Holidays and other "important" occasions have always had a way of "getting away from me." It's not that I am not paying attention, it's more a case of feeling like I have never had the time to just take time away from everything else to focus purely on holiday stuff.
Of course, that's not entirely true; there was plenty of time for "Holiday Stuff" when I was a kid — baking cookies, planning amazing meals, writing Christmas cards, shopping for — and wrapping — presents, making decorations and ornaments, decorating our surroundings. Whereas I won't claim to have had much Norman Rockwell-esque holiday imagery dancing around in my head, we certainly did make something of the holidays.
That more or less ended when I was in college and settled into a reality of neither having the time nor the funds to do anything much about the holidays. Somehow my parents did, but that reality never became mine, as I was always working two jobs (sometimes three) to merely keep afloat, or I was in business for myself, typically working in fields that centered on serving others disproportionately during the holidays.
My holiday memories from having an art gallery and gift store (1985-1999) was showing up at 9:00am the Friday after Thanksgiving, dealing with a crowded store till the last people were herded out around 9:15pm, and staggering home around 9:30, too exhausted to think about anything other than mindlessly staring at the wall... and then doing pretty much the same thing for the next 30 days straight.
That is simply "the life" when you're involved in something where 40-50% of your annual income is created during the 30-day period before Christmas.
The funny and ironic thing is that I have always chosen self-employment as the potential path to freedom and not being beholden to employers and The System that I really don't believe in and yet, my experience in the pursuit of that that freedom is a deeper understanding of why people do sell their souls to that system: It's just much EASIER.
Or, at least, that's my perception, from my vantage point of never quite knowing where my next income is going to come from.
The struggle is also a poignant and constant reminder that what I value is — most of the time — radically different from what the mainstream values. When I am presented with what is allegedly "popular and important" to people I mostly don't get it, and when I present them with what matters to ME I typically get eyerolls and statements like "Why would anybody care about THAT?"
So now we find ourselves just a few weeks from Christmas 2023, and time has once again gotten away from me, because I have been entrenched primarily in the business of simply keeping the electricity turned on and such basics of life.
Somehow, 2023 feels different though... as a lot more people are sitting with similar struggles as I, and I find myself wondering just how many of us are going to be getting the proverbial "coal in our stockings" this year, thanks to this pervasively stagnant economy.
Sure, the government says that the economy is "doing great," but the metric they use to arrive at that statement has more to do with corporate profits and less to do with ordinary people getting sticker shock when they buy a carton of eggs.
Maybe the best gift we're all actually getting for the Holidays this year is that "2023 continued the Great Reset." People talk about that, and I'm sure it means different things to different folks.
I look at it mostly from the perspective of "Meta Cycles" in greater philosophical leanings and thoughts... the ones that tend to occur in 40-50 year cycles. It seems the cycle that started with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 is drawing to a close... a cycle that replaced a different era that began in the 1930's when FDR was president of the US, as the nation clawed its way back to prosperity. Another 40-50 years back, and you end at the US "Gilded Age" from the 1880's, through the "Roaring 20's" until the 1929 Stock Market crash and the Great Depression.
And now? We are perhaps in the "bridge years." Regardless of whether you prefer Donald Trump or Joe Biden both of them are close to ancient, and surely they must be the last of the "Old Gray Hawks" of an old era, opening the door for some younger blood to shape the USA as a nation in decades ahead.
I know that some will likely opine that they would rather be led by experience than the impulsiveness of youth, but the issue with relying excessively on "super seniors" in government is the simple fact that as we age we tend to increasingly fear and resist change, often to our detriment. Looking at the leadership of most industrialized nations around the world, this "changing of the guard" is already happening elsewhere, and I expect the US will have to follow, albeit reluctantly.
We can but hope. At least, I have hopes... And now, I really must start thinking about the holidays!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!
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Created at 2023-11-19 00:44 PDT
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There are so many things to unpack and discuss with how you framed this. Probably too much for a reply. ;)
Having dinosaurs in charge of everything is ridiculous as you mention. If they actually were in charge, the wisdom they would have gained through decades of experience would have diminishing returns with declining mental acumen and red vs blue bias. Truth is they are mostly just talking heads and cheerleaders looking out for their own financial advance. I can’t imagine having Trump or Biden as my only 2 choices and the supposed cream of the crop!
2023 does feel different though and I am trying to figure how much of that is true, and how much of that is you and I projecting our own perspective. We are drowning in information and over informed to the point where it simply has to feel different. What we do with that to balance risk on one hand and reach back to the magic of youth during the holidays on the other is a struggle. I like to put down the weight of the world regularly during these times and choose happiness as a gift to myself and others during the holidays.
I hope yours is setting up to be a wonderful one lined with gold but the radiant warmth of coal embers.
You're right of course, they're just figureheads and puppets for somebody else's agendas.
Perhaps what feels different about 2024 and going ahead is the fact that a lot of us have woken up and realized that in fact Covid didn't kill everybody, and there is a faint sense of normalcy that has returned. For us, for example, that "represents" in terms of us being back to doing arts and craft shows on a regular basis. Things might not be a lot better but at least it doesn't feel like we're "in jail" while things are getting worse.
Are things actually getting better? I suppose only time will tell. But I feel mildly hopeful because there is a vague sensation that the Old Guard is starting to lose their death grip on keeping things their way. Not even so much because they're directly wrong, but because they're becoming irrelevant.
I was watching a YouTube clip the other day in which a commentator was pointing out that even Republicans are starting to comment negatively on the policies that were put in place in the Reagan Era, almost as if they realize that we've been doing this for 40 years and it's not working. Personally, I always thought "trickle down economics" was a complete joke!
I am not even American so my opinion doesn't count for as much as someone who is but I think EVERYONE knows Reganomics sucked.
From my perspective, working with small businesses, things are less actually getting better than recovering from the impact of disruption. Even the most cautious are closer to their normal than they probably thought they ever could be again. The state of things on the social side are half worrying, and the other exciting seeing a rebirth with a newer set of rules.
There is either a troubling level of entitlement or I am just getting grumpy and old. The yang to that is hard work in rarer supply it seems so there are opportunities for those looking to put in the hours.
The boomers are running out of disposable income so their iron grip on leadership will perhaps loosen quickly enough that another 70year old gets elected again!
I tend to cherish every seconds of any available holiday. This because this is the only free time I have to spend with family and I don't trade it for anything.
Cheers
Family time is definitely important! We don't get much time because we're usually working with our creative projects up until the very last moment. So those bits of family time I definitely to be treasured.
The impact I see, is the ever-shrinking packages in the supermarkets, while the price continues to go up. It makes helping my grandmother bake dozens and dozens of pumpkin, cherry, and apple pies for friends and family during the holidays when I was a kid, a quaint memory. There's always the hope that things will get better, but until then, we soldier on.
I also have fond memories of all the things we were able to do when I was a kid. When I contemplate doing these same things now - given what you just pointed out about shrinking packages and rising prices - it seems like it happened in a different world.
I have my doubts that things will change. In general there is no such thing as turning back the dial. If we get to a point where the better economy and the cost to produce things actually going down usually what ends up happening is just that the price stays the same for a while. Meanwhile, the supermarket operators get fat on the profits.
Holidays are really interesting and my favorite time or holiday is Christmas
I don’t ever joke with it
I cherish every bit of holidays
Well, holidays are off the only times we have that we can truly rely on to come again and be the same year after year.
And it's definitely a good thing to have gratitude!
Holidays are one of the days I cherish most as they give you free time to do whatever you want on your own terms. p.s your photos are adorable, especially the red and white flower