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Date: 11/7/2018
I’m writing this on the day before the election. You’re reading it after the election.
Let me just say this has been one of the oddest elections I can remember. Many of the races were settled in the primary. The governor’s race seemed pre-determined. The gubernatorial opponent couldn’t seem to manage to send out press releases until a week before the voting. The Senate race was infected with unnecessary actions from a single candidate. Another Senate candidate sent out almost daily releases with often trivial content. An elected position that normally would be seen as something administrative and a tad boring was hotly contested.
I just hope you voted, because despite the off-balance tone of the election there were some important issues to be settled.
We’ll talk more next time.
Santa, please stay away for a while longer
I come to sing the praises of Thanksgiving. I don’t think I’m too early.
It’s a holiday that requires no gifts, other than a contribution of a dish for a potluck.
At its best, it’s a peaceful day of family and friends gathering together for a meal and fellowship.
At it’s worse it’s a single day obligation to endure people’s company whom you avoid the rest of the year.
It’s only one day, though – actually only part of a day.
Isn’t a Thanksgiving turkey dinner one of the best meals ever conceived? I think so and I look forward to every aspect of it.
I’m a fan of Thanksgiving and when the company doesn’t secretly hate each other and the food is good, it’s a wonderful break from the realities of life.
So why then has Thanksgiving become a speed bump on the holiday highway? We go from Halloween to Christmas with barely slowing down to experience Thanksgiving.
I’m motivated to write this endorsement of the holiday because I received a press release from the Holyoke Mall. Santa is arriving on Nov. 10.
Then Eastfield Mall notified me Santa would be setting up shop on Nov. 17.
What happened to Santa coming some day after Thanksgiving?
The whole idea in having Saint Nick at a store was to present a complete Christmas shopping experience. It’s part of the marketing to have Santa ready to listen to the kids and their requests.
Does it have to start on Nov. 10, though? That’s the better part of two months of ho, ho, hoing.
I don’t know about you, but at our house the Halloween decorations are being exchanged for various Thanksgiving items. We have just started thinking about who will be at our house for the dinner and who won’t be.
I really don’t want to even worry about how much we’re spending, who is getting presents, what the presents will be, what accommodations must be made to keep the peace among various members of the family and how much bourbon will I have to drink to endure much of it.
That’s what the early arrival of Santa is for me: the early arrival of all of those considerations.
As I get older I get more and more weary about the demands of that holiday. Thanksgiving embraces me warmly with its simplicity.