Fruitcake!!! Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what is longer than an elephant’s pregnancy and just as painful? It’s the wait for the McRib to come back in all its saucy slathered goodness. Not really, but it could be true!
Does anyone else feel they need a break from the constant barrage of holiday ads? As they seem to come to an end let’s be grateful for a little breather before we start getting bombarded with political ads which cause the same types of mental indigestion.
Truthful political messaging is much the same as when you promised your mother you didn’t eat those treats while your hand was still in the cookie jar. The fundraisers cook up all kinds of titles to hook campaign donors. Do you wish to be a (Political name) Majority Strategist, or a member of the America First, Last and Always Society? Doesn’t it all sound official? Would the embossed card they send you after donating, help to dissuade a traffic cop from giving you a ticket? Not in a million election cycles. If the offer sounds too good to be true, welcome to the land of Nod.
When you receive an email from a political campaign, and it states “Absolutely last time we’ll ask” do you believe them, especially when you’ve received many of these same ones every day for a week? If you answer, they will never stop contacting you for more. You make the ‘A’ list and will be asked if you would like your knees covered with a blanket emblazoned with an eagle with stars for eyes, and they’re looking at your wallet.
Conferring any actual VIP status is totally legal. There’s no truth or falsehood in political speech. Diamond, Platinum and other VIP-sounding membership tiers are simply steps down into the dungeon of meaningless titles. They all do it. Sending a “FINAL MEMBERSHIP NOTICE” with a breathless plea for $3 sounds innocuous but your membership gift will never ever be turned away for lack of a decent political title.
Turning off our media is as hard as the Pilgrim’s landing on the rocky coast at Cape Cod in 1620. I think the pilgrims started this whole thing when they arrived, set up camp and began to plan how early they would have to get up to beat the Indians to the mall for the great deals on blankets and corn seed. It was a bad plan since the shopping mall had not yet been invented.
Pilgrims arrived for the freedom to invent the industrial revolution. That, and they were sick of ‘figgy pudding’ which was on a par with Haggis for the weak of stomach. It wasn’t just the British food that drove them away, there was a ‘value added tax’ to basic dental care which was as useless as the G in lasagna.
Let’s call this part of our end of year celebrations the big exhale! Take a breath now and relax from the shared joy and drudgery that heralds our end of year celebrations, gift buying sprees and family gatherings. For almost as long as we can remember in these extremely fast paced times, our wallets (Or Zelle and other apps) and our heart strings have been tugged at for some months by those who want our money. Sorry; our money has been earmarked for various causes like food, clothing, and shelter! We should have sealed the mailbox shut after the first ‘Friends of Wolfhounds of the Appalachians Club membership’ or ‘Wonders of the Lower Pyrenees Mountains’ calendar arrived in September. Had we not torn all the outer packaging in our postal rip and throw fury, we could have had all the re-gifted wrapping we needed.
The gifts of the Magi are probably the cause of our gift buying and returning cycle. That’s how the first gift giving season got started. The gifts of gold, Myrrh and its cousin frankincense are known today through the Biblical account of the wise men. Three Magi followed the Star of Bethlehem to the birth of Jesus. Re-gifting had not yet begun in earnest.
