Van Hansis Catches Up with Fans in Latest Blog

Here's the latest blog entry from Van Hansis. It's posted on the official website for As the World Turns - but why waste time tracking that down when you can read it right here and now?

I guess I haven't really written anything lately because my daily life is kind of uneventful right now. "Die Mommie Die!" is going really well, it has been the longest run of any show I have done. "Die Mommie Die!" has been a great learning experience. Keeping things fresh after 50 performances is something I have never had to encounter. There is one guy on my show who did like, 1500 performances of "Beauty and the Beast." It is really mind-boggling.

I think sometimes people tend to glamorize actors in a way. I think unless you reach the stratosphere as far as celebrity goes, there isn't too much glamorous about it. It is a wonderful life being a working actor, but not one I would call glamorous. That is fine by me. I like working more than anything and have more fun doing that than doing all the other stuff... god, I just reread what I wrote. I sound like a huge cliche. But whatever -- in my case it's true.

So what else....uh....it is the holiday season. Again. I like Thanksgiving. I'm not too huge on Christmas. It seems like in America our holidays have simply turned into ways to spend more money. It also seems the Christmas season is almost like forced emotion. It is like the (commercial) world is telling you: you must be happy!

You must buy presents for everyone! Not to be a grinch or anything, and maybe this is just me trying to be subversive, but I don't like being told that I should be cheerful and get in 'the holiday spirit'. I think Thanksgiving has much more spirit, because it isn't about buying things for the people you love, it's about spending time with them.

There is much less of a material push to it. It's about cooking a meal and eating that meal with the people you would most like to cook and eat a meal with. I think that is pretty beautiful. I loved Christmas as a kid, but now, for whatever reason, and I really have no idea why, it makes me feel kind of blue.

I am going to try harder this year though. I guess under the material stuff, the season is about connection with loved ones, I'm going to focus on that this year. It has been a really wonderful year for me, so at least I should celebrate that. Also – As the World Turns's doing something pretty clever for the holiday season this year, so maybe that will help me get in the mood.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.