Friday, November 25th, 2022. Yesterday was Thanksgiving of course, so today is known as…..the day after Thanksgiving.

Ok today’s mostly known by another name these days. The term ‘Black Friday’ has been pounded into our collective psyche for so long now that it’s pretty much what most people think of when thinking about today. Sales. The official start of the Christmas season. The mad rush to put up Christmas decorations this weekend, including lights on the roof and any yard decor you may have. Don’t have any yard decor? You better get some if ya wanna keep up with the neighbors. Duh!

There’s a neighborhood a couple of miles from me that’s well known for its outdoor Christmas decorations. People come from all over the region to drive through at night, or to park and simply walk it with a hot beverage in hand. It’s become an annual “thing” for so many families and Christmas aficionados. What sets this neighborhood apart from most is that the decorations are extremely over the top – the amount of lights and the yard decor, everything from Peanuts-themed, Disney-themed, to you-name-it-themed. Not just a little. A lot.

A real estate agent friend of mine has sold homes to people in said neighborhood, and buyers are always given fair warning: you’re strongly encouraged to deck your house out during the holidays, it would help you to get along with the neighbors. This isn’t simply advice from my friend – it’s more like the unwritten rule of the hood: follow our lead and we’ll all get along.

While I appreciate the holiday season and what it stands for, I’ve never been one to just flip the switch right after Thanksgiving and start putting decorations up, saying Merry Christmas to people or to start watching holiday movies. It may sound scrooge-like, but people who say Merry Christmas on November 25th (or anytime in November and even early December as far as I’m concerned), well…they’re kinda annoying. Ha! Of course they’re usually just good people who love the season, but hey….you do realize we’re a month out from the big day, right??

I don’t blame them, and of course it’s not just them. Holiday television commercials, specials and movies are already in full force, the inundation has begun. And truth be told, with all of the foreign and domestic insanity going on, perhaps an early start to “good cheer season” is just what we need. I’m good with the concept of it – just don’t want boughs of holly crammed down my throat just yet, thankuverymuch.

The good news is, we live in a free country (yay!) and we can celebrate – or not – however and whenever we see fit. Some of my Facebook friends have already posted pics of their Christmas trees and other decorations – more power to them and whatever makes you happy. But for those of us who don’t just “flip the switch”, hey – we’re good! We’re better than good really. When it comes to Christmas or anything else, just do YOU, in whatever timeframe you see fit, and the hell with any expectations from anyone else.

Confession: I did put a wreath on the door to the cave last night. Given that it’s on the outside of the door, I only see it when coming and going, but I suppose my toe is officially dipped in the holiday waters.

Ok what the hell. Merry Christmas!

Sometimes you find yourself out of town for work, ya wake up and feel like throwing some words around. They might be a jumbled mess like the current state of your cranium, but maybe through the miracle of some java juice, everything will make sense in the end.

Maybe.

I suppose it would help if I had any topic in mind to espouse some wisdom about, but isn’t that the beauty of a blank canvass?

Yeah – let’s go with that.

Ok through the power of going thru the motions (and a hot beverage that restores balance to the brain), a horrific topic is actually taking shape. I love when a plan comes together. I mean, I didn’t plan on discussing anything…horrific, but what the hell!

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When ya think about all of the hardships our ancestors have been through – the Dark Ages, the Medieval Times, television that was only in black and white – it seems a miracle that mankind has actually kept going after all these years. But dare I say, the biggest hardship in the history of hardships started just over a century ago, and its threat to our existence grows exponentially every year –

Going off of Daylight Savings.

As of this writing, it’s been a whopping 4 days since we “fell back” and said the hell with the sun, we need less sun! (Side note – bright flaming fiery stars have feelings too and it’s probly not a good idea to poke the bear, lest the sun should retaliate one of these days by saying it needs less planets and decides to fade-to-black. It could happen). It defies logic how the darkness at 5:30pm is somehow darker than 3am, but that’s what happens. Hey – isn’t life dark enough already??

As fate would have it this year in NorCal, a couple of major storms have coincided with the time change, coming through and giving us a desperately-needed soaking. While it’s still the fall, all of a sudden it felt like winter arrived at the exact same time that darkness has overtaken the land, and it’s been quite the whammy-whammy! (Also known as a double whammy).

Fortunately, pretty much every Homo Sapien is against shorter, darker days so there’s no need for wisdom-espousing about how archaic our time-change system is and how it should be tossed out (whew!). Besides, I need to get ready for the workday so I simply don’t have time for further espousing.

I’ll keep a lookout for that fade-to-black thing though.