Are holidays unreasonably disruptive?

Are we in the post-holidays funk? A letdown time? 

I feel rather let down by the holidays themselves: Xmas and New Year's. Go ahead and use "Xmas" as a shorthand for "Christmas." You'll obviously run into some hand-wringing on that. "You're taking Christ out of Christmas," some say. 

I'm not sure how much our U.S. life really needs to come to a halt because of the "holidays" anyway. I personally think an increasing number of people are feeling inconvenienced by the holidays. People get thrown out of their routine. 

Garner Ted Armstrong

The idea is to recognize the birth of Christ? No one has any clue of what that date would be anyway. I learned from the old radio host Garner Ted Armstrong that Christmas began as a pagan holiday. Maybe it should go back to being that. It's such a material-based celebration anyway. Everyone is supposed to pile into stores on the day after Thanksgiving. For what? The start of the Christmas shopping season?

Thanksgiving itself interrupts our regular rhythm of life, our routine. It's the start of the progression of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. After all that, we're supposed to even think about MLK Day? We might laugh because we know that the U.S. Congress of today would never establish MLK Day, not even close. To what extent is it even recognized as a holiday? 

MLK Day seems to have "morphed" into something different from its original intent. It's actually a good thing: "Martin Luther King Day of Service." Hats off to "service," always a good thing. 

It used to bother me that after the very long period of inactivity on our U of M-Morris campus with the "holidays," school would resume only to be interrupted so quickly by MLK Day. 

 

What about New Year's?

Over the years, New Year's Day seemed not as big a deal as Christmas Day. This year I noticed that our main grocery store in Stevens County - Willie's of course - was closed for New Year's Day. It would have been nice to see the store open for maybe four hours. Also, to have Caribou Coffee be open in the morning. Set me up for a couple breakfast sandwiches at Caribou and I'm good for the whole day. 

DeToy's Restaurant was closed for New Year's. I could swear they've been open in some years for New Year's Day. I mentioned that to a server there and she did not dispute me. 

Bring up these issues with the business owners these days and there is a likely response: "It's hard to get workers." Maybe that's totally true. Another possibility is that maybe the Willie's owner didn't really have his heart in being open for the holidays. He might not want to admit that. 

I am saying all this from the perspective of being a single person who is more or less a loner - there's more of us like that all the time, I would suggest. Maybe no family or negligible family. It's negligible with me. 

Seems discouraging to awaken in the morning with the prospect of just sitting at home all day. I need food items in advance. I suppose some Pop Tarts would get me through? I wanted to say "God bless" to Cenex South for being open on Christmas morning. God bless the two female employees I saw there. I purchased a nice little chocolate muffin in a sack to tide me over. There is hope in he world. 

My refrigerator and freezer have been disconnected since Mom died. Now as a diabetic who takes sensitive medications, the last thing I need in my home is a "stocked" refrigerator/freezer. By "sensitive" I mean there are side effects you must pay attention to. 

On the whole I feel good - knock on wood. I have lost something like 30 pounds in five months. I am nothing short of astounded that I have been able to do this with no loss of energy/strength or loss of apparent mental sharpness. I am testing the latter right now as I write this. Judge it however you might like. I feel good. I pray this situation remains until the next Christmas and new Year's. 

The holidays are disruptive with the closure of the Meals on Wheels Kitchen on the day after Thanksgiving. Curse the term "Black Friday." The day after Thanksgiving is not an official holiday in any way, shape or form. And here an important institution shuts down. The kitchen manager of course informed that he simply was not paid for the day. That settles it. The higher-ups made the judgment. 

People are living longer these days and there are more people out there who do not have the ready opportunity to join in the standard big joyous family gatherings, the gatherings out of the old Norman Rockwell paintings. Real life is quite different for a great many people now. 

 

A storm cloud

I abbreviated my personal recognition of Christmas because of news reports coming out about Donald Trump. Go ahead and accuse me of over-reacting. I think our nation could be in very serious trouble. 

Jesus Christ

Many of the people upset with me are going to actually vote for Trump again. And the saddest part of it all, is that his candidacy and celebrity seem now to owe itself in large part to zealous Christianity. So Trump is the big Christian symbol in the U.S., this man who uses foul language on Christmas Day and who we learn now defecates into his Depend underwear. Well it's tough getting old - we all realize that. What do you think Jesus Christ would actually say about Donald Trump?

 

Addendum: So Willie's had too much trouble finding workers for New Year's Day? What if this limitation does not end with holidays, i.e. what if the store has to cut back hours on normal days? For lack of workers? Well, maybe pay them more? Easier said than done? Costs would be passed on to customers? Are there any alternatives worth considering? 

Here is one, possibly: Willie's might cut out the weekly printed ad circular that it sends out, apparently over a wide area. I used to pick up the boxes of these circulars weekly at Willie's, when I was with Morris paper, and I assure you there are a mountain of them. And what exactly is the need for these? Willie's is the only full-service grocery store in Stevens County, right? I mean, I wouldn't consider going anywhere else. So why the pressing need to "advertise?" 

Willie's could cut out the expense of distributing those, then maybe bump up salaries some to keep some hands on deck for a day like New Year's. It would be interesting for Willie's to "experiment" by skipping the circulars for a given time.

Addendum No. 2: Might DeToy's scale back its hours more? It appears certain they'll never be open in the evening again. Will they continue opening at 6 a.m.? I could easily see that altered to later. And look at Don's: it was open at 6 a.m. prior to covid, then at the time of "re-opening" it switched to 8 where it is now. The 8 o'clock time is way too late for lots of people. Restaurants perform a function of allowing people to circulate in public, supplying intangibles in life. Remember Ardelle's? That place was never replaced once it went out of existence. 

And what is becoming of restaurants in general? Covid killed off the salad bars. This is highly significant. Salad bars may not have been as nutritious as they could be, but they certainly were better than what we choose from now. If you go to a standard restaurant now for anything other than breakfast, you're basically forced to order a burger/sandwich with "fries" and Coke or Pepsi. The Met Lounge Side Room comes right out and advertises this way: "burgers and fries." But how wise is it, for restaurant customers to constantly order such fare? "Fries and Coke." They appeal to us basically as drugs because they certainly don't reflect wise meal choices. And, restaurants must still have a decent profit margin with them. 

Inflation is a big factor causing these trends. Inflation will only worsen and it's only a question of the rate. "Good inflation news" does not mean prices are coming down. They may only be going up slower than before. 

With restaurant dining, you are paying someone to prepare your meal and someone else to bring it to you. A grocery store theoretically has advantages. But some people just like to circulate in the community some and to visit a restaurant, as so many people used to do with Ardelle's. The place was called "Kelly's" before that and if you want to go way back, "Del Monico" (under Merlin Beyer). There was a community meeting room with a piano. Kiwanis would meet there. Do we still have a Kiwanis?

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com