Christmas Feeling

Cookies, Family, Carols, and Joy.

Christmas can mean a lot of things to some people. Its a time a year when family come together again and exchange gifts and love. For some its religious, for some its just another holiday that companies want to make money off of. Children consider it a time they can finally get that toy they've been wanting from the Fat Jolly Man while adults can indulge themselves with some eggnog. Christmas is a lot of things that bring hearts together.

People cling to what they call "holiday spirit." A feeling of pure content and thankfulness for the people around them. For the past couple of years, I haven't felt its presence when Christmas comes around.

Don't get me wrong, I've been around family and friends that love me dearly. I've trimmed my Christmas tree every year and made sugar cookies with the family. Christmas traditions have always been apart of the annual routine and I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else around the time December 25th is fast approaching. However, a certain bliss that I cherished every year seems to have fleeted.

Maybe its because I'm older and I no longer believe in an all-knowing man that knows how good I've been and sneaks into my house to drop off presents. Maybe its because I haven't seen a proper white Christmas in a few years. There is not one single reason alone that has caused me to lose that special feeling. It is all in my mindset in the end.

I've learned that there is no perfect formula for the spirit of Christmas. You can't expect for every little thing to happen the way you want it to be. Its more likely than not that your ideal holiday will not be everything you wished for. And that's okay.

Happiness should be almost spontaneous and never forced. Its organic and there isn't a perfect way to go about it. I think I have stressed over wanting to be happy and trying to make it happen to the point where I can't be happy when I'm doing the things that used to always fill me with joy.

I hope that by Christmas maybe I'll feel the holiday spirit again, but, if not, I know that everything will turn out okay.

Fake News Story: Man Survives Over a Year Lost At Sea

Arthur Kane was a simple fisherman who planned a fishing trip with his pet dog Sparky and 3 other men on April 23, 2015. Little did he know that his life would be turned upside down because of an ordinary fishing trip. That day was the last time he would see his home in Santa Barbara for a year and a half.

Rescuers have found the only survivors of the fishing trip, Arthur Kane and Sparky the dog, yesterday.

Kane and the three men were fishing off the Pacific coast for lobsters about a year ago. On the evening of the 24th of April, they decided go a little farther off the coast for a better pool of lobster instead of going home that night. "It is funny to think that whole mess would've been avoided if we just went home when we were supposed to" Kane recalls.

Kane claims that an insane massive storm caused his fishing boat to capsize. Luckily, Kane, Sparky, and another ship member, John Deeble, managed to get on a life raft before the boat sank below into the deep depths of the ocean. The outcome of the two other crew members , Franky Poehler and Abraham Shaw, is unknown.

With only a small amount of food, Kane and the others remained on the raft for two weeks stranded in the middle of the ocean. They endured heavy rains and hot summer days as they floated on the ocean.

“We had to drink seawater and spit out the salt. Sparky thought it tasty nasty and would only lick our sweat,” Kane says. “I didn’t think it tasted that bad.”

Kane notes that there were times he wanted to give up, but he knew someone had to take care of his loving pet.  According to Kane, he was once visited by a spirit in his dream. They were running very low on resources and needed a solution fast. “The spirit told me that there was an island nearby that had supplies and food. However, the only way we could reach this island was through a sacrifice. We had to throw a beating heart into the ocean. It was pretty nuts.”

The morning after, Kane claims that Deeble willingly offered up his own heart because, in his words, “he would’ve done anything for Sparky”. Deeble’s heart was thrown into the ocean along with his corpse.

“I was pretty bummed that Deeble died. He made some pretty funny jokes.” Kane chuckled.

Kane and Sparky made it to an island off of Indonesia. There, the two of them spent their time fishing using a spear and making a hut out of sticks and leaves. They remained on that island for about 14 months.

Rescuers found the pair yesterday after a helicopter pilot spotted fire beacons coming off the island.

“I’m just happy that Sparky will be able to eat dog food again. I think he was getting tired of eats seagull flesh all the time” Kane says.

Upon their return, Santa Barbara supplied them a year's worth of dog food. What a treat!