Christmas Eve, 2022

I'm sure you came here looking for Cartoon Saturday, but the vagaries of the calendar are such that today is not only Saturday, but Christmas Eve, which has its own traditional post. Cartoon Saturday will return one week from today on December 31st, the last day of 2022, giving us an opportunity to laugh at the end of a year which did not offer many opportunities to laugh.

But enough of all that.

Today is Saturday, December 24th, the day of Christmas Eve, when millions of people across the nation and the world frantically await the arrival of the auxiliary Santas from FedEx and UPS and Amazon with gifts bought online that were "guaranteed" to arrive by Christmas. Tonight, children will set out milk and cookies for Santa and desperately try to stay up late in hopes of seeing him, parents will use salty language as they try to deal with the toy for which "some assembly (is) required*," and stores will sell out of the batteries they didn't realize they needed for that toy they had to assemble.

Here's a timely quote from Dave Barry:

"Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space**"

Ah, the holidays!

No peace on earth, though.

Today's commentary is fairly short ... I'll have more to say tomorrow in my traditional Christmas Day post. I'll just warn you to be careful if you plan to go out today - not just because the stores will all be madhouses, parking lots will look like the beaches of 1944 Normandy, and drivers will be more distracted than usual, but because all too many of your fellow Christmas shoppers will arrogantly and petulantly refuse  to wear the masks or receive the vaccinations that will keep families next Christmas from having fewer people around the tree.

And I want to see you all safe and happy tomorrow.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* "Some assembly required" is the shortened version of the statement, "Assistance by credentialed mechanical or electrical engineers is required."

** This was one of my mother's favorite cartoons.