Report From Humbug HQ
This year the report comes under a new heading, very different -an
improvement- from other years. This year can be filed under HUMBUG-LITE. If this were a soft drink, it would be New and Improved -- Diet Humbug!!
This is, after all, the report from Humbug HQ. We have so
come to know and understand the Humbugitude that any spirit other than
humbug would seem, well, uncomfortable. But what a holiday season
this has been!
The decorations and Christmas lights were, by and large,
understated. Well, not so when we went to Franklin Lakes, NJ, to
see what that Elvis impersonator fellow has done with his
larger-than-life annual display on his little estate. Once again
this house outdoes all the neighbors' efforts. Frankly (no pun
intended) this is the most audacious and power-sapping display of
holiday lighting anywhere.
As a kid I recall that we would drive around to check out various
homes' Christmas displays. The evening would be filled with
oohing and ahhing at various houses, laughing at the funny displays,
and chuckling about the chintzy ones. Every year there was this
one house that outdid all the others. My father would always
chuckle about the owner of the house, and how he could afford to come
up with a new theme, all those lights and displays -even floats that
were active 24/7, not just at night like all the others- and pay
the electric bill. It was because the man and his family were
undertakers, and during the depression their family made money when
people were starving. "People always die, and there's always business for an undertaker,"my father would tell us. It seemed he sort of hated yet respected
this very fact. He would some years hiss out the explanation;
other years (most years) tell it to us with an amused tone. When
the undertaker sold the property --or maybe when he died, and was laid
to rest by his successors-- the house was razed, the bluff on which it
sat plowed down, and a school was erected in that spot. No more
extra-special holiday displays and larger-than-life Santa on that
corner anymore.
This year the Franklin Lakes house was an easy view. Not even a
local traffic cop guiding the cars, as in the past two years. The
traffic moved a little faster than in years past, and there seemed once
again to be fewer houses with displays as one drives along the way to
the house. One of the vast houses on lots of property
(guesstimate: 3+ acres) famous for being #2 in the decorations game has
been dark for two years. Either they went broke when the bubble
popped, sold the house to Jews, or converted to Buddhism. Or any
other numnber of possibilities. Whatever the case may be, their
property is dark, and the house just before them, also on what seems
like about 3 acres, has only a few lights, some wreaths, and a cheesy
lit up shrub apparently designed to inidicate a reindeer. But
this is quite the comedown from years past.
Must have something to do with the economy.
The lights along the main road back where I live were much more muted
than in years past. Decorations seemed to adorn fewer houses, and
they were mostly calmer, quieter, more underscored displays than has
been the usual fare. Even the town's decorations, and those of
neighboring vilages and municipalities, seemed toned down. Again,
must be a reaction to the November outcome.
I took some pictures of the Franklin Lakes house this year, and will
post them over at Flickr. A link will appear after they're posted.
New York City, where I spent more days this December than in many
years, did not seem overblown with displays. The Rockefeller
Center tree came from my neck of the woods, and I only saw a glimpse of
it one evening as I drove down 5th Avenue. The streets were not
heralding as many displays, either.
In past years I've been appalled and aghast, well, disgusted, by what
would strike me as too much holiday stuff, too many displays, too much
of all that Christmas Cheer which seems, well, more forced than
necessary -- more displayed than truly reflective of the mood of the
city.
Not so this year. In fact, I barely noticed any decorations this
year. On a year when December meant numerous trips into NYC for
breakfasts (aargh), lunches, dinner, meetings, appointments, all sorts
of forays into Gotham. I burned through all sorts of EZ Pass
money on the bridges and tunnels, yet barely saw any holiday hoohah that
sent me into a Scrooge-like tizzy. Even traffic in and out was a
breeze, with but one exception. That one was weather related, not
holiday traffic concentration.
Is it me? Am I in a better, more tolerant, less persnickety mood? May well be.
Fewer cards found their way to my door this year. That may
be due to the fact that I've long since given up on sending holiday
cards. I received two e-mail cards, both of which impressed me
with the spirit and nature imparted by the senders. One friend
who always sends a Hanukkah card sent a decidedly interdenominational
sort of card -- this one had Santa Claus on it, certain not the usual
Hanukkah fare.
And then I did something I had never, ever done before.
Ever. On Christmas Eve afternoon I went shopping. A store
nearby was having a sale on some items I wanted for me, for some loved
ones, and the price was excellent. having procrastinated for the
entire week, I decided to get up and go for it, despite it being the
worst possible day of the year to go shopping.
There was no traffic getting there. The store wasn't too
crowded. Some people over in the same section where I was looking
were very friendly, chatty about the available stock. A store clerk came and tidied around the area and rehung a bunch of
hanger-items that were strewn about.
They were out of the items I wanted. As I asked the manager of
the store for a rain check, he told me not to worry, the items would
remain on sale and at the great price until January 8th. Store
sales for the holiday were so bad, he said, that the last-minute "get
'em in at any cost" prices were going to be extended in hopes of
garnering some after-holidays traffic. And he said all this with
a smile!
There were some specific items I wanted to get my kids this year.
Some at their request, others I just thought would be nice to get for
them. Scanning eBay and the local papers for sales, I managed to
get all the items, and all at good prices, too. No problem, a
smooth transaction each time.
There's a type of calendar I like to use as daybook, keep in my
briefcase, a hard copy sort of tangible thing that I;ve favored for
years. Sometimes it takes forever to find the one I like.
This year in the mail came a freebie, exactly the kind I like, in a
promotional mailing. And before I even began to look for one.
Speaking of calendars, there's a local smokery (they make their own
home-made Keilbasi) where I try to remember each year to get their wall
calendar before they run out. Went over and did so (and bought
one of their keilbasis) and they had plenty left. Even got there
in time for them to let me make my choice of which of their two designs
I'd like.
On TV and Radio, and even on the web, holiday ads either went past my
perceptions, or were also toned down. Or maybe, just maybe, I am
becoming immune to these things. Am I mellowing out?
I took a certain Ebenezer-like pride in my humbug attitude. Bah,
feh, ptui -- that was how I always felt. Of course, this year,
what with the late Thanksgiving and some other issues on my mind, the
whole holiday scene seemed to escape me.
So to conclude the holiday season report, this year it can be summed up
as Humbug-lite. No serious complaints, no overload, no
problem. Gee, if this keeps up, I might even being to look
forward to this time of year!
Could this be an omen for the coming year? Sure hope so!