Christmas Eve 2021

My Christmas Eve posts of the past have been some of my favorites, starting with the very first one in 2009. You remember - the year the Obama’s decided they simply must continue their family tradition (est. 2008) of spending 2 weeks over Christmas at a luxury resort in Hawaii on somebody else’s (ours) dime. Raj did a short video of that trip that I think I’ve used every Christmas Eve hence so tradition demands I use it again. Mele Kalek-Obama: (iMotus, make several cameos in this short musical so watch for me!)

Amazingly the opening sentence in that 2009 post is still mostly true, only the dates have changed:  

Santa and his elves are hanging around D.C. just long enough this morning to vote on how much they’re going to charge for shipping and handling on this year’s free gifts.

Then there was the year that the seeds of the BLM movement were sown and it became clear that there was no winning the Left’s race war.

I can’t keep up with the ever shifting sands of racism and political correctness. One day Santa is okay, butt his sidekick, Black Pete is unacceptable. The next day it’s Santa himself is unacceptable: too white, too fat, too privileged:

In the twinkle of an eye, only black Santas matter:

Some years we did mostly recipes and cute stuff to eat and drink:

instructions here

Or sometimes I focused on highly inedible cute stuff like these adorable Marshmallow Men that came with their own Christmas story.

Warning! Cute little men made of confections are NOT, repeat, NOT edible!!!! And likely not a good idea if wee ones are around. Those wacky magazine editors in the 60s – they had absolutely no regard for human life.

I’ve tried to keep Christmas Eve as politics-free as possible, but that grew more difficult as the country’s deep divide grew ever deeper and people began to dread even seeing certain rpeople/relatives over the holidays:

I see the country is as divided over Hallmark movies as it is over politics. It’s like asking people whether your  eggnog/Tom and Jerry should be dusted with nutmeg or cinnamon.

Of course your Dem and Never-Trumper relatives think that everything, including Christmas, is about President Trump. Remember Newsweek’s top Christmas week story back in 2017?  How Trump and the Nazis Stole Christmas To Promote White Nationalism. Things have only grown worse since then so let’s hope families either abstain from discussing politics or simply refuse to engage in bait-setting scenarios with warring members of their tribe. A truce for Mom’s sake would be nice.

Then last year came the cooties.

Alas, COVID has pretty much solved that problem in most blue states for us. By more or less banning Christmas gatherings of more than 6 people it should be easy to avoid bumping elbows with the enemy camp this year. But do pay attention as that is how the left prefers to settle all grievances: strictures and mandates.

And if our betters get their way they’ll never leave. And that brings us to Christmas Eve Present doesn’t it? Progressives are still rallying around the Day of Grievances (now expanded to every day) and (surprise!) some locales still are still under strictures and mandates that some want to expand and worsen.

Raj and I have decided to Christmas in our Rocky Mountain bunker, where we are currently under a 3 day heavy snow storm warning. It’s the first time ever, and only the second time – last year being the first as Raj was still having issues with knee replacement #1 – that we haven’t done Christmas with large extended families. Since we’ve never been here for Christmas I don’t have any actual Christmas decorations here. I spent more than an entire day unstringing/restringing 2 pre-wired Christmas trees I bought nearly 20 years ago that stopped working maybe 5 years ago. I’m convinced they were wired by institutionalized psychotic Chinese slaves. Raj took pity on me and helped with the second tree. There are no ornaments and they are sloppily strung, but it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.

Charlie Brown has nothing over me. Oh, and I hate LED lights

So now that my “decorating” is done I’m going to make cookies and hot chocolate.

As for Christmas Eve Future  - well, who knows?  I say we all go to sleep tonight with hope in our hearts and dream a little dream. Maybe, just maybe there really is a Santa Claus out there to grant our wishes. 

Merry Christmas Eve Janice the Elder, wherever you are!

I wish you all good health, good travels, good friends and good cheer and a very Merry Christmas Eve, wherever your sleigh may take you.