A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to You!
Holiday weeks are a time to be lazy - when I'm not scrambling at my retail job
‘Tis the season for family, friends and curling up by the fire — or at least the digital fireplace channel on the television.
Given that this week is an important holiday week, I hope you’ll bear with me and forgive a lack of deep-dives into human rights abuses worldwide. Goodness knows there are plenty to write about, but I am, put simply, exhausted.
I’m working retail through the holidays, right up until Christmas — from my faith’s holiday on the 21st all the way to Christmas Eve, where I’ll be holding down the fort all day at the pharmacy.
To say things have been busy is an understatement. I’m sore, tired, run-down and wrung out. As of writing this I haven’t even finished wrapping gifts or mailing the ones that need to be sent afar.
And I know I’m not alone! I haven’t met a single person who isn’t stressed or burnt out ahead of the holidays, especially this year when the cost of everything is shooting through the roof and we’re all scrambling to find afforable options for the dinner table.
I get it. And I know you get it, too.
So, rather than put out a big holiday deep-dive, I thought I’d instead wish everyone a very merry holiday season regardless of what you celebrate this time of year. Even if you don’t celebrate anything — have a great week, anyway!
Instead of writing an extensive deep-dive, I thought I’d leave a couple of links here to older articles I’ve written on holiday topics; I have an especially snarky old article about the War on Christmas I think some of you would enjoy.
The links should allow you to bypass Medium’s paywall and read for free. Enjoy!
Click the Links Below to Read and Enjoy These Articles:
Happy Holidays: The Pagan Perspective on the War on Christmas
I see this discussion crop up every single year. It often gets uglier than even the gaudiest of Christmas sweaters.
Someone has the gall to proclaim a friendly ‘happy holidays!’ and egad, you’d think someone dropped an F-bomb at the kids’ violin recital. Back when I worked at Starbucks, it was like walking on eggshells in a minefield.
The War on Christmas rages on, and we poor fools just keep getting caught in the crossfire. And by poor fools, I mean those of us who practice religions other than Christianity.
The Problem of Poverty Porn And the Business of Charity
When we think about the problems of small towns here in Canada or the United States, we think about infrastructure. We think about education, unemployment, public transportation and government programs.
When we think about small towns in developing nations, we think about one-time clothing donations and building them houses. Why is that? Why do we care about long-term systemic solutions in our own back yard, but not in other countries?
It’s because our information is coming from advertising rather than reality and common sense.
For Friday’s Unfiltered episode I do plan to post something, but it’ll be fairly short. It also lands on a holiday — albeit one that Americans may or may not be familiar with, as it’s a commonwealth tradition.
It’s rather relevant to my interests involving charity and human rights though, so I figure I’d post a little history lesson for it.
Anyway, with all that housekeeping aside, I wish you all a very blessed Yule, a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, a cheerful Kwanzaa and a great week.
Solidarity wins.
Working retail at Christmas, - sounds like one of the punishments to be found in a circle of hell. Despite that Sam I hope you find some time for yourself to be able to chill and relax and enjoy time with those you care about the most.