So let's exhale the negative and get that out of the way.  Vitriolic Anti-Christmas diatribe follows.  You have been warned.  I HATE Christmas because:     - it gets way too much air time.     - I don't like the message.  Ultimately, it is NOT about God's great compassion for the world, it's just the other end of Easter - which is all about "you are worthless unless you believe" and "believe or die."  THAT god is a bully.  To say nothing of being a blood-thirsty ghoul whose demands for atonement are WAY out of line.      - the unending parade of "we gotta save Christmas" - "the REAL meaning of Christmas" - "why can't it be Christmas all year long?" DRIVEL DRIVEL DRIVEL that you can't avoid without Advanced Channel Surfing Techniques (involving necromancy) or having a friend knock you unconscious and then ship you to Outer Mongolia to awaken with amnesia...  wretched psuedo-spiritual, pablum, least-common-denominator, mental masturbation, TRIPE...     - the ARROGANCE of some of the celebrants who seem to think that if they just explain it ONE MORE TIME I'll somehow miraculously have an Ebeneezer/Tiny Tim conversion (sure, just as soon as I get a frontal lobotomy and FORGET everything I've gone through on the way to becoming WHO I AM)... Just because YOU want to wish me a Merry Christmas doesn't mean **I** want to have one! Peace on earth, light in the dark, humanitarian compassion, mercy, sure, I'm for THOSE. It's fucking CHRISTMAS I can do without. (Have I adequately conveyed my opinion that I DON'T think those things are synonymous?)  Whew. So having expostulated all of the above... It was a nice day. bet you didn't expect THAT!!! Somehow I got through all the concerts.  The Vivaldi happened a couple days later than scheduled because of snow.  Worked out well for me because I was in rather tough vocal shape the day of the intended performance.  School concert went smoothly; the performing groups were fun (no attitude issues this year)... always a LOT of work though.   Wednesday I went with several other massage school classmates and one of the instructors to do chair massage at a homeless shelter for veterans.  That was a lot of fun, and gratifying.  The instructor has been taking students there every month for I think about 15 years.  She says the feedback she gets from them consistently reports decreases in pain and improved sleep.  I don't remember if she said anything about improved affect, but I guess that might happen too. I had been there before on Veteran's Day... ended up working on one of the same guys I saw last time.  He was psyched because he liked the work I did last time.  It was nice for me to get the feedback and to help him out again. I think this year's Winter season has gone better than most because I haven't been dealing with extra-difficult behaviors at work, I'm involved in satisfying work outside of school, and no particular individual has been in my face with the Xmas shit.  Busy.  A good busy.  Maybe on the edge of almost too busy, but not like last June.  Last June I hyperventilated nearly the entire month.  It was like water-skiing behind a couple of Great White Sharks.  And I can't swim. This month pleasantly full, although a couple of times feeling like I've been showing up at all the places I need to be but without having done enough of the required advanced thinking and preparation.  Hopefully I'll be disciplined enough to get through all the studying I need to do before the January classes start. Peace all.