The Holiday Intermission

So it's the day after Christmas and maybe it's some kind of self-torture but I always stay up till midnight on Christmas day to hear the last Christmas song played on the Radio.  This year it was Josh Groban's O Holy Night.

Not my favorite version but it closed out the Christmas part of the Holiday Season.  It was followed up with the usual parade of commercials and a station identification that drove the point home that as far as that radio station was concerned the Holidays were OVER!

It starts on Christmas Eve with me.  I feel like there's a huge hourglass somewhere with the last few grains of sand flowing through that tiny choke point and taking the joy of the season with it.

I'm aware that perception is everything and my analogy is my own.  Perhaps it's just that I love the Christmas season but there's something comforting in knowing that at this time of year the feeling is always present. It may get shuffled to the background but it colors my mood regardless.  It brings a hope and an optimism that may be difficult to conjure up at any other time.

So the Christmas music is over and we sit in that intermission between Christmas and New Years.  It's a fairly useless week.  Good luck getting anyone to do anything if they're even around.  It's dead time to fill.  For some a reprieve from the pressures of family responsibilities around the holiday.  For others a time of reflection especially as the old year closes.

It's a time that forces you to deal with yourself.  Maybe you've got a busy social calendar, maybe you have to work, maybe you're on your own.  It doesn't matter.  There are always those down times where you're forced to look around you and see what is and more importantly what isn't there.

The holiday decorations that a week earlier brought joy to your heart now look a bit tacky and faded.  The pressures of the ordinary reassert themselves without hindrance from that Christmas carol ringing in your head.

Christmastime is a powerful force and its passing can make us forget that we somehow managed to survive the other 11 months of the year without the encouragement of Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.

If Christmas is that important, the feeling, the meaning of it so dear then we should recover from the "Christmas High" fairly quickly.  Reason being because Christmas is really just a magnification of our own better selves.  That heart is always present.  It's just easier to show when the trees go up and the reindeer antlers go on the dog.

At least that's how I look at it.  I don't claim to know your mind or your motivations.  I only offer up the possibility that if the holiday season means that much to you that you carry that spirit with you no matter what time of year.

Connect with that and don't be surprised if your perception is altered.

Happy New Year!

The Holiday Heart

 

So it's the holiday season again.  You know the one with Santa Claus, Baby Jesus, Menorahs and a month of sales of the "Black" or "Cyber"  variety.

Such humble origins as a celebration of  the Winter Solstice to ward off the doldrums of the most dreary of seasons gave way to the very pinnacle of rampant consumerism and oh yeah, religion got thrown in there along the way.

History tells us that the Catholic Church specifically set the date for the first Christmas celebrations to coincide with the otherwise pagan celebration occurring on December 25th.  

Of course the Catholic Church denies it...😇

...and Bill Clinton did not have.....never mind...

It's a good sales technique: Make the pitch while people are drunk on the spirit, or "spirits," mix in some familiar pagan ritual and symbolism they can relate to and suddenly the pews are filled with the faithful.

Nothing wrong with that...

It's a classic sales tactic.  That's what Christmas has been from the very beginning.  At least so far as the Christmas we know.  Save the assertions of blasphemy.  Theologists, historians and astronomers alike have pretty much agreed that the divine birth likely occurred around late September.

So I suppose all those holiday decorations showing up in October aren't too early after all.   In fact they're a bit late!

Why bring all this up now?

Because it's about faith.  It's about believing in something greater than what's staring back at you in the mirror.  That's the lesson regardless of your choice in divine text.  

Without faith there is no peace.  Faith in God, faith in our better angels, faith in each other to do what is right and good.

Couch it n religion if you must but only so far as it serves the greater purpose.  That being making this life, this world better for us having been here.  What we do and who we are right now is the core of all spiritual belief.  Whether we believe in divine reward at the end of this life or that this life is reward in itself we are encouraged to bring light into the world.  

Each day is an opportunity to create something beautiful and this time of year makes it all the more possible.

That's what I feel.  It's something that stays with me.  It lets me appreciate the Holiday Heart as I call it.

It's a feeling of unity, hope and yes "faith."   I make no claim as to what or if there is any divine inspiration for it.  Faith has more to do with who we are than who we may or may not pray to.  Whether we find it though rampant consumerism or religious conviction there's still a need that's satisfied.  A desire to bring and receive joy.

Be open to it. 

Tap into it.

Share it.  

It's an energy of positivity.  An elevation to a higher state above the petty concerns of all those things that ultimately have no value.

Value lies in the good we can put into the world.  It lies in being that which we hope to find.  

As you take in the sights and sounds of the season take a moment to feel the Holiday Heart.  See the light beyond the dazzling light displays.  Feel the music beyond the sacred hymns.  

Allow the energy to flow and the love to grow within you. 

That's the Holiday Heart.

Merry Christmas!
Happy Hanukah!

...and joy to whatever may move you this special time of year!  (regardless of who came up with the date  🎄🎄🎄 )

My Favorite versions of classic Christmas Songs.

 

I'll let the music speak for itself....

 

After Christmas - A post mortem for the soul

Twas the week after Christmas lights still on the tree sadly now shining less brightly 

At once made perfect with all due care now those lights a nuisance, a tacky cross to bear

The excitement of the season fades to past as the day of reckoning for bills made comes fast

How quickly we forget why the season is so bright or perhaps we never really knew as we bought all in sight

The 26th comes, the world again severe.  Good will toward men and kindness in arrears

The baubles now tattered, broken and dark as the joy of the season fades to gray and stark

Now approaches the shiny new year with expectations rising and reality drawing near

Soon we'll return, marching to another's tune all the time hoping our turn will come soon

Ahh but that reality, the ogre that looms.  A plague on the heart, dogged foe of joy fast friend of doom

Life is what you make it or so they say but those who proclaim it rarely enter the fray

So as your impending hangover this New Year's Morn you dread

Let me pound this one simple message into your soon throbbing head

The lesson of the season isn't about lights on a tree

It's about the light kept inside year round shared freely

Priorities be damned, you've got them wrong anyway

Give of yourself shining with the light of Christmas each and every day

Vegas at Christmastime

 

I don't get to travel much but my friends do and sometimes I get some decent photos and videos out of it.  So sit back and enjoy a few minutes of Vegas 2017!

These 2 Things were absolute garbage this Christmas...

OK....

Christmas is over, on to the dirty business of who did it badly.

My 2 top picks for crappiest Holiday observations are a tie  between Google's Holiday Doodle and TWIT's holiday (or lack thereof) spirit.

Let's start with the the Google Holiday Doodle...

In previous years We saw everything from adorable polar bears to a toymaker's workshop.

This year we got this....

(Cllick on the image to see it full size)


WTF Google?  

At least last year showed SOME creativity.  This year's collection of noncommittal  imagery not only was limited to just 3 days instead of the full week we used to get, but was so bland and uninspired that it could have represented any day of the year.  

The Holiday doodles evoked no Holiday spirit of ANY Holiday.  The only variance you got was whether you were in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere and even then the words, "Holiday" or "Christmas" were nowhere to be seen.  

Now I get why some overheated Politically Correct busybody may get his panties in a bunch over the whole "Christmas" thing but all we got was a hover text that said, "Tis the Season."

Tis the Season for what?  Boring doodles that inspire absolutely nothing.  No warmth, no spirit, no soul.  I've seen Heimlich Maneuver posters with more feeling.

Even Muslim and Jewish folks can appreciate the largely secular traditions of the Holidays and let's not forget that Google has done Easter, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah doodles in the past.

Are we so afraid of offending some jerk with a Google+ page that we have to screw it up for everyone else?

Who's going to sue over a picture on a search page?  Besides, you're Google, you don't fear courts...

You know, I'm not especially religious but I do embrace the Holiday season. 

I'd someday like to visit New York at Christmas time to see Rockefeller Center and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  I'm not looking for some religious epiphany.  These are just places that most American's would find as iconic to the Holiday as Time's Square is to New Year's eve.  It's a cultural thing and Google is getting lazy about it.

We already know that Google can serve up regional doodles for different parts of the world so the whole excuse about offending non-Christian nations is BS anyway.  Last I checked, we were living in the 21st century not the 12th. 

Regardless of what some radical groups may profess, I firmly believe the world to be far more sophisticated than flying into an uproar over the image of a Christmas wreath.

It's not about disliking the design, it's about the vanilla, shareholder friendly dogma behind it.

I won't belabor the point any more other than to say,  Google, bad form dude...

Now on to my second pick for worst example of Holiday spirit.

It's our old Friend TWIT!

What more can we say about the newly "downsized" TWIT operation.  We should have known there'd be no holiday spirit this year after the mass takedown of TWIT related videos on YouTube IN VIOLATION OF THEIR OWN CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE that damaged more than one YouTube content creator, myself included.

This year we get virtually nothing but a crappy panel show recorded December 1st with the few remaining hosts at the round ( err... make that oblong) table.  All of which suckle at the breast of the dying bovine that is TWIT.

Somebody puts on a Santa hat and calls it Christmas....

What?  No TWIT Holiday special with all of Leo's famous "friends?"  In fact no special Holiday programming at all.  Just a bunch of boring "Best of's" Which is a pretty tall order for a network so short on talent and now apparently ambition.

It's a glaring statement of disinterest.  

For proof look no further than the December 21'st Windows Weekly and you'll be hard pressed to see anything on set that would indicate we were mere days from the Holiday.  

Windows Weekly and Security Now are done from Leo's office.  A spot much more secluded and private than the Brickhouse.  Now more lair than set, if you're looking for the real Leo, look at that set. 

If it aint there he don't care. 

There isn't even a holiday bug on the edited shows!  (that translucent icon thing in the lower right corner.) For a guy so concerned with copyright you'd think that bug would be everywhere!

A heartfelt, "Meh" not only from viewers but the network itself.

If anything ever boosted ratings it was the Holidays.  Do something, anything special at the Holidays and you'll get eyeballs even if they're attached to a face that doesn't necessarily hold you in high regard.

But good old Leo can't be bothered even to feed the sycophantic TWIT fanboys ( yes, I stole that from Totaldrama ) 

Not even a  New Year's Eve special.  

Yes, I'll say it.  It was the one show that TWIT produced, aside from the Holiday Specials with John Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton that was actually worth watching.

Even if you hated Leo, watching it would at least give you the same sense of kinship with fellow geeks that normal people get from watching the Ball Drop in the aforementioned Time's Square

But we're not doing that.  We're sticking a Candy Cane on the set, putting a Santa Hat on the Channel Bug and calling it done.

Bad on Ya!

Neither Google nor TWIT has enough respect for their audiences to make anything but the most pitiful of efforts at the Holidays.

My rating for TWIT and Google's Holiday doodle's this year.

5 Heaping banks of Yellow snow....

All the Best for a Happy Holiday Season and bright New Year!

Let's face it, It's been a pretty lousy year for most people. If ever there was a time for Holiday cheer it's now.  To that I end I hope the video above provides you some.

Regardless of the Holiday Celebration may it be warm and bright.

...and let's try to have a Happy New Year too!

Black Friday starts on Thursday now

Black Friday....

Rampant, unrestrained, consumerism.  The world watches the darkest side of capitalism run amok.  No wonder they hate us.

Why do people still camp in front of stores for days just to get last year's TV marked down 50% from the 80% markup 2 months earlier?

Have you not heard of Amazon?

By the Way, In case you weren't aware the "Black" in Black Friday has nothing to do with how dark it is outside when the store opens. 

Nor does it have anything to do with the darker side of human nature although you'd be excused if you've ever made the mistake of participating in the madness.

There was a time, supposedly, that retailers counted on the holiday shopping season to bring their books into positive numbers aka "being in the black."

Which assumes the rest of the year they're operating at a loss. 

Which may be true but gross sales have less to do with it than the perverse trickle down economics of corporate structures that reward CEO's with multi-million dollar bonuses.  

Shed no tears for a corporate empire built on the standard of indentured servitude and slave wages.  

I find nothing more distasteful than the want ads for a "seasonal" worker with the lure of  some meager discount off merchandise they can't afford.

No wait..

I find something even more distasteful than that...

Stores open on THANKSGIVING!

What the living hell is wrong with you?  I'm not just talking about the stores either.  Why they hell does anyone think it's OK to force people to leave their families just so you can buy some more crap?

Black Friday is bad enough but now we can't even let the pumpkin pie settle before it's off to the races!  

What's the point of a holiday if everybody has to go to work?  

OK, not "everybody"  just those poor unfortunate souls forced into indentured servitude by the likes of Kohls and Best Buy.

Here's a list of the worst offenders. 

• JCPenny stores open at 3 p.m.
• Old Navy is scheduled to open at 4 p.m.
• Best Buy, Macy's, Toys'R'Us and Bonton will open their doors at 5 p.m. 
• Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Dick's, Modell's and Sears will all open at 6 p.m. 

They blame everything from Amazon.com to Obama for it but the real reason is bald-faced greed.  

They'll claim in an age of online stores that they must do this to survive.  By extension they'll claim to support the economy by providing jobs to all those "seasonal" workers to meet the "demand."  

You probably saw this coming but here it is anyway....

Boycott them.  All of them without exception and anyone else that thinks it's OK to perpetuate this outrage.  Oh and before you get on the high horse about all those jobs they're providing.  Know that most of those "seasonal jobs" don't contribute to the economy when people  have to supplement their wages with food banks and government assistance.

It's even worse for the "regular" employees many of which are working 39 hour "part time" schedules.  They're on Food Stamps too.

Talk about corporate welfare.  

Wanna get all biblical about it?  

Fine.  Since the Thanksgiving tradition usually involves somebody spouting bible verses before gorging themselves try this one out...

Matthew 25:46

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

You say you live in a "Christian Nation?"  

Then start acting like it.

It's Christmastime! Take a break from the talking points...

The lights are up, the tree is trimmed and the smell of cinnamon and spice is in the air...

At least in the shopping malls.

It's holiday time again and whether you're still procrastinating on putting up the tree or your house looks like a Better Homes and Gardens holiday shoot the sights and sounds of the holidays are inescapable.

For me nothing says Christmas like the sound of my favorite carols playing in the background while taking a break with a cherished holiday classic.

To that end, TV Guide offers up its compendium of Holiday specials neatly organized by airdate, time and network.  Of course the list is dominated by ABC Family and the Hallmark channel who continue the tradition of nonstop holiday themed content.

Of course there's always on demand and Netflix has its own holiday offerings like "A very Murray Christmas" starring Bull Murray and "Santa's Apprentice."

This year marks the 50th anniversary of "a Charlie Brown Christmas" and to celebrate the event ABC has rolled out a special including popular musical acts and interviews with the creators of the animated feature.  If you're a devout "Peanuts" fan it's a must see event.  If not you can safely tune in an hour later to catch the animated special presented in its original length which including commercials runs about 40 minutes. 

You've already missed the first showing on Monday (11/30) but ABC is showing it again on Christmas Eve at 9PM. 

Of course all that assumes you're not already watching It's a Wonderful life on NBC at 8PM or A Christmas Story on TBS at the same time...

So settle in, enjoy the season and take a little time out from mini-malls and Amazon.com. 

I wish you the Happiest of whatever holidays you celebrate.