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Post-Christmas Blues, or Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used to Be
I would occasionally view some Ricochet essays that tiptoed on the lighter side of life in a less than interested mood; until, that is, I submitted one of my own ditties that explored the profundities of Blazing Saddles, which is surely a great representation of modern artistic sensibilities. But much of the time, it has been a matter of trying to break free from a “Most liberals are fascists!” mentality, and that’s hard to do, especially since the comparison increasingly seems unfair to fascists.
Then Christmas came along, a time of great joy and celebration, of course, when all thoughts of politics, culture, and the frequent nastiness of things in general needed to be put aside. It was an occasion to immerse oneself into a sugar-plums-dancing-in-your-ears, Jack-Frost-roasting-on-an-open-fire, Hillary-free day, to be enjoyed by everyone in the household ranging in age from seven months to seven decades or so. Christmas music hummed in the background, red and green lights twinkled everywhere, peals of laughter and mirth rippled through the air, a 90-pound black Labrador imitated a lap dog, trying out one lap after another — things didn’t get better than that. Until, that is, the first present was opened, in this case, by one of the grandchildren.
First, an explanation. Our household Christmas gathering isn’t exactly like the one depicted in A Christmas Story, which explored Ralphie’s angst — fully justified, in my view — over whether or not he would get a Red Ryder BB gun, but some memories come close.
I’m so prone to nostalgia, and so aware that I’m prone to it, that I’ve in the past sent notes to my future self to correct my tendency for emotional historical revisionism. I was prompted to search for one of these after seeing a photo of an old flame’s high school yearbook on Facebook — which filled me with nostalgia — and, to my amazement, I found the very note. It was stuffed in a pile of papers in my attic, and had somehow survived more than 30 years of my peripatetic wanderings.
![white-christmas-movie-poster-1020283120[5]](https://cdn.ricochet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/white-christmas-movie-poster-10202831205.jpg)
Do you dream in monochrome? Does the term “manual labor” recall painful memories of assembly or installation? Does the Geek Squad avoid your phone calls? Then this post is for you.
