{"id":8511,"date":"2011-12-17T14:08:49","date_gmt":"2011-12-17T21:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=8511"},"modified":"2011-12-20T15:00:32","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T22:00:32","slug":"its-the-hap-happiest-time-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=8511","title":{"rendered":"It’s the Hap, Happiest Time of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"What time is it? Time to write the annual holiday letter to friends and relatives. It’s the hap, happiest time of the year!<\/p>\n

Here’s one good reason to keep a blog or diary: when you can’t remember all the things you’ve done over the past year, you can go back month by month and look them up.\u00a0 It’s like keeping notes in class (not that I ever learned to do that, myself).\u00a0 Anyway, the letter is now done.\u00a0 Whew.<\/p>\n

To friends and family who have already written and sent their holiday letters, congratulations!\u00a0 To friends and family who are about to start receiving our holiday letter by email, snail mail, and Facebook, greetings!\u00a0 To friends and family who so far have not gotten around to writing, let alone sending, their holiday cards and letters — mwah-ha-ha-ha, beat you!<\/p>\n

Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like a contest.\u00a0 But to many it is<\/em> a sort of contest, Christmas.\u00a0 Who gets a letter, who gets a card?\u00a0 What do I write about?\u00a0 What do I give?\u00a0 Will it be good enough?\u00a0 No wonder so many people get the blahs this time of year.<\/p>\n

We went to the first of four holiday parties last night, five if you count the one we’re hosting Christmas Eve.\u00a0 Last night we had dinner with Donna’s boss and her co-workers from the gun shop.\u00a0 Tonight we go to Darrell’s house for a gathering of our walking and bicycling friends.\u00a0 Christmas Eve we invite friends over for clam chowder and to help decorate our tree.\u00a0 Christmas Day we’ll eat at another friend’s house.\u00a0 Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) we go to a fancy party at yet another friend’s house.\u00a0 I suppose we could have squeezed in the holiday dinner with my co-volunteers at the air museum, but not this year.\u00a0 Enough is enough.\u00a0 New Year’s Eve?\u00a0 We’re staying home, thank you very much.\u00a0 New Year’s Day?\u00a0 I should be recovered enough by then to cook a special dinner, but it’ll just be for me, Donna, and Polly.<\/p>\n

I read a lot of science fiction as a kid, and a few have stayed in my memory.\u00a0 One in particular was about a future where poor people are forced into a life of consumerism by the demands of the economy.\u00a0 To keep the industrial engine going, to keep big companies growing, the working poor have to consume like crazy: they literally have lists and quotas for cars, household appliances, clothing, and food to buy, use, wear out, and buy more of.\u00a0 If you’re middle class you still have consumption quotas, though somewhat less demanding.\u00a0 Only the most wealthy can turn their backs on the madness, living simple lives in cabins in the woods.<\/p>\n

Any of that feel familiar to you?\u00a0 We’re by no means wealthy, but we are <\/em>getting to the stage of life where we need and want less.\u00a0 Buying Christmas presents for each other is really hard now — we have everything we need.\u00a0 Not that many years ago we’d have seven to ten holiday parties to attend each December; we’re thankful we’re down to five and wish there were fewer.\u00a0 If only we had a cabin in the woods!<\/p>\n

So it goes, paring down a little more each year.<\/p>\n

Oh, hell, I can’t resist — have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?\u00a0 I have!\u00a0 Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What time is it? Time to write the annual holiday letter to friends and relatives. It’s the hap, happiest time of the year! Here’s one good reason to keep a blog or diary: when you can’t remember all the things you’ve done over the past year, you can go back month by month and look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2],"tags":[474,472,476,471,477],"class_list":["post-8511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consumerism","category-personal","tag-annual-letters","tag-christmas","tag-gifts","tag-holidays","tag-parties"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8511"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8546,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511\/revisions\/8546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}