Happy holidays to you all, however you celebrate... or don’t. We are some of the lucky ones this year, with a roof over our heads, food on the table, and family and friends close to hand. We are blessed. But it has not always been this way. For those struggling this holiday season, a reminder, if it helps, that Christmas marks the time when the light starts to come back.
It's the end of the day, and I'm just getting to Heather's letter. I'm glad I did and I will share her message "For those struggling this holiday season, a reminder, if it helps, that Christmas marks the time when the light starts to come back."
May love be stirred in our hearts no matter which holiday (or none) is ours. It's stronger than hate and can change the world!
Meanwhile, the discussion about how Christmas is celebrated is complicated for me. I have few happy childhood memories, but I do remember loving Christmas - the music, decorating the tree, waking up to see if Santa had come. I came home very upset one day in third grade because a classmate was telling everyone that Santa wasn't real. I asked my mother about that and she said Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas which is the spirit of giving and that's very real." For some reason I accepted that and I love the memory. I also love getting out the decorations and ornaments, some of which I've had for decades. I try to enjoy and continue some traditions that have nothing to do with spending money and everything to do with memories and connections.
Part of the message of Christmas is about light coming into a dark world. My earnest prayer for the coming year is for the light of truth and justice to shine brightly in our country once again. Bless everyone on this wonderful page, and bless the person who makes it all possible. May she continue to provide guidance, enlightenment, and a steady hand as we confront the challenges ahead of us in the coming year. Health and happiness and PEACE to us all in 2024!!
Bruce, thanks for providing your wisdom on a regular basis. Hopefully, 2024 will usher in some much-needed sanity for all of us - even those who resist its arrival.
Thanks Heather for helping me understand the political situation with a large dose of helpful history thrown in! You’ve been a real help…and I note that the winter solstice was a couple days ago so we are on an upward path! And I’m giving 6 copies of your book as gifts tomorrow!
Actually, it’s the solstice that begins the return of day light in the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of the oldest of all the communal celebrations. It is the time before winter when the community tries to make sure that everyone has enough to survive the winter. It is a time of sharing, caring, working together and being together. Let’s all dedicate ourselves to bringing back the light and the truth. Stay warm. Stay healthy. Take care of each other.
Thank you old and in the way. Makes sense to me. I have a hard time seeing our Christmas time as anything but a commercial endeavor based on a myth perpetuated and expanded by men who had anything but the well-being of the community in mind. More like who rules and who makes the rules. And boy, there are rules galore. And if any aren’t up to snuff, God will forgive you after we judge and punish you. Sorry but my Christmas spirit runs empty.
I hope that everyone enjoys this season in a way that brings them happiness and maybe some humble gratitude - as expressed by our professor. I wish only good stuff for all.
But I join you, Jeri, in seeing "Christmas" as something else. I don't want to rain on anyone's joy. But my own view (as a retired retail merchant) is that Christmas has been turned into a giant commercial con. Too much junk, too many useless unwanted gifts, too much wrapping paper, too much horrible music everywhere you go, too many crazy decorations. Overall, it's an environmental insult.
I'm all in with people offering a modest gift to someone to show appreciation for friendship and past kind deeds. But we can do that all year long. Why did we turn Christmas into a frenzy? Because it is a huge money maker. I know. I did it for too many years. As a career.
I think if there was a Jesus and we could ask him how we should celebrate his birth, he would say: "Why are you buying the kids more mountains of plastic junk? Where did this ugly sweater tradition come from? I don't wear pajamas. Want to honor me? Give some food to the poor, donate to the food pantry, donate to the World Food Kitchen. Find the neighbor who you have ignored all year and bake a pie for her. Show some courtesy when driving. Leave an extra big tip the next time you eat out. Stop cutting down trees and dedicating it to me. And I don't understand why sometimes you make them out of plastic. Actually, we didn't have spruce or balsam trees where I lived...weird, what you have done.
Jesus continued: "And here is my last and final question before I head back to wherever (it has been exhausting). Why did you replace me with a Norse god (Odin) who morphed into a 4th century monk/saint and turned him into a fairy tale? Aren't my gifts good enough?"
To all, I mean no offense. But please keep in mind that there are a lot of us who look forward to December 26th with comfort and joy. I hope your family gatherings and meals are all a success and I hope you don't have a crazy uncle who rants about politics.
There is one tradition that I fully embrace. "A Christmas Story" narrated by Jean Shepherd (anybody here remember his late night radio show?) Nothing can beat seeing Ralphie lick the flag pole, or don the pink bunny suit. And of course, the turkey and the dogs.
Amen, brother. I would like to add that for those of us of a certain age who aren't religious, the holiday memories are all about family and friends who are no longer here. They were what made the season and the joy.
Today (Christmas Day) several of us of that certain age who live alone, will gather for our own little "happy hour" of snacks, stories, and camaraderie. As far as gifts, we either cook a little something or make a little something or donate a little something in memory of. There are ways of sharing that cost time and love and not much else. And after all, as they say, "the giving hand receives."
I totally agree with you about the gifts. I much prefer to give someone a gift for no reason at all except this item leaped into my cart when I thought of you. It is a gift of thought not of obligation. I saw a meme that basically said I don't need presents. I buy what I want and when I want it.
I do like the decorations, though especially at night. Look at it as little lights dispelling the darkness of evening (evil) and bringing a smile to your face.
It’s a complicated holiday, to be sure. I feel badly for the disadvantaged who go into further debt to “make Christmas special”for their kids when that will just make the rest of the year harder for the whole family. And the push to feed families for one day (and film them on TV news!) when they’ll just wake up hungry the day after. I live in a 55+ community with great neighbors and we all are comfortable; our gifts are modest and say “I appreciate your friendship and this community”: this year someone gave papayas with instructions on how to ripen them; I gave things I made in pottery and stained glass; last year I gave a donation to the animal shelter in their names. But this is also from a perspective brought by age and an appreciation for simpler things, I guess. Anyway, this has been a good conversation!
I was given a manatee "adoption" as a gift sometime in the 1990s, and I have continued as a manatee adopter every year since. These "adoptions" are a great way to support organizations that advocate for wildlife.
Lived in a place where the lights were a competition. Now they have turned to plastic. I gave up. Humans have a habit of overdoing and ruining simple good ideas.
Just saw a Christmas movie (complete with a very well dressed black Santa) with Eddie Murphy. It was about the neighborhood Christmas decorations which went totally bonkers when it was announced a $100,000 prize would be offered to the winner
See how well-meaning humans can turn what may have been a good idea into bad joke. Is that called “jumping the shark” or just stupid/greed overtaking rational common sense? Yep, maybe Eddie Murphy got it. Curious as to how it turned out. Did bonkers rule? Hahaha
Wow, you have been reading my mind. Thank you, and I love Ralphie. And yes I look forward to Dec 26. Am going to forgo “invitation” to family “giftathon”and help with a dinner at UU church. A place that practices what so many just preach.
Oh I found your reply interesting although truncated for some reason. I m a 94 year old retired scientist - artist and proud athiest Jew, so of course have never celebrated Christmas, though I watch with amazement every year. We Jews could add Chanukah to your comments. When I was young it was a very minor Jewish holiday. Now it tries to rival Christmas (one day vs eight!!!). Perhaps we should go into mournrng instead. The rise of Christianity having been an unmitigated disaster for Jews,
Interesting reply. Yes. I am an agnostic none who married a Sephardic/Ashkenazi Jew who grew up around Catholics - always felt left out of the Christmas thing. Now there are Stars of David atop the Chanucka bushes that are actually Xmas trees and there was indeed a gift every day for each kid. It brings her joy. I wish her only joy. But it does seem like another layer of materialism - another example of commercial opportunism. What if each night there was just a piece of the story...and a much anticipated finale. The victory, the lamp...
In that spirit of increasing light, I watched what has renewed my spirit during this season, over 100 times in my past 77 years. I've watched "It's a Wonderful Life" again this year (the 100 guesstimate is from watching it multiple times in some years).
This year thinking particularly about all the families we knew who were able to buy their first homes (and keep them) making their lives more secure and productive through the most effective small community bankers that knew and worked with them so they were not lost opportunistic, predatory lenders (or algorithms). The ones I've known know how fortunate they are and do try to make it possible for others to do the same. Some do it through being good and generous landlords for renters who had to move often, like we did in the service. Not all were so civic minded but we appreciate those who were.
The local bankers knew their depositors well enough to adapt loan due dates when circumstances like a late harvest would make a payment date a little later but certain to be paid soon enough. Even if a good farmer's crops failed one year due to weather or other acts of nature, they knew what the past performance was, as well as anything they learned to do better in the future, making them good risks.
I don't really know the regional difference in who and how bankers provided the best support for their customers but will try to learn a bit more.
We don't exchange a lot of gifts, though we do look for sales on useful items when the prices are at their low point. So far I have just gotten a card for my wife and looked for organizations we can donate to in someone else's name.
Dr. Richardson, - you are a blessing to us all and, as someone else noted, you nudge us steadily to notice the light and invite us to keep moving towards it. Thank you!
Thank you Heather and Buddy💖 We are so in need of the return of the light. And know this is cyclical. Remembering we are part of the cycle and our involvement and actions make the difference.
To live is to give. Thank you for everything you give us, Professor. Especially hope. Happy, this time of year, and all times of the year.
It's the end of the day, and I'm just getting to Heather's letter. I'm glad I did and I will share her message "For those struggling this holiday season, a reminder, if it helps, that Christmas marks the time when the light starts to come back."
May love be stirred in our hearts no matter which holiday (or none) is ours. It's stronger than hate and can change the world!
Meanwhile, the discussion about how Christmas is celebrated is complicated for me. I have few happy childhood memories, but I do remember loving Christmas - the music, decorating the tree, waking up to see if Santa had come. I came home very upset one day in third grade because a classmate was telling everyone that Santa wasn't real. I asked my mother about that and she said Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas which is the spirit of giving and that's very real." For some reason I accepted that and I love the memory. I also love getting out the decorations and ornaments, some of which I've had for decades. I try to enjoy and continue some traditions that have nothing to do with spending money and everything to do with memories and connections.
Thank you Dr. Richardson for the constant push toward the light! Merry Christmas to all in this community! 💙
Ever grateful for helping me connect outside my small world.
I so agree with you, Prudence....
Part of the message of Christmas is about light coming into a dark world. My earnest prayer for the coming year is for the light of truth and justice to shine brightly in our country once again. Bless everyone on this wonderful page, and bless the person who makes it all possible. May she continue to provide guidance, enlightenment, and a steady hand as we confront the challenges ahead of us in the coming year. Health and happiness and PEACE to us all in 2024!!
Beautifully stated, Bruce. Happy/Merry to you and yours
Amen, Bruce! Merry Christmas!!
Bruce, thanks for providing your wisdom on a regular basis. Hopefully, 2024 will usher in some much-needed sanity for all of us - even those who resist its arrival.
Thank you, Bruce. Merry Christmas to all here and safe travels if you are out and about.
Bruce well said, so ditto from me professor.
From one Georgian to another: Amen!
Happy holidays to you and Buddy, and thanks for all you do.
Wishing you and Buddy, and all who are here, blessings and gratitude galore, with wishes for peace in our time.
Thanks Heather for helping me understand the political situation with a large dose of helpful history thrown in! You’ve been a real help…and I note that the winter solstice was a couple days ago so we are on an upward path! And I’m giving 6 copies of your book as gifts tomorrow!
I've been giving books as gifts as well. The more we welcome, the greater Democracy's chance of success.
Definitely agree!
Thank you for bringing the light into our lives every day. Wishing you a lovely holiday and hope for Peace in the new year.
Actually, it’s the solstice that begins the return of day light in the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of the oldest of all the communal celebrations. It is the time before winter when the community tries to make sure that everyone has enough to survive the winter. It is a time of sharing, caring, working together and being together. Let’s all dedicate ourselves to bringing back the light and the truth. Stay warm. Stay healthy. Take care of each other.
Thank you old and in the way. Makes sense to me. I have a hard time seeing our Christmas time as anything but a commercial endeavor based on a myth perpetuated and expanded by men who had anything but the well-being of the community in mind. More like who rules and who makes the rules. And boy, there are rules galore. And if any aren’t up to snuff, God will forgive you after we judge and punish you. Sorry but my Christmas spirit runs empty.
Thank you Jeri!
I hope that everyone enjoys this season in a way that brings them happiness and maybe some humble gratitude - as expressed by our professor. I wish only good stuff for all.
But I join you, Jeri, in seeing "Christmas" as something else. I don't want to rain on anyone's joy. But my own view (as a retired retail merchant) is that Christmas has been turned into a giant commercial con. Too much junk, too many useless unwanted gifts, too much wrapping paper, too much horrible music everywhere you go, too many crazy decorations. Overall, it's an environmental insult.
I'm all in with people offering a modest gift to someone to show appreciation for friendship and past kind deeds. But we can do that all year long. Why did we turn Christmas into a frenzy? Because it is a huge money maker. I know. I did it for too many years. As a career.
I think if there was a Jesus and we could ask him how we should celebrate his birth, he would say: "Why are you buying the kids more mountains of plastic junk? Where did this ugly sweater tradition come from? I don't wear pajamas. Want to honor me? Give some food to the poor, donate to the food pantry, donate to the World Food Kitchen. Find the neighbor who you have ignored all year and bake a pie for her. Show some courtesy when driving. Leave an extra big tip the next time you eat out. Stop cutting down trees and dedicating it to me. And I don't understand why sometimes you make them out of plastic. Actually, we didn't have spruce or balsam trees where I lived...weird, what you have done.
Jesus continued: "And here is my last and final question before I head back to wherever (it has been exhausting). Why did you replace me with a Norse god (Odin) who morphed into a 4th century monk/saint and turned him into a fairy tale? Aren't my gifts good enough?"
To all, I mean no offense. But please keep in mind that there are a lot of us who look forward to December 26th with comfort and joy. I hope your family gatherings and meals are all a success and I hope you don't have a crazy uncle who rants about politics.
There is one tradition that I fully embrace. "A Christmas Story" narrated by Jean Shepherd (anybody here remember his late night radio show?) Nothing can beat seeing Ralphie lick the flag pole, or don the pink bunny suit. And of course, the turkey and the dogs.
Amen, brother. I would like to add that for those of us of a certain age who aren't religious, the holiday memories are all about family and friends who are no longer here. They were what made the season and the joy.
Today (Christmas Day) several of us of that certain age who live alone, will gather for our own little "happy hour" of snacks, stories, and camaraderie. As far as gifts, we either cook a little something or make a little something or donate a little something in memory of. There are ways of sharing that cost time and love and not much else. And after all, as they say, "the giving hand receives."
Miss them to infinity these days.
Oh, yeah.
I totally agree with you about the gifts. I much prefer to give someone a gift for no reason at all except this item leaped into my cart when I thought of you. It is a gift of thought not of obligation. I saw a meme that basically said I don't need presents. I buy what I want and when I want it.
I do like the decorations, though especially at night. Look at it as little lights dispelling the darkness of evening (evil) and bringing a smile to your face.
It’s a complicated holiday, to be sure. I feel badly for the disadvantaged who go into further debt to “make Christmas special”for their kids when that will just make the rest of the year harder for the whole family. And the push to feed families for one day (and film them on TV news!) when they’ll just wake up hungry the day after. I live in a 55+ community with great neighbors and we all are comfortable; our gifts are modest and say “I appreciate your friendship and this community”: this year someone gave papayas with instructions on how to ripen them; I gave things I made in pottery and stained glass; last year I gave a donation to the animal shelter in their names. But this is also from a perspective brought by age and an appreciation for simpler things, I guess. Anyway, this has been a good conversation!
Adopted two elephants for granddaughters. They have enough stuff.
I was given a manatee "adoption" as a gift sometime in the 1990s, and I have continued as a manatee adopter every year since. These "adoptions" are a great way to support organizations that advocate for wildlife.
Simpler things are more meaningful!
Lived in a place where the lights were a competition. Now they have turned to plastic. I gave up. Humans have a habit of overdoing and ruining simple good ideas.
Just saw a Christmas movie (complete with a very well dressed black Santa) with Eddie Murphy. It was about the neighborhood Christmas decorations which went totally bonkers when it was announced a $100,000 prize would be offered to the winner
See how well-meaning humans can turn what may have been a good idea into bad joke. Is that called “jumping the shark” or just stupid/greed overtaking rational common sense? Yep, maybe Eddie Murphy got it. Curious as to how it turned out. Did bonkers rule? Hahaha
Wow, you have been reading my mind. Thank you, and I love Ralphie. And yes I look forward to Dec 26. Am going to forgo “invitation” to family “giftathon”and help with a dinner at UU church. A place that practices what so many just preach.
Shep was my hero. I'd go to bed listening to WOR with my transistor under my pillow and be grateful for "Excelsior, you fatheads!"
Oh I found your reply interesting although truncated for some reason. I m a 94 year old retired scientist - artist and proud athiest Jew, so of course have never celebrated Christmas, though I watch with amazement every year. We Jews could add Chanukah to your comments. When I was young it was a very minor Jewish holiday. Now it tries to rival Christmas (one day vs eight!!!). Perhaps we should go into mournrng instead. The rise of Christianity having been an unmitigated disaster for Jews,
Morton,
Interesting reply. Yes. I am an agnostic none who married a Sephardic/Ashkenazi Jew who grew up around Catholics - always felt left out of the Christmas thing. Now there are Stars of David atop the Chanucka bushes that are actually Xmas trees and there was indeed a gift every day for each kid. It brings her joy. I wish her only joy. But it does seem like another layer of materialism - another example of commercial opportunism. What if each night there was just a piece of the story...and a much anticipated finale. The victory, the lamp...
But I am a whisper in a hurricane.
Jean Shepard’s radio stories about the eccentricity and hypocrisy of humans penetrated deep into my adolescent mind and have never left.
Wasn't his friend named "Flick"? - the adventures were terrific.
Cheer up Jeri. More Light is coming, thanks to Heather!
She certainly speaks truth, despite a few trolls pretending otherwise
I find that they are either desperate tfg supporters trying to hang on to the myths of
tffg the "strong man," worried about being wrong (per HCR), or Russian & Chinese Bots trying to throw our 2024 election off the rails.
exactly. Some seem to get their jollies from trying to baffle with bull schitt
In that spirit of increasing light, I watched what has renewed my spirit during this season, over 100 times in my past 77 years. I've watched "It's a Wonderful Life" again this year (the 100 guesstimate is from watching it multiple times in some years).
This year thinking particularly about all the families we knew who were able to buy their first homes (and keep them) making their lives more secure and productive through the most effective small community bankers that knew and worked with them so they were not lost opportunistic, predatory lenders (or algorithms). The ones I've known know how fortunate they are and do try to make it possible for others to do the same. Some do it through being good and generous landlords for renters who had to move often, like we did in the service. Not all were so civic minded but we appreciate those who were.
The local bankers knew their depositors well enough to adapt loan due dates when circumstances like a late harvest would make a payment date a little later but certain to be paid soon enough. Even if a good farmer's crops failed one year due to weather or other acts of nature, they knew what the past performance was, as well as anything they learned to do better in the future, making them good risks.
I don't really know the regional difference in who and how bankers provided the best support for their customers but will try to learn a bit more.
We don't exchange a lot of gifts, though we do look for sales on useful items when the prices are at their low point. So far I have just gotten a card for my wife and looked for organizations we can donate to in someone else's name.
Dr. Richardson, - you are a blessing to us all and, as someone else noted, you nudge us steadily to notice the light and invite us to keep moving towards it. Thank you!
Amen x 10
Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo
Tu tambien.
Para ti y todo Gente, Sandra!
Mil Gracias Daniel y a ti y tu familia
😍
Paz en todo el mundo 🌐
Exactamente!
THANKS Heather! You are a gem and we are SO lucky to have you. Please keep it up. - Bill from California
Here’s to the new year! 🥂Where there is hope, there is possibility, possibility of continuing with our current President and democracy!🇺🇸💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Thank you Heather and Buddy💖 We are so in need of the return of the light. And know this is cyclical. Remembering we are part of the cycle and our involvement and actions make the difference.
Buddy deserves a special thanks for those spectacular photos.
Yes he does
Thank you, Heather and Buddy. Hope you have a wonderful holiday and a powerful, progressive New Year!
Thanks for helping us keep our equilibrium.
I need that reminder right now. Thank you.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! 🎄⛄️🎄