I look forward to two of my yearly rituals around this time of year with excited anticipation. Sure, winter time brings snow and presents and presents of snow. However, two of my favorite activities around Christmas are attending the Nutcracker and at least one performance by Trans Siberian Orchestra.

The Nutcracker is obviously a classic and it gives me my annual dosage of "culture". Not to mention it is always mesmerizing and takes me back to my childhood. I've gone to see this every winter ever since I was 2 or 3 years old and I don't see this changing anytime soon. For those of you uncultured sods who will not doubt hate on seeing a ballet, I pity you. Every year I thoroughly enjoy the show and Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it. Not to mention the fact that this year I scored 5th row, center tickets for $10 a pop. Not bad at all. Lastly, it is probably one of the most money dates you can take a girl on and will almost certainly end in shenanigans.

Trans Siberian Orchestra is my other winter time audio/visual indulgence. If you have never seen one of their shows, you have no idea what you are missing. I have been to many a concert, and they consistently put on one of the most spectacular laser/light shows combined with what I regard to be a very creative combination of Christmas music and rock and/or roll. If you have never seen/heard them, by all means, listen to their most famous song:
Christmas Eve in Sarajevo
Again, a great place to take a chica or simply get stoned and enjoy the show.

Having recently seen the former and getting amped about seeing the latter, I just thought I would spread what I feel is as close as you can get to holiday cheer and still get your yearly sprinkling of class and sophistication, which is obviously none too abundant around here.


postscript: ingestion of psilocybin makes both events approximately 32 times more enjoyable.