Sunday
Dec242023
The Conversation -- December 25, 2023
Marie: Say what you will in the Comments; here's something of a realist's view of Christmas from the ridiculous to the ordinary to -- if you click on the King's College Choir playlist -- the sublime.
Loudon Wainwright III looks forward to Christmas:
~~~ Then It's Here:
Merry Christmas from the Family in Houston:
And from Boston:
All Is Not Lost: Maybe the Best Popular Christmas Song Video Ever:
If you prefer something a tad more traditional, a YouTube playlist of carols performed by the King's College, Cambridge, Choir is here.
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Reader Comments (17)
Merry Christmas, and stay safe. Our son came up from the City and is staying in an Air BnB near us so he an his partner can have their own space. He tested positive this afternoon. Daughter came home, recovering from her first infection two weeks ago. Wife caught it for the first time four weeks ago. I'm the last one standing here. It'll be yet another different Christmas this year.
Many thanks to all the contributors, and to Marie.
The smallest acts
@RAS: Thank you. It's probably hard to believe since I can be so acerbic in my writing (and when the occasion arises, in my speaking), but that monk's advice to the kids has been my modus operandi all of my adult life.
Now, the shoe is sometimes on the other foot. That is, I am the recipient of the "kindness of strangers." An extremely kindly person I knew because she was a friend of this site once wrote to me that she had a few heavy bags of mulch to move and didn't know if she could do it. Not only was she elderly, but she was very sick.
Many long-time readers will remember MAG, who died three years ago this month. I wrote back to MAG and advised her to approach some muscular-looking passerby and ask him to help. "Don't look upon it as an imposition. Assuming the person you ask is a decent guy, not in a terrible rush to get somewhere and in good physical shape, he will be happy to help you. In fact, he will not only get the job done in short order and with what is little effort for him, he will feel much better for having been of help." Most people like to perform those simple acts of kindness. Helping others with little things makes us feel like useful, decent people and reinforces the sense that we are part of a community.
MAG not only thanked me for my advice, she took it. And it worked.
Some months back, I heard someone say, "Receiving a story is a gift to the teller." It's the same principle.
A couple of winters ago, I was out in the driveway brushing the snow off my van. I did most of it, but I could neither see nor reach the center of the roof of the van, so the van looked like it had a mohawk. About that time, a tall, young Norwegian-looking guy walked past and asked if he could help. In earlier days, I would have said, "No, I can do it myself." But I said, "Sure, since you can reach it and I can't, could you brush that snow off the roof?" It probably took him two minutes, and as far as I could tell, he was more than glad to do it.
That's how it works.
RAS, Marie and All.
I think that's pretty the or at least a major defining difference between the left and the right: the degree to which people notice others who need a little help, how far from their immediate family their altruistic vision extends, and their willingness to make an effort (physical, psychological, financial) to provide it.
That the giver might feel good about it is beside the point--or maybe it IS the point.
I have always thought the Pretender's now-defunct charity scam was the very definition of cynical, selfish disregard for others and a perfect emblem of what the man is: A Scrooge for our time, with no hope of redemption.
And now he has come to represent an entire political party.
(Watched the last part of a 1938 "Christmas Carol" last night and seen through the lens of my politics, as I see most things, it didn't seem all that dated to me.)
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge..."
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
Let's all take care of business. Merry Chrismahanukwanzakah to everyone.
Chrismahanukwanzakah?
Holy portmanteau, Batman!
No, Robin, a portmanteau combines two different words. D has whisked together three words. Perhaps triportmanteau? Or neologotriportmanteau? Oh look…the Bat Signal! Just in time. Happy batshit to all and to all a good night.
Despite the fact that in the past I have admonished D in MD not to forget Festivus, it is once again missing from the triportmanteau. So I would wish everyone a Merry Christmafestihanukwanzakahivus, which I guess, according to Akhilleus' neological presumptions, is a quatreportmanteau. And -- whether you prefer D's greeting or mine -- you are so woke.
Marie and AK,
Can we work Saturnalia in there as well?
We can't leave out Yule, the ancient Christmastime holiday celebrated
by my northern and eastern (gypsies) European ancestors, the
Heathens and Wiccans.
However, I got none of that gypsy blood. I like to stay put in one place, since surviving those 16 childhood moves from state to state.
Dad was an oil and gas wildcatter.
Thanks Forrest,
see
I am currently reading Kindred. Since Neanderthals were very intelligent and sophisticated, they doubtless observed and celebrated the winter solstice. I had my DNA tested specifically to find out how much neanderthal I have in me and was very gratified to learn that I am in the high end of the distribution.
In a small act of kindness last week at the post office, the man in front of me invited me and the very elderly man behind me to go next when he reached the top of the 30 minute queue. I accepted and enjoyed that tiny spark of connection with a stranger but the elderly man stubbornly and awkwardly refused.
Maybe he never heard that story Marie quotes: "Receiving a story is a gift to the teller."
Happy holidays ya'll
I see no reason not to include Saturnalia and Yule in out greeting. After all, those of us who celebrate Christmas to one extent or another follow in the Saturnalia & Yule traditions. So why not acknowledge them?
So Merry ChristmaSaturFestiHanuKwanzakaYulinalias! Admittedly, kind of hard to fit on a greeting card.
We can just abbreviate it on our greeting cards:
SCHYKS, rhymes with chicks.
I've got serious concerns over AI generated photographs but I saw one this morning I only hope will be shot in reality. Crooks and Liars had a shot of an orange suited, despondent, Donald Trump in a prison corridor, titled "A big, fat grifter."
I doubt I'll ever see a time where the stench of Trumpism and the dregs of his MAGA horde pollute the breeze, but I hope the nation can shake off the disease.
Here's what Bobby Lee is referring to. Silly, but it made me smile.
For more clarification on the festivities, or festivustivities as it were
This just in.
D,
Re: your “this just in” link, my favorite is the Spanish translation of Christmas being “More Christ”.
How about Christnomas?