Christmas is my favorite time of year. Yea, better then Halloween. Probably because my birthday is December 15 and so from Dec. 10 to Jan 2 it’s kind of like one long celebration for me. You get to catch up with old friends and family and since your all hoping to get presents from one another you have nothing but great things to say to each other, ha, ha.
Where I grew up in Pennsylvania is one of the best places to spend Christmas. And my home there is a old 300-year-old colonial house that George Washington allegedly stayed at. I think they say that about all houses that are 300 years old near Valley Forge, but anyway, with the big ass tree and the fireplace-nothing could be better. Not only that but my white trash neighbors go all out for lights and decorations. I don’t like my decorations nice and neat. No way. They should all NOT match. Blink out of order. Be tacky and have at least 1 manger scene to steal a Jesus from. Btw, did you hear that some people are putting their GPS in their Jesus’ on Christmas night so they can track down who ever stole them? Shit, I’m gonna steal one and hide it at the police station! How Ironic would that be! Or a church, isn’t that where he belongs? I mean what if you tracked him down and there he was at the church? Would YOU take him back?
Anyfuck, I wasn’t much looking forward to Christmas this year, but it ended up being awesome. Without getting into the details of it everyone in my family is having major life changes. Since your family is the least likely people to leave you and should give you unconditional love, it’s easy to take our frustrations out on those we love. It can be like a big shit sandwich that just got stepped on, with all the bullshit coming out the side in Jackson Pollack style all over which ever loved one is in it’s path.
None of that this year! We had a awesome dinner and everyone had a great time opening gifts. After, we went to the church I went to as a kid. I’m not a fan of formal Christian services, but I did spend a lot of time here as a kid and haven’t been inside the place forever! And, it looks fuckn’ cool inside.
Unfortunately, we ended up at the ‘Contemporary’ service in the new wing of the church. There were like big TV projectors, and a band. Weird. And the minister kept throwing in ‘man’ and ‘dude’ just so that he could seem ‘down’. Ugghhh..I mean I wanted to be in a place that looked like a castle with big stained glass window and some grumpy old guy that would ½ scare the shit out of you.
The next day Mom Slade and I decided to change it up from previous Christmas.
There is a theory I believe in. That when you feel like you have it bad, that’s when you should try to help others. It takes the focus off your problems and makes you realize how good you have it.
So, we got up and had breakfast, opened a couple of more gifts and headed into Center City Philadelphia where we helped distribute clothing to the homeless at a church that has a all day dinner and café for the homeless.
My job was to help the men find clothing that would fit them. It was a bit of a challenge as the ‘room’ I was in was a hallway that had been turned into a make shift closet with almost no light. Also, with all the clothes being 2nd hand, the tags were hard to read to tell the sizes. But what amazed me was the gratitude that most of these guys had. It’s easy to just brush off some homeless people as mentally ill or choosing that lifestyle. But I can tell you first hand that there are people out there that are really just down on their luck and are trying to turn their lives around.
One of the coolest guys was mentally ill. He clearly had OCD and only wanted purple clothes. That’s it. Purple. Man, this dude would not stop till he found EVERY purple item that was there. And lucky for him there were quite a few purple items.
The reason I mention all this. Believe it or not, what these guys need most are black pants! Why? Many of them can get quick jobs doing catering and often they need black pants to wear with white shirts. Many of them are thin, as they don’t have great diets. They also need Men’s US size 11, a very common size. Some of the shoes these guys had on were in such bad shape, that they were happy to take shoes that I would throw away. So, if you get a chance, all you black clothes wearing people (yea..YOU!) before you just throw away those black jeans or worn in Doc Martins, take a few minutes out of your day and drop them off at a Shelter or Salvation Army near you. You might not see how grateful that person will be to find something they need to wear to work to get back on their feet again, but believe me-they are!
I got home and was looking at all the cool things I have. They are just things and they do not define me. I am not my ‘things’, but nonetheless I’m happy I have them. So, I took a few minutes to make a video to thank all the fans that have given me gifts over the years. It really kicked in that someone had to wake up, go to a shitty job they don’t wanna go to, then spend the money on a toy for ME? How lucky am I?
So it is with all my heart I say thank you to anyone who bought a CD, a ticket, a T-shirt, brought a present, sometimes even food, or made a drawing. The old theory works. In some ways my life not be how I had envisioned it right now, but I still have a amazing life and faith that there is a better plan for me that I cannot see yet!
