A Very Blah Christmas

Thanks to the Covid-19 lock-down, 2020 saw many stir crazy people decorate early for Christmas with some cities and towns being decked out for the holidays by October. This year, something seemed to be a bit off.  I noticed a few dark houses in my neighborhood that would normally be lit with Christmas decorations. A nearby apartment complex that usually saw some tenants put trees in their windows was also curiously devoid of any holiday lights.  There were still those houses that went all out with elaborate Christmas displays, but it was the occasional pocket of darkness along neighborhood streets that had me wondering if people were too emotionally exhausted to fully embrace the Christmas spirit.  When I pointed this phenomenon out to an acquaintance from the nearby town of Marblehead, at first he said there were still fantastic light displays from the houses located along the coast but then he did admit to seeing near-dark neighborhoods in his travels too.

A few of my friends told me they had no desire to decorate for Christmas and they found themselves struggling to finish putting up a tree before the week of Dec. 25th.  Perhaps it was because 2021 seemed like nothing more than a continuation of the miserable year that 2020 was.

While I had made an effort to decorate for Christmas in 2020, I just wasn't in the mood this year.  As the first two weeks of December passed by in a blur, our house was in danger of not being decorated at all.  For 50 years, my family put red Christmas lights in the windows and some of those original bulbs which were purchased a long time ago at now defunct department stores like Zayre's and Rich's still worked.  Well, I didn't want to break a half century of tradition so I mustered up enough strength to drag those lights out of the basement once again.

In years past, my mother and I set up two Christmas trees since she had so many beautiful ornaments to put on display.  In 2019, we decorated the small table top tree that usually graced our back porch because her chronic aches and pains were becoming much worse.  We used that same small tree again in 2020 and despite a hectic work schedule, I still found time to put up most of the Christmas decorations around the house.

This year was definitely different.  With so little free time and not much motivation to put up Christmas decorations, we had to settle for the tiny ceramic light up tree that was usually placed in an upper hallway corner.  We didn't do much else for Christmas aside from a front door wreath and a handful of small ornaments around the house.  For the first time ever, we didn't have a nativity scene, advent wreath or stockings.  It was a very blah Christmas all around and my lack of enthusiasm for what should have been a joyous and holy day was troubling.

The extremely busy work schedule that prevented me from blogging more often was taking its toll. Our bosses were doing very well financially because of the pandemic but 2021 saw my hours get cut and my yearly pay go down.  While other companies were offering higher wages and incentives to attract new employees and retain old ones, our company bellyached about razor-thin profit margins.  They may have congratulated us for a job well done but they weren't too enthusiastic about giving us a much-needed cost of living increase. It's no wonder many people who felt underpaid and overworked simply walked off the job this year.

My company often talks about striking a balance between your work and home life but I found myself spending the past year not having time to put up decorations for several holidays including Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving.  So much for a healthy work / life balance.

As the final hour of 2021 slips away forever, I say good riddance but this sentiment is tempered by misgivings about 2022.  Many of us are still anxious about the uncertainty of these unprecedented times.  Inflation is on the rise. Shortages continue.  Quality connections with other people seem lacking and the internet is a poor substitute.  There's an uptick in the number of Covid cases again with some communities reinstating mask mandates while others consider doing so.  This new normal has left many of us far too weary and holidays like Christmas just don't feel the same anymore.

It's Still Christmas

The way mainstream society celebrates Christmas is pretty ridiculous.  Hype for the holiday starts as early as October and only increases in intensity as the weeks pass.  Commercials bombard you with the latest deals while radio stations play nothing but seasonal music.  Up go the holiday light displays with some neighbors trying to outdo each other.  Christmas cartoons, claymation specials and seasonal movies permeate television.  People work themselves up into a frenzy shopping for that perfect gift as advertisements remind us to cash in on those last minute savings.  We spend so much time worrying about the holiday, there's little time to savor it.

When December 25th finally arrives, many of us spend it with family and loved-ones but the next day, the Christmas music ends, the seasonal programming goes away and some decide to shut off or take down their lights just like that.  How mainstream society celebrates Christmas has me asking, "That's it?"  Retailers, unsatisfied with all the money they've made immediately promote after-Christmas sales even though they tended to avoid using the c-word before the 25th.  People go back to their old ways and with very little trace of the season left, it leaves me feeling empty.

For Catholics, the Christmas season is supposed to last until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord which falls on the Sunday following the Epiphany.  Many other denominations recognize the 12 days of Christmas.  My parents always made sure to keep the lights on through January 6th, long after my neighbors shut theirs off.  One acquaintance who isn't too religious actually leaves her Christmas lights on into February to brighten her spirits because she thinks winter is dark and dreary enough.  The new priests at my small church placed two trees, garland, banners and a large nativity scene around the altar and it really put people in the mood.  Such decorations can get out of hand but if done right, they remind us of the warmth that should be in our hearts around this time of year.

As a kid, the joy of Christmas lingered well beyond December 25th because the only other time during the year my brother and I got presents was on our birthdays.  I was grateful for these new toys and played with them on the living room floor for days.  When I visited my nieces and nephew this year they seemed to be much more savvy about gift-giving than we were.  One of the first things out of their mouths was, "Where's our presents?" To my amazement, their grandfather gave each of them a 100 dollar bill.  Using an online calculator, I adjusted that sum to see its value during my childhood years and it came out to be almost 30 dollars.  I can tell you this much, none of my relatives ever gave me anything close to that amount for Christmas.  After all the presents were opened, my nieces talked about using the money they just received to buy what they didn't get under the tree. 

For mainstream society, Christmas is one big "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" and I suspect the people who rush to take down their lights and get back to normal don't focus too much on the holiday's religious meaning.  As the first few days of January pass into time, it's a pleasant surprise to find houses with their lights still up.  While riding my bike earlier this week, I came across a lighted creche in front of someone's home.  Here was this tender scene amid the darkness and cold that surrounded me.  In that moment, it somehow made my emptiness disappear.  Imagine what Christmas would be like if we kept the kindness and warmth of the season in our hearts well beyond December 25th.