Pick of the Day 12/24/08: Family Traditions

It's Christmas Eve, and tonight is the time to gather your family about you, in whatever definition of that word pleases you. Whether it be blood relations, close friends, those hostages you took and then became attached to, your collection of vintage dolls or a mixture of all of the above, get in the same meatspace and swap stories and play games for an evening, will you?

Tomorrow will be consumed in an orgy of greed and feigned surprise, but tonight, as you sit in anticipatory exultation watching the clock tick the seconds between you and your things slowly away, remember to look at the people around you and love them. Remember to make them laugh, and to feed them obscenely delicious things. This is the stuff that life is made of, these moments - fleeting, precious and stuffed between the mundane, and these people are the true core of those moments. Family is stronger than the loose ties of companionship or the forced ties of blood. It is love embodied. Count up the number of your beloved and there is your family.

I know Christmas Day is the date we're counting down to, but tonight is the night I truly look forward to. As soon as the presents have been opened, you've lost your chance. They will already be looking forward to the new year and the rest of their lives. Tonight you hold them in a mystical pocket of time, where everyone is free to embrace those they love and to be comforted by their presence. Make sure you hold on as tight as you can.

Merry Christmas Eve! I'm off to play Hearts and tell the story of the time when my Uncle Joe shot the moon twice in a row.