Happy Holidays! May this time be spent with friends and family and plenty of good times.

My family is and has been a "working class" family. As working class as you can get. Depending on what career path I follow, I would be the first academic. I remember going to a "first year grad student" workshop for students who come from working class families. It was interesting how it can be difficult for the family to understand how the academic world works and what it means. For example, how because you went to college, you should know how to solve problems that involve paperwork.

Anyways, point is that we didn't grow up with many material possessions and now it's interesting to see how my brothers, now being able make some money, went through a bit of a gorging with things we simply could never have. We saved for a used Nintendo from the flea market. Now they go out and get a PlayStation with much more ease.

Not that times are that easy and we don't have financial problems. We most certainly do. But I like how my mom put it yesterday, "At least we have had food on the table"

So I think it's good to remember that. The stuff is not important. What is having food on the table and being with people you know and whose company you enjoy. Some stuff is okay, but it's much better when it has meaning. Having said that, I got something from a special someone that is totally awesome, with lots of meaning and much better than fancier versions.