Christmas is one of those holidays that I always have mixed emotions over. I made a few lists. Some items may appear on more than one list demonstrating my conflicted thoughts. Some of the longer bullets approach rants. I prefer to think of them as observations of an aging skeptic.
Things I Like About Christmas:
- Family – always the best and more fun than a box of puppies.
- Memories – Mom Hagar and cookie gift boxes and Christmas cooking, Dad Hagar and photos, kids around the tree and now grandkids in PJs with eyes wide and flush with excitement. Speaking of boxes of puppies.
- Friends – Where would we be without friends??
- Decorations – Ok, despite the crabby observation below, they are festive and pretty.
- Cookies, bobalky, kolache – 5 to 7 pounds of pure joy.
- Fires in the fireplace – darn the air pollution, forward the ambiance.
- Amazon – let your fingers do the walking. With one-click buying you can spend money without looking at the cart!! Or… you can ask Alexa.
Things I Don’t Understand About Christmas or Maybe People and Christmas
- Black Friday – a horrible misnomer if you are a successful merchant.
- The person down the street who spends $2500 and 2 days decorating his house and feels compelled to share with me that Jesus is the reason for the season and they will be attending Christmas services for a couple of hours (there will be coffee and baked goods after). Could not bring myself to ask if they were donating to the pastor’s new Mercedes gift from the congregation. As an aside — house has balls (big, big balls), lasers, bulbs and music (Run Run Rudolph) – no nativity items.
- JC started out as a homeless guy. How come we don’t treat the homeless guys in Dana Point as potential prophets instead of pariahs?
Things I Don’t Like About Christmas
- Santa Claus – a conspiracy so kids will be nice and not naughty. Kids know! They have caught on! Back in the late ’50s and ’60s Santa was usually one of those homeless guys in a suit (see classic and hilarious Christmas picture from my friend James Polhamus on FB).
- TV Specials – thank goodness for the remote. I can’t take watching Frosty melt again this year!
- Emails telling me about gifts that someone in my sphere cannot live without — at 25% off and with free shipping – My finger gets sore deleting 42 new emails every morning. Kay Jewlers sends at least 4 or 5 a day. I unsubscribed!
- Amazon – I’m getting a Walmart butt because I am not walking all over town looking for gifts.