Tis the season...

This movie looks so beautiful it almost makes me cry.

Don't get me wrong, I truly do love Christmas. My daughter isn't even born yet and I still can't help buying her Christmas gifts. But when it comes to our babygirl, AJ and I try to keep a level head about it all. Believe me, it isn't our intention to turn our daughter into the asshole kid who tells all her classmates that there's no such thing as Santa Claus, but we would like her to know the difference between holiday spirit (that it's a special time to appreciate the people you love and miracles and the uniqueness of every human being and the beauty of the world around you) and the so-called "true meaning of Christmas" as fundamentalists would believe (which, IMO, ironically isn't even really about Christ anymore, but the "persecution" Christians face, what with everyone acknowledging all these other holidays around Christmastime).

My uncle is the kind of guy who thinks there's some kind of war going on against Christian beliefs, gets really heated up when my cousins and I try to get under his skin by wishing him "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." And I just read some blog post about a ridiculous children's book claiming that the red stripes in candy canes somehow symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ (I thought Christmas celebrated Jesus's birth, not death...). When really, isn't the Christmas we're all guilty of celebrating all about consumerism anyway?

I mean, real reverend or not, this guy does have a point.