“Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.” –Dr. Seuss.

Oh, it’s that time of the year again when everyone reminisces about their life, their year, their family and friends while celebrating the season of holidays and mistletoe and holiday parties and drink and presents and running around like an enraged consumer trying to get the best deals on gifts while suffering last minute stress over that remaining Christmas tree on the lot to wishing you hired someone to put up the Christmas lights up on the roof as you sit in the emergency room praying that your health insurance will pay for that broken leg which was clearly your fault, and damn, did you just contract COVID from that person next to you who kept coughing all over you and never apologizing once but demanding that you say at least Bless you or Gesundheit. Ah, the joys of the holidays.

“There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is Santa Claus.” –Bob Phillips.

Me? I am learning to relax around these days. No Christmas Tree. No Lights or getting on the roof (my wife wisely forbade that years ago). There will not be any presents for anyone except my granddaughter because she’s only eight years old. Both of my adult sons understand. Ain’t doing it. No caroling. I try to avoid Holiday parties or at least keep them to a minimum (I wouldn’t say I like the traffic mess drive to Los Angeles and south to Orange County). All the drama inherent in the holidays is so unneeded, so I try to keep it simple.

I’m okay with acting like it is just another day at any other time of the year. Sure, I love driving down the street and being blinded by enough lights to be seen from Mars, but I figure all that energy is better spent relaxing by the ocean or reading a book at my favorite coffee house. I mean, an evening with friends at their home having a great meal and conversation is always to be appreciated, but if they insist that I wear an ugly Christmas sweater or “here, have a bite of my grandmother’s recipe for fruit cake,” well, thanks but no thanks. Bah Humbug. Was there ever a point to all of this?

“Three phrases that sum up Christmas are: Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men, and Batteries not Included.” –Unknown.

Understand this before you accuse me of being a Scrooge or some holiday denier. These holidays began as part of a religious celebration before they descended into commercial hell. Sure, I remember, as a child, the anxiety over what presents would greet me when I woke up on Christmas Day (except for those families who tried to cheat and would open them up at midnight). It was fun until it stopped being fun as I got older. Then, it was guaranteed that I had a duty to buy gifts for other people, sometimes extravagantly. What the hell? I was expected to save a month’s worth of salary to purchase gifts for everyone from my parents to my girlfriends and later wives and children to then something for the work party and then to bring something over to our neighbor’s Christmas Party and then be browbeaten with guilt to donate to local charities and don’t forget that toy drive box at the local church, school, and even your grocery store. Did my wife have to bring a toy to a Stevie Wonder concert last week?

“You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.” –Maya Angelou.

Is this really about sharing love and peace and charity, or is this about succumbing to the machinations of the gift-buying capitalist propaganda machine? For what purpose? To make us feel like we’ve all participated in one big holiday love fest that will bring Peace and Love to our fellow human beings? I wish it were because the planet Earth could use as much of that these days as possible. But don’t kid yourself. That ain’t happening. Someone is getting rich off this illusion, and it sure ain’t you and me. Not unless you count all those heartfelt thank yous you’ll receive for all the time you spent foraging for that once-in-a-lifetime gift that cost you way too much of your day and cash. I’ll wait for the applause.

“Christmas is a magical time of year… I just watched all my money magically disappear.” –Unknown.

Keep it simple. Keep it all to a minimum. Sit back and watch the merry-go-round of hypocritical gift messages and packages that will be returned to their stores of origin as fast as you can say, Refund, Please? I choose not to watch all this roller coaster drama if possible. A movie at that theater or in my TV room or a nice quiet meal in my favorite restaurant an hour before the holiday parties roll in or, like I said earlier, I’m cool with reading a book or, hey, sitting at the edge of the sand (my favorite spot) at Seal Beach just watching the ships and small boats and people and of course, the birds. It’s all peaceful-like. Simple. We can use a lot of that these days.

Bah humbug. Are you happy? There, I said it. Simple.

All quotes are sourced from “40 Holiday Quotes That’ll Make You Make Feel All Warm and Fuzzy.”