12 Things of Christmas

1. I proposed to Marisa under the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (I think it was their largest tree to date) three years ago. It seemed pretty unimaginative, for me, but it still worked out: she was happy and we did get married, after all.
2. A few years ago I put together the song "Blitzen the Red-Nosed Reindeer," with a little help from Harry Connick Jr. If you're interested in hearing it, let me know.
3. Several years ago my brother—clutz that he is—knocked over (more accurately, pulled down) my mom's mantle display, a tangled string of garland, lights, and figurines. Each item crashed down individually in a rain of Christmas mayhem. Classic John LaSala. I'd pay good money to have had a good video recording of that.
4. One year Marisa's mom dressed up as Santa and went around to the tenants in their house, wishing everyone "Meri Kissmas and Api New Ear!" Her Mom speaks Italian and Spanish only.
5. Marisa's cat, Misty, once jumped up onto their tree to attack an ornament and brought down the whole tree. I suspect this is a common feline/Christmas occurance among cat people.
6. In 2001, Wizards of the Coast statted out Nicholas the Gift-Giver in D&D mechanics. The short version is that Santa Claus is a human 13th-level druid, 5th-level cleric, and 3rd-level rogue. Who'd have thought?
7. A homeless lady—who later turned out to be a missing statue of Mother Mary transformed into human form!—helped MacGuyver learn the True Meaning of Christmas™ in the 1989 episode "The Madonna."
8. When I was 4, we lived in Belgium. We went to see St. Nicholas, and I didn't like whatever present he gave me (can't remember what it was), so I got upset and my mom took me back to him to exchange the present with something else. What a little jerk.
9. Some Earth children and a robotic puppy helped Skeletor, briefly, to learn the True Meaning of Christmas™ in the 1985 He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special.
10. Last year I wrote the lyrics for Frosty the Warforged, and then had the nerve to share it with my fellow Eberron authors this year. And then I went and made an animated .gif out of the accompanying image. What's wrong with me?
11. Scrooged is one awesome movie.
12. In Italy there is a tradional folk character called La Befana, who is much akin to Santa Claus (Babbo Natale). She's a witch-like, broom-riding, toothless, housecleaning crone who leaves candy in socks for children and coal for bad children. There's a song that goes with it, in which La Befana is described, and which concludes with her being only "your mother," after all. Then there's a festival wherein an effigy of La Befana is constructed, then burned. So they're...er...burning their mom? Italians are weird.

Share a holiday thought!