How Men Enjoy the Christmas Break

Men can wake up early for three things… The World Junior Hockey Tournament, golf and you can figure out what the third thing is.  The Christmas Break is a great time to spend with your family while your kids are home from school and there is no better place to bond then in front of the TV watching Canada spank the Russians or Americans in Junior hockey.  Having just heard that the NHL has been cancelled until the middle of January puts even more emphasis on our role as educators to the next generation of hockey phenoms.  We think it is important to teach our sons and daughters some National Pride while wrapped in a blanket, unshowered and unshaven cheering for the next round of superstars.  There really is no substitute for this level of education and I am pretty sure they skip over it in the modern school curriculum.  It is a fun time to be off work as well because most of your buddies are off preparing to talk about how they will eat and drink too much and how this year will be the year they purchase a piece of fitness equipment or join a SNAP Fitness.  Naps are almost a forgotten art as well.    What man does not want to exhaust themselves gorging at the dinner table, followed by a healthy nap on the couch?    Just add a little outdoor activity and some frosty beverages and you have the perfect recipe for an afternoon nap.  I think SportsCentre was invented to allow men to nap guilt free so that they might be able to recall the game they told everyone they were watching.  The next phase after Christmas dinner sees the onset of the 23 or more US College Bowl games that begin with the most obscure teams.  It is always exciting to watch #45 ranked Something State take on #78^th ranked Division 3 College team for some obscure Bowl title.  There are some parades (insert nap) and then some more entertaining games.  Men use these games as bargaining tools.  They pretend to be interested but really this is a clever ploy in our attempt to show our family we will sacrifice football to be with the family.  It would be fascinating to be at the annual meeting of the Wives Union as they ponder ways to figure out how the number of college bowl games increases every single year.  It is the Man Union’s strongest weapon.  After the prelude of boring Bowl games we use as pawns we really get to watch the games we want…The World Juniors.  Sometimes there is even some snow in the mix and this gives us a chance to venture to the slopes (very small hills) to try some tricks we think we can still do.  In our minds we race down the slopes in perfect form and perform tricks and jumps many feet in the air….when in reality we look like an avalanche with limbs and sometimes we get enough “air” to slide a piece of cardboard under  the sled.  The truth is the sleds the kids use are faster and more versatile than the wooden torpedoes we had back in the day.  Now the kids would scoff at the chance to hurl their bodies down an ice slope on what we called a great ride.  Today if the sled does not have a steering wheel and is endorsed by an “X Games” champion it is just not going to cut it with our kids.  No matter how you spend your time off over the Holidays it is inevitably going to be a great time.  Meals taste better and friends are more welcome to consume your food and beverages.  Enjoy every minute of it men as you know it does not last forever before you have to get back to the ”Honey Do” list that grows exponentially with each day off.