A Holiday Stocking for Home Alones

Not being a hater, not copping a political 'tude, have no specifix axe to grind, really, but the 2005 Holidays for me look pretty low-key.   Already did the family trip-back-East thing for Thanksgiving, not going away with any significant other on this coast, and while I'll make a dutiful appearance at a couple of local Christmas gatherings on Eve and Day, I can't say I'll be having a wildly social, spread-the-holiday-cheer-around time of it, this year.

Not that there's anything wrong with that!  In fact, one of the things those of us who stay home in L.A. over this particular round of festivities really love is that for once, the traffic disappears.  The city clears out and quiets down a bit, resembling more what the place was like, say, way back in the '80s, so it's actually kind of a fun Hollywood hang.  And I'm looking forward to the down-time to get some writing done and putter around tying up my year's loose ends.

But I think one of the reasons my Holiday solitude doesn't seem quite so solitudinous is -- well, pretty much what you're participating in right now.  I've met so many new people since I started blogging this past summer, that I've had to adjust my interpretation of the meaning of the word "alone."  You never feel wholly a stone alone, when you can click onto a favorite blog and jump into a conversation, and/or someone's visiting yours with something to say.  It's enough to make even a cynical old curmudgeonly hermit like me feel sort of... warm and fuzzy.

And this holiday, I'm pretty sure there are many kindred spirits out there who are similarly both alone and not.  So since this is famously the season of giving, I offer you -- all of my fellow stay-at-home bloggers and bloggerettes who may be looking for amusement on a cold winter night -- a little holiday stocking full of hyperlinks.   Why go out? I say.  Let's have a little cyber-space party, right here from the comfort of our respective hideaways. 

First, let's get right to the heart of the Christmas thing -- it is a certain dude's birthday, after all -- with a heartwarming tale of an alternate Noel world that answers the question, What if Jesus went to film school?  Come meet the fabu Julie Goes to Hollywood, who brightens up any cyber-gathering.  One of her more recent posts is especially apropos, being about Christmas in romantic comedies, among other things, and it ends with a nice holiday ditty you can sing between sips of eggnog.

Time for a game, as you sit with your laptop by the fire (or by the yuletide log ever burning on your video screen)?  Some Brits over at the Guardian have seen fit to test your holiday movie film trivia prowess.  See how you do.  And then you can go rent (no, what am I thinking, order from Netflix!) the movie or two you may have missed.

For those of you who may be feeling a wee guilty to be wanting nothing more this Christmas than hours and hours of mindless TV, come sit beside the smart and funny Salon columnist Heather Havrilesky, who offers a brilliant rationale for embracing the inner couch potato in you:  "Why TV not only keeps you happy, but binds the universe together."

And, Hey Jews! (Don't be afraid, take a sad song and make it bet-tah, etc.)  It's our holiday, too, and what better way to celebrate Hanukah than to listen to one of the hippest holy man in the blogosphere, the Velveteen Rabbi, on how Jews kick ass?  And here's that ever-funny Jewish fellow, Neil Kramer, on Jewish cool (L.L. Cool Jew), and to top things off, it's gotta be for real 'cause you can read about it in the New York Times: Hanukah is now officially hip.

Here's an item for the ladies, courtesy of Girlreaction -- the perfect stocking stuffer for a girl in need.  (And I'm not coming up with the female equivalent for the guys because guys, you all know where to look for that kind of stuff and this isn't a sex blog, we're keeping it clean, okay?  Okay.)

For everyone who could use a good laugh over the holidays, here is a feast of Sara Silverman, in all her exquisite political incorrectness.  And for fans of Cheers, Frasier and The Simpsons (and many more, this guy's credits are a comedy writer's wet dream) Ken Levine has recently started a blog.  Read selections aloud while you trim your virtual tree, like this chuckle-full "it really happened" chronicle of how even award-winning writers get reality-sandwiched (and, interestingly, where they get their material).

And finally, for a shot of some serious spirituality, visit the world of artist Natalie d'Arbeloff, whose beautiful, one-of-a-kind handmade books seem to possess the kind of innocent, child-like Power of Wonder (as in these pages from her Book of Revelation, Gabriel and The Creation) that say "holy days" to me with a lot more clarity than most of what you'd find being hawked out at the mall.

Not a creature may be stirring, except your mouse, but isn't it comforting to know that a little holiday spirit can be just a click away?   

Comments

[JJ]

Happy Hanukah, Billy. Or Channukah. Or Chanukah. Or Khannakah. You know, Jews really will kick ass once they agree on how to spell that word.

What the heck, happy holidays.

[Julie Goes To Hollywood]

What a nice post for the global village. The news update is that, after a little battle of wills between anonymous blog commenteers, Julie of Hollywood is in fact going for Christmas in Umatilla. Hopefully I will find something to blog about relative to my topic, other than wild pig hunting with my dad which I suppose could be very cinematic in a Deliverance sense. Thanks for everything Billy and best wishes to all for a wonderful holiday. Julie

[John Donald Carlucci]

Happy holidays Bill.

JDC

[Natalie]

Thanks for including me in the stocking, Billy. It's cozy in there and I'm sheltered from the madding crowd in all its shopping frenzy.
Here's to a happy holiday home alone, a toast of mulled wine to you.

[mernitman]

JJ, Julie, JDC and J-natalie: Best wishes to you all for a happy healthy everything holiday!

...and Julie: wild pig hunting in Umatilla? Really? Can't top that...

[Writergurl]

I, too, will not be travelling this Holiday season so I thank you for this very interesting list. Ok, well, except to my Aunt and Uncle's place for Christmas dinner and gift swapping. However, considering that they live about 45 minutes away, that's not much of a commute... so, I will be mostly "home alone" too. Like you, I'm fine with that.

I've enjoyed your blog... I even bought myself your book for Christmas. I'm planning a romantic comedy as my next script, you see. So, I'm looking forward to the pearls of wisdom from a man who was so desperate to write he pretended to be a woman!

Happy holidays!

[mernitman]

Thank you Writergurl, I hope the book helps! And may your home alone holidays be suffused with (quiet) fabulosity.