Christmas with the Sutherlands...

I'll have to write later about my favorite little redneck Christmas ever with the Sutherland family, this year...

But I just couldn't let that last little venting post be the one up for Christmas...

Christmas with the Sutherlands was really special this year...

I spend a lot of time on the holidays looking out for younger cousins and family members...

My sister, Jenny, and I are apparently talking with one another again, which is good news...and my mom and I talked together for the first time in 3 years...also a great thing...

And there was just a lot of love shared in the Sutherland family, this year...

It's amazing to me...how...as I've learned to stop seeing peoples' humanity in terms of religion or politics or whatever...to just appreciate and support and challenge and love people for who they are...how much more I love my own life as a consequence...

My cousin, Carla, called me "enlightened" this Christmas...and I thought it was awful sweet...Carla is a particularly great cousin and family member, I have to admit...but it matters to me that at least some folks in the world appreciate what I have to offer to the world...and not always be bumping into folks who see me through their fears and insecurities about life...it's the most tedious thing about caring about almost literally everyone (we just saw footage, in my family, of Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, performing the unusual step of pleading guilty and confessing his crimes in court...I care about Dennis, because I care about everyone...but I have to say that it was pretty grotesque trying to imagine what kind of person rationalizes that kind of behavior)...that I'm constantly listening to peoples' rationalizations for why they are such dicks and why I need to be more dickish like them...it's like the alcoholic who wants you to take a swig...or the pothead who just can't smoke without someone else...everyone wants validation for their stupidity, I'm learning...and it gets tedious in the extreme constantly dealing with people trying to get me to take the rap for why they are such assholes...

And nice to have people in my life who don't expect me to be an asshole to earn their respect...

I hope your Christmas and Hanukah and New Year are as loving as mine:):)...

Have a great holiday, everyone:):)...

Love,
Ben