasing, being too excited to read about how I got to play as the Reapers in ME RISK.)
But this year, a lot of that mess was conveniently absent.
I don't mean the stress -- what are the holidays without parents fighting over who we spend time with?? And I don't meant buying gifts for non-nerds, as that is a cross I will bear forever.
Instead, this year a lot of the accompanying judgment of Christmas was what was absent, and I have to say, I rather enjoyed it.
This year, I got artwork and video games and books for Christmas. Bishop got computer equipment and video games and D&D books. I got to give a Han Solo in Carbonite shower curtain to my dad, a Rubik's cube to my brother, and something called a Life Straw to my sister-in-law, who was excited that she could (if she wanted, the why of which fails me) drink from the Potomac safely if she so desires. Bishop took care of all the non-nerd gifts in his family, where I got to buy Dragon Age: Origins for my older brother, movie tickets to The Force Awakens for my other brother and his family, and got Star Wars ugly Christmas sweaters in return. We watched bad sci-fi movies in the evening and made fun of all the cliches a la Mystery Science Theatre, and the next day I got to snuggle up in my Nightmare Before Christmas sweater and play the Firefly Board Game.
The Nerd was strong in my family this year, and though I can't fathom what changed between this year and last, I could not have been happier.
I don't know what was different this year -- maybe our families have finally accepted who we are, or maybe Star Wars back on the big screen has inspired people to be nicer, less judgmental, about nerds. I shouldn't question my good fortune, and even though I know it's selfish to hope the theme holds for 2016, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
A Very Nerdy Christmas, indeed.
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