Merry Christmas, Everyone...Big or Small, Merry Christmas to ALL

©2017 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

 

 Merry Christmas, Everyone! 

Christmas Then

When I was a  boy, Christmas came once a year. For a week.   As children, we waited, with abated breath, it seemed,  forever. With much anticipation and excitement building,  we waited for the winter holidays, the traditional Christmas concert, then the holidays, a few days free of school, time to build snowmen, play in mountains of snow, and go ice-skating. On real ice. Outside,  on the driveway turned into a rink, on a real community rink down the road, or  right down the bumpy ice on the Oliver Creek if it was frozen enough.
       We thawed out and waited.  We waited for Christmas Eve,  and  green and red-wrapped chocolates, sweet oranges from Japan, sparkling glass decorations and tinsel placed with care  on an always-real Christmas tree. In vivid imaginations, visions of  Christmas were brightly wrapped  secrets,   presents galore. Christmas cake. Sugar cookies. Twisted, rock-hard candy that looked like it was snipped with scissors, and candy canes striped like the North Pole where Santa lives.  
        We wondered how Santa drove the reindeer from the North Pole too,  as we eagerly listened  to George the Porter , Santa's helper broadcasting on the  radio in *Fort William  to see if Santa was making good time on Christmas Eve. We wondered how Santa could land on slippery, snow-covered steep roofs in the moonlight. How he ever squeezed down skinny chimneys safely.  Into burning fireplaces.  Without getting his white beard and eyebrows singed.
       We wished for new, shiny hockey  skates, hockey-sticks, and real shin-pads. Skis. New mitts. Stuff from the Eaton's and Simpson Sears catalogues.  Folding jackknives with pearl handles. New boots.  New bicycles. Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers belts, realistically-holstered noisy cap guns. Cowboy outfits for the boys. Sleighs, white figure-skates, dolls, ribbons and bows, new clothes, tiny furniture and dollhouses for the girls.  Everything was to arrive overnight by special delivery from Santa.   Imagine that, but only for a week.

And somehow, we knew what Christmas was really about. The birth of Christ.

Christmas Now

Zoom ahead decades. Too many decades. Now Christmas retailing begins on television right after Hallowe'en. And after Thanksgiving. And after Black Friday retailing madness. 50-70% off everything that was 70% overpriced all year. Profit. Business. Receiving instead of giving. Overspending. Paying the bills after the spending binge. The eternal headache of crowds of people in malls frantically searching endlessly for the perfect gift. 
     Is that what  Christmas was  intended to be?   Is it politically-incorrect to remind others of faith and belief in Christ?  The real reason for the season?   The passing of traditions is painful, but declining  faith, denial of faith,  the reason for the season  --is unbelievably sad.  Ouch. 
      But have no fear, we can still have OUR faith and traditions of Christmas, and enjoy them too. Not because of, but in spite of —modern trends and unwanted social manipulation.

The Solution.

I know it's hard to remember why we have Christmas, it's not very trendy, but forget 'spending' and shopping for a moment. Ignore advertising and commercial profit. Reawaken the imagination. Return to the dreams we once had. Is it a bad idea to push aside 'retailing' hype for a few days and dream?  No.   Is it old-fashioned and selfish to wish a week of Christmas inherited from older, better times instead of four months of mind-numbing commercials?  Wishful thinking?  No. It is human nature to expect better.
      Admittedly, we did not always receive the gifts imagined, the fancy toys coveted. Fact is, in reality, occasionally, in some  tough economic times, we had few gifts at all. But no matter; we still dreamed. The excitement of the season was alive and genuine with home-made gifts, paper decorations, the love of family, friends, and neighbours and snowball fights and snow forts and igloos.  The smell of fresh bread, pies, cookies and turkey baking early in the morning.
     The anticipation and surprises we did find under  quaint Charlie Brown  Christmas trees (taller, we remember)  made up for anything and everything. It was Christmas, after all, and we had music, excitement, love, visitors— and each other. Warm, crackling fires in the fireplace. Visions and imaginations unfulfilled were reserved for next year—and the ones after that. Immense and almost inexplicable satisfactory visions— for decades after that. 
Peace of mind and faith for the future—are the solution. Don't forget some eggnog. 
Merry Christmas everyone...big or small, Merry Christmas to ALL.

#

Is that Incoming I hear?
 

 *Now  'Thunder Bay', Ontario

Great News! MORGIDOO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL in PRINT Near YOU.

(c) 2013 by raymond alexander kukkee

      "   Snow as warm as popcorn. Imagine that!

 
UPDATE

Well, great news----that wonderful word that rings in the ears of writers everywhere:   PRINT.   Hear the bells ring! 

But first......
Yes, I know,  mea culpa ,  time flies, and  I have been m.i.a.  --and  haven't posted here on IB blogspot.com for some time,  but that's what happens when we are up to our necks in everything. Summer. Gardening. Pruning. Fishing. Weeding. Grass cutting. Lawnmower repairs. Visiting. Picking apples. Hosting.  Fall crops, blogging,  harvesting, making apple Jack, sauerkraut, and all things good. Editing, cultivating, writing, fixing, reading,  rewriting,  repairing, creating,  building stuff, winter coming on, taps leaking, you name it!
We've all been there, right Life is a merry-go-round at times. We survive!

Of course my loyal readers all know by now that we  write at  IncomingBytes.com   my blog-portfolio --IB's sister site,  and continue the discussion on all kinds of interesting stuff.

I do hope everyone drops over to IB.com to  visit, read, enjoy, and comment. Dare to think. Dare to be fearless. Dare to argue. Dare to build and construct society as you think it should be.
I hope we see you there, and that means  everyone!



Morgidoo's Christmas Carol 

Now, about that news, Robin Tidwell  at   Rocking Horse Publishing confirms that RHP is on track---putting Morgidoo's Christmas Carol  into PRINT, and  it's HERE,  available NOW!

MCC  sports a great new cover created by Rocking Horse Publishing,  and Morgidoo's Christmas Carol  promises to be the same unique Christmas classic for all ages,  not  "Santa-centred"  but rather focused on a great story, +love, children,  a bit of magic for the season,  and above all, hope and perseverance. That being said, "Merry Christmas, everyone, may your Christmas be warm, happy and peaceful!"    


Snow as warm as popcorn. Imagine that!

Keep an eye out for the Rocking Horse Publishing edition of Morgidoo's Christmas Carol --in PRINT and ebooks -- in bookstores near you and online everywhere.




 
 Meantime,- stay warm, drop over to  www. IncomingBytes.com and stay awhile!


Is that Incoming I hear?

Holiday Hullabaloo

Christmas

The Holiday Hullabaloo is upon us.  Merry Christmas eh?    Belonging to Procrastinators RUS,  I am tempted to procrastinate, um...well,... but at Incoming Bytes  we must urge ourselves to write on about such things with vigor, to help effect quantum change, save the planet and all that.

Sometimes the  process of Christmas  is stressful and raises the ire and the digital numbers on the blood-pressure monitor too. That's not the only problem created by the Holiday Hullabaloo.
The pressure and hullabaloo of holidays causes other problems:

1.   We discover shopping is work.  We already have enough work.
2. Nobody seems to remember what Christmas was for. That's because everyone is suffering from, you guessed it :
3. Shopping madness-- well,  more shopping madness,  that is.  Buy into the corporate spend- spend-spend yet? Feeling guilty about not spending enough?
4. The wrong shoes.   Shopping makes the feet hurt.  The best solution for that is to wear work boots.  Big, heavy work boots.  Boots that leave big tracks. Refer back to number 1, Shopping is Work.
5. The wrong hat.  Fighting crowds and running about possessed makes one overheat, contributing to madness.  Let's leave that furry winter hat at home, or at least in the car, where the dog can chew it up for you instead of chewing on the car seat.
6. Left turns through red lights.  Why is it that everybody has to hold up traffic turning left  through red lights at Christmas?  Turn right for a change!
7. NO, your gigantic SUV will NOT fit into  a parking spot designed for a '67 VW bug!  Go find a bigger one, stop holding up the works! 
8. Stolen parking spots.  The Holiday Hullabaloo  causes the Perfect Parking spot to be stolen before your very eyes.  Get there first is the usual solution. In the interest of keeping the blood pressure down, be polite and avoid parking rage.
9. Artificial  hilarity: Everyone pretends they are happy and smiling. The Grinch knows better.  You know better.You're still suffering from parking rage.
10.  More Shopping madness. The madness of shopping is contagious--next aisle, next store, next door,  next mall, get to them all,  imagine that, rushing around in a desperate attempt to go broke as fast as possible.  "Tis the season to be jolly--and broke" ---and all that.

We have the ultimate solution for Holiday Hullabaloo.

Leave all money and credit cards at home.  Better yet, stay home.  That's the real solution. Make cookies instead. Relax. Schmooze.  Join Procrastinators RUS so you can happily procrastinate.  
Sit in front of a crackling fire.  Read what AnnMarie Dwyer says about the art and math of procrastination.  Learn how to make cookies for gifts at the last minute. Red knows.

While you're at it read Morgidoo's Christmas Carol. Bells will ring at your house once more.  Enjoy the true meaning of Christmas. Smile.  Try a genuine smile. It won't hurt.


  Sometimes  life is  hilarious.   The hilarious holiday hullabaloo.   People are strange and funny, they say and do strange and  funny things. They even drag their tired kids around doing strange, funny things and teach them in turn  how to be strange and funny things. 
They teach them well. Therein lies the perpetration of holiday madness.  It should be vigorously avoided.
Madness comes easily....---oops,  we already said that, but it's worth repeating. Just in time for the Holiday Hullabaloo. How shall we know the difference?


That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Here at Incoming BYTES  we wish everyone the best for the holiday season. We hope you had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas holiday, and for  2011, we wish you a safe, very Happy and prosperous New Year! 

Here comes 2011.  Some view the new year in fear and trepidation, others with open arms, accepting their lot in life whatever it may be.   How about you?   What are your dreams?   What do you want to happen, what can you expect to happen, and  what shall we individually learn from those events?   Will we endeavor to be  more faithful to God,  become more intelligent, and actually use the brains we are each given?   Shall we abandon the norm of acceptance of all we are handed,  to rebel seriously,  --and without hesitation, try to change things for the better?  What are you going to MAKE happen?    Casual observation suggests that society may, in apathy, continue to ignore what is substantially important in life.   
I must admit it is more fun to watch television and “be entertained” rather than think about difficult subjects. It is easier to watch “Jeopardy” than it is to actually think and plan quantum change in our own lives.
 Perhaps we should watch less television, and thereby kill two birds with one stone, make the mind more active and lessen the amount of brainwashing that comes our way at the same time.  Make no mistake about it, just as one example, we are conditioned and brainwashed to become perfect shoppers, as Black Friday and Christmas prove annually.
  Must we  as a society continue to accept the commercial  wishes of the powerful, malignant and greedy, and the curious political burden of undemocratic democracy that is  cast upon us?
  Are we being desensitized and trained to “accept” corrupt, unsatisfactory political solutions and gargantuan 'big money'  environmental disasters?  Are we being rapidly  prepared for “third world” conditions of poverty even as the international rich grow ever richer?    Is universal, one-world  government at hand?  Do you fear the future?   People kept in a state of fear are easier to control.  

I believe we should not only have high expectations, but question what those expectations should be.  Let us not be told what our expectations should be, but decide for ourselves.   It is not wrong to dream of better.  Is it not wrong to expect better in real life. It is not wrong to expect good health care,  fairness, justice, political honesty,  a healthy environment, a good life and ultimately, personal happiness. 
 
From the 365.242199  days of civilization  we survived in  2010, hopefully we  have gained a modicum of  knowledge, learned from the  collective human experience, cobbled together some new  ideas, and perhaps rediscovered  some pearls of wisdom from the past, --but perhaps we should also take a serious look at what we really accomplished to date?   Have we met all of our  goals, inspired  dreams  in others and encouraged thought?
 Perhaps we have planted  a few innocuous, strange  seeds ourselves  that may  grow unnoticed at our feet or in the minds of others. Perhaps others will think because of something you said, or an idea you offered.   I hope so.   Will our western society become responsible,  more reflective and reactive to make necessary changes to  provide betterment, --in fact assure  life for all human beings on the face of the earth? 
 The question is, what have we done collectively and as individuals to ensure that we continue to exist,  and what can we do in 2011  to change things for the better?
 
 Shall we make a list of “New Year’s Resolutions”  only to abandon them, as usual,  within a few weeks, or even days? It is  trendy to make a list and chuck it every year, but is it more appropriate to write a “bucket list” of lifetime objectives  and  really stick to them?   We shall see. 

Happy New Year!   

p.s.  Please do not drink and drive! 

The Christmas Shopping Experiment.

From  Incoming BYTES we hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
 This year I discovered that  carefully exploring  the market  a few days ahead  of the holiday itself, specifically  without buying anything at all, paid off.  It  actually made it  easier to go out and buy something, a specific something, even during those  last commercially-pumped, frenetic days just before Christmas.  

Maybe taking   “ Time for a Last Minute Christmas Reality Check” wasn’t such a bad concept.   It somehow  seemed more logical to buy a planned present rather than “just go shopping and buy on impulse”.   It seemed to be a better idea to stay focused than just wander, somewhat stunned by hype and hurry,  into commercial traps aimlessly, one after the other.  
  In practice, it  did seem easier to stay focused on the job at hand and actually resist the distraction of commercial Christmas hype --than it had in previous years.

The net result?  A surprising  reduction in spending of  approximately 50% occurred.   Less money was  spent foolishly on impulse. Less money was spent foolishly to  quell imaginary  last minute shopping “gift size”  anxiety.  Fewer dollars were spent on unnecessary purchases. Perhaps  less money was even  used  to soothe  guilt anxiety left over from last year. 
Best of all, there IS far  less debt to face in January.
  
 I wonder if there is a genuinely  profitable object  lesson to be considered  here?   Was this a personal best borne of  rebellion,  because of meticulous  planning and logic, or just skepticism and  recognition of the fact that unfair and overbearing commercial retailing practices are exacting a terrible toll on  society under the guise of a "holiday"?

Let’s try this on for size.  The plan resulted in  more thoughtful presents, less stress,  an intact bank account and best of all,   fewer bills to deal with.  I did not spend money I do not have. I did not spend next month’s mortgage payment, rent, or  grocery money pretending to be Santa. 
 The big question is,  did it detract from the fun and  enjoyment of the season itself?   Happily, no! 
 Rejoice!  It seems that either we have an improved Christmas shopping strategy, --or have just become older and wiser. 

Time for a Last Minute Christmas Reality Check

Christmas Shopping in Blister               photo by wlk photography

Bah, Humbug !    I have to run to the mall for some last-minute gifts.  With only a few days left before the big day,  procrastinators beware.    It really  is time to scurry around for those precious  gifts, so  hurry, beat the Dec. 24th   rush, listen to the nice Christmas music, and do that last minute shopping. Get the perfect gift.  Spend that money.
  Perhaps there really are some  lost opportunities not available  to you again until next year,  like those you missed on Black Friday, which, conveniently, is another artificial and  manufactured  retail trap for the gullible.
When you do  get to the mall, find a parking spot  and shop frantically,  are you being encouraged to panic and buy without thinking?  Are you  being taken advantage of by retailers using the psychology of Christmas and encouraged to spend more money than you can really afford  as we are increasingly encouraged to do  every year?
The “last minute rush” and panic is built upon guilt.  The Christmas season is pushed upon us  just after Hallowe’en, and retailers everywhere delight in pushing our buttons.  The psychology of Christmas sales.  A two-month shopping spree, the retailing game is  at it’s best and coincidentally, the most profitable. Don’t think, just spend.   Did your brother give you a better gift than you gave him last year?  Did you forget your cousin completely, so have to make up for it this year?   Did you  spend more on your son than on your daughter?   How about your sister?  Was  there an element of favoritism involved and the guilt that  lasted all year has to be “fixed” with that perfect gift this year? How about dear old Mom? Nothing is too good for Mom, everybody knows that.  
Did you change your mind at the last minute and decide “those” gifts were not expensive enough, and were not “meaningful enough"  so you need more?     Did your best friend buy you something extravagant and you have to make up for it this year?  Do you have to sell your soul for the lavish gift of your dreams for your significant other? Will it finally be a “perfect Christmas “ if you can only  spend enough?  
Are you running out of time? Buy this, grab that, and quickly....I can run  the credit card up and worry about it in January. Stop.
 Maybe it IS  time for a reality check.  
Let us slow down, breathe deeply and recognize that today’s Christmas retailing business is structured and  built only for commercial  profit.  Retailing  has virtually  nothing to do with promoting peace and goodwill or             “ helping you”.  Retailers are not  showing you  the real meaning of Christmas with  “warm and fuzzy” tear-jerking home-coming promotions  so common at this time of year. “The perfect gift solves everything” according to the retailer.  As long as it is expensive enough.
  “Merry Christmas, Mom”, as the returning,  surprised, and obviously  lonely  mother sees how beautiful the “perfect commercial products” from XYZ   have  made her home look.  Someone that has not bothered to visit all year  has showed up,  done the work and spent money they probably needed for their child’s clothing,  but so what?   It is the  retail glitz that counts. The warm and fuzzy moment.   Is that any better?  No.
 It plays upon the psychology of Christmas and the minds of the guilty.  Unfair practice?  Yes,  but retailing knows no bounds.
 In more relaxed times, Christmas had meaning.  There were small, individual hand-made presents, arts and carefully  crafted  items that were specially made for the delighted  individual to whom  they would be presented .  Perhaps they were made even  months prior to the big event. Only if one failed to be thoughtful,  constructive, and well organized would one have to dash to the market in chagrin at the last minute  to find something, anything, to “fill the gap” for the “missing”  present.  Buying a “store-made” gift was the exception, not the command performance  it is today.  “Home-made” gifts are shown to be  less glitzy than “bought” ones are, and promoted to be deemed of lesser value.
Lesser value? “Folk art”, hand-made gifts and objects  from 60 to 100 years old or older may  command prices in the tens of thousands of dollars today.   Compare that to a cheap ‘similar gift” made in Japan or China. No such comparison will be available 60 years from now, since the cheap import would have been long discarded as trash. 

The best price of the year is deep-discounted by desperate retailers trying to top off annual sales and maximize profit, -- not to do you any favours. How can a product be worth  $ 99.50 all year,  and then suddenly be a “once in a lifetime opportunity ” at $19.95 just because “Christmas” came along?  A little bit of skepticism is in order.   
The fact is, that gift you have the sudden urge to buy  was probably manufactured  in China for mere pennies, and the real cost of it may have been your job, or that of your neighbour. Think for yourselves.
It is Christmas, sure, there may only be a few days of retailer “magic”   left, but that really is enough  time to think for yourself.   Your smarter better half may even  love you even more when you show her the zero balance on your credit card come  January.    
I’m off to the mall.  Gotta get that perfect present.  I  could have made something nice instead. Why didn’t I think of this four months ago?

Bah, Humbug!

Got Gas, Mr. Grinch?

BIG OIL                                              photo by r.a. kukkee  2010

With winter close to  full swing and the Christmas season fast approaching,    I thought, (or more likely imagined, suffering from a lack of natural sunshine ),  that  Corporate good-will might flare up for a change ('Tis the season to be jolly  and all that !)

It seems I guessed wrong.  Instead,  it appears  that corporate profits  remain their primary concern, and the Grinch himself is flailing about with much gusto in one  sector  in spite of  the spirit of the season, or the stifled North American economy.

Only a few days ago the price of gasoline once again  skyrocketed like magic,  inexplicably and forcefully,  just in time for Santa  to stuff  great bags of cash  into the bulging coffers, caves and penthouse apartments  of the richest and most powerful corporate elite  in the world.  Who else could that be, but the Petroleum Industry?

The price of gasoline at the pump  jumped more than ten cents per liter,  from $1.09 per liter to over $1.20 per liter  within a day.   Instantly.  Why did the price jump sky-high?   I wonder how that happens?
I am also curious to know 'who' actually makes the calls  to set the new  universal price we see almost immediately at the pumps, regardless of brand.

Let us imagine for a moment THAT  mysterious  “Mr. Who” is on the telephone.
 “ Hello? Is this Joe’s Gas station?  You got gas?  Surprise!   Your gas is a  new, improved price starting right now!”  
“....... But Sir, what about the gas in the  tanks here, should I sell it at  the old price?”
“Are you kidding, Joe?  You a bit stupid or something? Do as you’re told, don’t ask questions, jack up the price on it too,  why not?”  Mr. Who orders with disdain, “After all, what are the peasants going to do about it?”  Mr. Who, ( is he related to the  Grinch, by any chance? ) ,  smirks happily and hangs up.

What just happened at Joe’s Gas station seems to have happened everywhere. How can that be?  How can gasoline prices possibly be so closely orchestrated?

According to www.Oilprice.com,   the price of crude oil was  $89.02 as of Dec. 6th at 10.00 a.m. EST. (1).,    having risen from approximately $85.00 a few days previously.  That equates to a  price increase of  $4.00 US   for a whole barrel of crude oil.
One must immediately wonder how a $4.00 increase in the price of a barrel of crude oil equates to a pump price increases of a half-buck per gallon for  gasoline?  The fact is, it does NOT.  Did all petroleum industry executives fail to get a passing grade in  arithmetic in school?  Perhaps that’s the problem. Perhaps we should calculate it for them.

Let’s see....We know that about  20 US gallons ( 75.70 liters) of gasoline is  produced from each barrel of crude oil.  Crude oil is not all made into gasoline.    Other products such as diesel fuel, home heating oil, and various other oils and lubricants are ALSO  made from the same barrel of crude oil
Any doubt about that?   See for yourself.  Check them out at: http://www.txoga.org/articles/308/1/WHAT-A-BARREL-OF-CRUDE-OIL-MAKES

Regardless, and totally  ignoring price   increases on  other products listed,  the recent  price increase at  your local gas pumps infers  there was  an increase of about  $8.00 per barrel of crude oil.
  ---But wait, Virginia, the real price increase for raw crude oil in that same time period, as we now know, was only about $4.00 per barrel.
Clearly a problem exists. Does price gouging by error, or by design?  Executive ineptitude, or just willful, blatant greed?   Organized criminal activity? Government control? Eyebrow- raising cooperation and a wink  between  oil-producing nations?   Perhaps the reader has other suggestions.
  Who is assigned the responsibility of calculating the price of gasoline, and how does it magically become the new, virtually universal price?

Is this all part of the cute board game called Monopoly?
Should  any thinking individual be expected to actually believe  there are not  cooperative and behind-the scenes forces controlling prices at the gasoline pump?       Huge and instantaneous price increases just do not magically happen, and there is one certainty. The imagination is sorely over-worked to believe it is “competition”.  
 
Vehement denial of unfair practice  is the standard response in any investigation of price-fixing, monopolistic practices or price-setting agreements by Big Oil.
The classic defense offered includes  arbitrary excuses historically used to justify windfall profits.
It is such good fortune we suffer to know why we are being robbed. 
 The search for answers  becomes  a quick  spin on a  “Wheel of Fortune” for which  the consumer must both play and pay.
  The wheel is spinning.... automobile owners everywhere are waiting at the pump with abated breath.....Which of these wonderful excuses shall be offered this time?  

Official List of Excuses and Justifications for Windfall Profits

• The price of crude oil at the pump (Set by Mr. Who?)
•  Global prices (Controlled by Mr. Who?) 
•  Low supplies (Controlled by Mr.  Who?)
•  OPEC policy and agreement changes ( Controlled by Mr. Who?)
•  Corporate losses. (  Details to be offered by Mr. Who?   )
•  The bad economy
•  Competition (we may have to laugh about that one)
•  Bad weather
•  Drilling and exploration costs 
•  Refinery fires and equipment failures
•  The unstable Mid-East and it’s perpetual political unrest, the war against terror (ad infinitum)
•  Shipping accidents   ( the Exxon Valdez, was that oil collected in 5-gallon buckets for resale?....) 
•  Oil spills  and rig fires ( BP Gulf --2010 --all that spilled crude oil in the gulf just “happily” disappeared after a few weeks?)
• Government taxes on gasoline ( the most famous excuse offered in Canada ) 

Understandably, other exciting game features conveniently left off of the sparkling corporate wheel  are:

• Corporate  greed
•  Excessive Profits
•  Multi-million dollar year-end  bonuses for chief executive officers.
• Creative pricing agreements

We have but one question for the petroleum industry:   Which excuse are you going to use this time?  Not that it matters.  At this time of the year even Santa himself would have to call your actions unethical,  opportunistic,  and monopolistic price gouging.

 Naughty, naughty, naughty.   Santa’s list is getting longer by the day.

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