Friday, December 4, 2015

VARYING DEGREES OF HUMBUG



The above photo was taken when I had just turned three years old. I look older, because I was a very tall kid. My father wrote the date on the reverse side of the photo and he was never wrong. Trust me on that.

I was an extremely gullible child, and would have probably continued believing in Santa Claus well into my 40's - - if my parents hadn't dispelled the myth by telling me the truth when I was six. Yet, despite my gullibility, even at the tender age of three I was highly suspicious of this strange dude clad in a red suit at the local department store. Somehow, the booze on his breath and the unnervingly cold hands gave me reason to suspect that he wasn't the genuine article.

That was one helluva coat I was wearing (and I think it was a matching hat)

When I was four years old, one of my uncles - plied with too much Pabst Blue Ribbon and Christmas spirit - called us up and pretended he was Santa Claus. Still pathetically naive, I believed him and provided him with my wish-list of toys. Those were the days.

In later years my parents didn't really celebrate Christmas and I didn't really care. Even though my parents were complete opposites, they were in total agreement about their dislike of holidays, parties, and inane social gatherings.


 My first Christmas.
I had just turned one
(my BDay is Dec. 13)


 This is the house where we lived when I was one.
My father took this photo on Christmas Eve.


As for me - I abhor the mass commercialization of Christmas and the relentless brainwashing media agenda of forcing us to comply with it. It's an alarmingly hypocritical and pagan time of year. It  isn't the correct birth date of Jesus. Shepherds weren't abiding in fields in late December. And I doubt if all the blatant holiday ostentation and merciless materialism would have pleased someone so humble and unobtrusive.

How do you know Jesus really existed, Jon?

Hey, Bucko, don't give me the Leon Trotsky shit. How do you know Charles Darwin's monkey really existed? 

You sound very bitter about the holidays, Jon. Where's your Christmas spirit?

Somewhere in the closet. With my alter ego, Scrooge.

In the closet??

Nothing sexual, of course.

I'm not really as bad as I sound. What I like best about the holiday season is the intense festivity of it all. I love the good food and colored lights, the scent of pine trees, the prevailing atmosphere of peace and joy. There is no real peace and joy, of course, but the temporary facsimile is intriguing.

So, what is my Christmas like? Well, I never send cards or buy gifts. And I don't do mega decorations. I'm not that daft. But I always used to have a garland and colored lights on the fireplace mantle. Now that I don't have a fireplace, I might hang garlands and lights on the cats......
......come to think of it, I might hang the cats with lights and garland.

It was a small attempt at humor.
Why isn't anyone laughing?

I have many bad memories of the holiday season, which is one reason why I'm not too thrilled with it. But that's another story for another time.

Whatever your beliefs or non-beliefs - -
Let the holiday season begin!


I was probably three in this photo (possibly four?).
I look kinda cranky, but then, I'm always cranky in the morning.






25 comments:

  1. I'm really enjoying these olden images, Jon; and may, in fact, do something akin.
    Yours looks like a pretty incredible home for the time! For all his demons, I have to guess your dad had a great deal of pride when he took that picture.

    Santa? I don't think I ever believed. His persona was always around, of course .... almost symbolic ....but my parents never led me to believe he was The One who made presents appear beneath the tree.

    PS - I thought your birthday was December 6!?.

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    1. I love old photos and the memories they conjure - it would be nice if you shared some on your blog.

      Yup, my birthday is December 13. It's easy to remember...just think of unlucky 13.

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    2. Yo, Jon! Thirteen is a LUCKY number! (It's all in the attitude.)

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  2. I thought you had that look on your face because your Dad had been mean already early in the morning. Hope that wasn't the case. You were a cute little boy.

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    1. I don't remember him being mean that particular morning - - I was probably groggy and cranky.

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  3. I knew you were a December baby, just didn't realize how close to my birthday it was. Maybe Jesus wasn't born that month but Susan Flett Swiderski was and that's good enough for me. Christmas goes on. I wish you the very best of the season. There's so much strife in our world right now that it's best if we hold strongly to a day of peace --all of us, together, even over distance, even across electromagnetic voids. All my best wishes to you, Jon. You're a remarkable man.

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    1. If you, I, and Susan were born in December, it was a damn good month. Actually I share Susan's birthday - - we were both born on the 13th. How close is your B'Day to ours, Geo?

      In this stressful world, strong thoughts of unity and peace are good enough. Your kind wishes are appreciated.
      I doubt if I'm remarkable....but I try....

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    2. Aw, how sweet, Geo. You're a good dude.

      And all of us December babies have to stick together. :)

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  4. I agree with Paula you were cute. You just look surprise in the picture. I don't think I believed in Santa, and still don't. I have had too much expense’s this year to go way out for the Holidays. I did put up a small tree without lights, for Millie, Jet and Sam. Take care. Jean

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    1. Things are so extremely expensive that it's best to keep the holidays simple. Little things truly mean the most. Have a blessed holiday season, Jean.

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  5. Innocent though that Santa picture looks - and IS, I'm sure - no one nowadays looks at such in the same way any more, do they? Ah, those yesteryears when paedos hadn't yet been invented ;-)

    In the final pic if you're looking cranky it's also a very precocious mood for an infant of three or four - no, not quite even an infant. But you obviously cottoned on to adulthood emotions very fast.

    As you undoubtedly know, many dates have been suggested for the true date of Jesus' birth (I'm one of those who actually do think that he did indeed exist). A quite plausible one which I like (amongst several others) is Sept 15th 7 B.C.E. because of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces - all astrological conditions being treated utterly seriously at the time and for many centuries after, though in more recent times totally denied, even condemned, by those seriously advocating belief in a 'divine' J.C. Very odd. Plus ca change!

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    1. When I look at old photos such as these, I yearn for the uncomplicated long-ago innocence of childhood. They were - at least on the surface - more simple and benign times.

      I suppose I "cottoned on to adulthood emotions" quickly because I was an only child, most often surrounded by adults. I seldom seemed to think or behave like a child.

      I, too, believe in the existence of Jesus, and the date of birth that you suggested seems much more plausible then late December.

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  6. xmess is a day to eat chinese food and go to the movies, provided there is an intelligent film to be seen. just a day off work for me, nothing more.

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    1. It's best to keep the holidays as uncomplicated as possible. Chinese food and a movie sound good to me.

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  7. I like the coat/hat ensemble.

    Looks like it's from the Elmer Fudd collection. Could you pull a wabbit from that hat?

    :-)

    -Andy

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    1. I love the concept of an Elmer Fudd collection. That's hilarious!

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  8. I'm a December baby as well and although it took a while for me to understand that December would not make sense as the month Jesus was born in, it is still one of my favorite times of year. I love the whole Christmas thing while at the same time not buying into to the whole peace thing... one trip into Walmart will cure that notion. There will never be peace on this earth.... Christmas cookies or not.

    Happy Early Birthday!

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    1. I'm surprised at how many of us bloggers were born in December - - it's a month that seems to produce very special babies.....
      You're absolutely right about the prospect of peace being Zero. The world is out of control - - and the shoppers at Walmart are a prime example (*smile*).

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  9. Nothing better than photos of kids with Santa or the easter bunny. Every year on my son's birthday we trot out pictures of him screaming his head off in the lap of some department store rendition of a character from popular mythology.

    Great blog you have here

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    1. I was a timid child, afraid of my own shadow. It's surprising that I wasn't afraid of department store Santas.

      I appreciate the blog compliment. Thanks for the visit.

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  10. I love your throwback photos! Cute, little guy. I sometimes wish I would have been an only child. (I have one older brother and it was never a good relationship which makes me sad sometimes.) I've always enjoyed Christmas. And, even if the time of Jesus birth isn't completely accurate, for me it's the intention behind the celebration. Will your kitties be getting any gifts from Santa this year? :)

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    1. Somehow, I always find old photos to be more interesting than newer ones. Being an only child had benefits, yet it was also a strange & lonely existence. I was always caught in the middle of my parent's enormous problems. I was never really a "child".

      Kitties will be getting extra treats.
      And extra litter.....

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  11. Jon,
    I'm like you in that I hate the over commercialization of Christmas but I do like the bright lights, good will (what there is anyway) and the special feeling that seeps through at Christmastime. I note that you have several photos of you as a child by the Christmas tree. Oh how I wish my parents (Mother) had thought to take a picture of me and my brothers at our Christmas tree. Sad to say no such photos exist. And a photo with Santa? Are you kidding? We never even saw a Santa. Now last week while I was in Philadelphia with Pat, exiting the Christmas Village at Macy's, I was asked by an elf if I wanted "to see Santa." I have to admit I paused a few seconds but then thought better of it. I'm way too old for that fantasy.
    Ron

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  12. There are many more of us who dislike Christmas than we realize Jon. Count me in... We have my Mum over for dinner and that's it. I do put up a small tree but it's mostly for her. When we lived abroad we didn't bother with decorations. Christmas is very hard on many people, particularly the elderly and vulnerable.

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  13. I haven't pulled out the old Christmas pictures in a long time. They raise such mixed feelings, as I'm sure yours do, too. Maybe it's time to look at them again. I enjoyed seeing yours... why not mine, too?

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